Mystical Experience and Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia Bulletin January 1, 1981 P. Buckley 70 citations
Acute mystical experiences and schizophrenia share several features, including a powerful sense of noesis, heightened perception, feelings of communion with the divine, and exultation. However, the thought disruption typical of acute psychosis is absent from the mystical accounts examined, and auditory hallucinations are less common than visual hallucinations in mystical states. The ease of inducing mystical-like experiences in possession cults or experimental settings suggests that the capacity for such altered states may be latently present in many people. It is proposed that the nervous system has a limited repertoire of responses for altered states like acute psychosis and mystical experience, despite their different causes.