A contemporary ‘enthusiastic’ religion, the Divine Light Mission (DLM), was studied by the authors in an attempt to elucidate some of the psychological factors underlying the burgeoning appeal of this charismatic religious sect for American youth. The DLM is constituted of followers of the Guru Maharaji, an Indian who first came to the United States in 1972 at the age of 14. Method. The study...
This paper reviews the frequent phenomenon of altered states of consciousness in disparate cultural psychotherapeutic contexts. The historical antecedents of contemporary Western psychodynamic psychotherapy are examined and the central importance of altered states in the therapeutic effects of religious institutions such as the Dionysian rite and the Asclepia is illustrated. The continued...
Members of a religious sect, the Divine Light Mission, were evaluated for psychological effects of their experience in the group, in order to study systematically the psychotherapeutic effect of evangelical religious experience. Responses given by 119 members to a multiple choice questionnaire reflected a significant decline in the incidence of neurotic symptoms and of alcohol and drug use,...