Study reveals common yet overlooked mystical experiences impact well-being

By Pooja Toshniwal PahariaReviewed by Benedette Cuffari, M.Sc.May 26 2024

In a recent study published in the journal Mindfulness, researchers examine the prevalence and effects of emergent phenomena (EP), their forms, the balance of positive and negative repercussions, and assistance in finding sites.

Study: Altered States of Consciousness is Prevalent and Insufficiently Supported Clinically: A Population Survey. Image Credit: brizmaker / Shutterstock.com

What are EP?

EPs are spontaneous and unique mental or physical experiences commonly perceived as mystical, spiritual, magical, or energetic. They are frequently associated with contemplative practices such as yoga, meditation, and mindfulness-based therapies, which promote well-being, productivity, work performance, and pro-social conduct. Furthermore, EP can cause cognitive and behavioral changes such as reduced dread of death, decreased interest in dogma, rejection of materialistic lifestyles, improved mood, and profound tranquility.

About the study

In the present exploratory study, researchers created a survey instrument based on quantitative self-report questions to examine the frequency and impact of EP in general populations.

This instrument aimed to elicit a memory of direct experiences while avoiding abstract terms and using ontologically neutral words that might accept spiritual, contemplative, existential, and religious viewpoints. It underwent many pre-testing rounds, including reviews by the authoring team, postgraduate students, 30 MTurk staff, and technical pre-evaluations on Qualtrics and MTurk platforms.
The frequency of EP was assessed using online surveys completed by representatives of three global populations comprising 3,135 individuals. Participants from two commercial survey panels, including the United States MTurk and United Kingdom Qualtrics, and those from one online community who were subscribers to the Rationalist blog were selected. All study participants were over 18 years of age.

The study included individuals with backgrounds in emergency medicine, psychiatry, public health, epidemiology, neuroscience, advanced meditation research and practice, and survey research. The exploratory character of the effort limited the analysis to documenting and comparing population-level estimates, with uncertainties defined by summary documentation of standard errors found in every table.

The questioning method was used to obtain information on the prevalence of EP, well-being outcomes, and aid sought for negatively valenced EP with prospective variables for future studies. The participants also provided information on their experiences with unexpected mental occurrences, their evaluation of whether EP was considered positive, and the type of pain-related experiences.

The study participants also described the severity of their worst experiences, whether medical or mental health professionals ever diagnosed or prescribed medicine for any form of mental disorder, and whether they sought treatment for their adversely regarded incidents.

Study findings

After experiencing EP, study participants reported both negative and positive health outcomes, with 13% experiencing moderate or severe suffering and 1% reporting profound suffering. Moreover, 63% of negatively affected individuals did not seek assistance.

About 26% of study participants reported "supernatural" and "miraculous" events, with the United Kingdom Qualtrics group having a greater rate of reports at 39%. The most prevalent accounts were precognitive information, dreams of other beings, distant occurrence knowledge, and awareness of others' thoughts, reported among 10%, 7%, 6%, and 6% of the study participants, respectively.

About 45% of study participants reported having unexpected and uncommon mental experiences, such as weird alterations in perception or joyful sensations. Comparatively, 30% of respondents did not experience any changes following an uncommon mental encounter, whereas 28% and 40% reported unfavorable and favorable findings. Positive events were associated with good results in 55% of study participants, whereas adverse events were related to poor outcomes in 48% of the study cohort. 

Fewer respondents opposed valenced results, with negative consequences for 15% of the positively valenced occurrences and beneficial implications for 14% of negatively valenced events. Thus, favorably regarded events were more likely to cause positive changes in well-being, whereas negative occurrences were associated with a greater probability of causing adverse changes.

Among individuals reporting negative occurrences, 15% sought assistance from general health providers, 13% from friends or family, 12% from spiritual or meditation practitioners, and 8% from health specialists. Despite the general incidence of pain caused by atypical mental experiences, 47% of respondents were aware of the dangers of challenging unpleasant cognitive, emotional, or physical results from spiritual or meditation practices before completing the survey.

Conclusions

EP experiences are prevalent and can have both beneficial and adverse consequences. Clinical treatment is often inadequate for treating EP; therefore, multi-item measures may increase diagnostic confidence.

Nevertheless, mindfulness-based therapies may pose a danger for EP. Thus, additional research is needed to improve the understanding of epidemiological risk factors like connections with mental disease, previous trauma, psychedelic use, and personality traits. Evaluating the impact on well-being after EP is also critical, as about 20% of study participants reported experiencing pain.