Rationale/Aim: We aimed to identify potential latent profiles and factor structures that may reflect characterological differences in how transcendence is experienced and expressed in individuals and investigate the nature and structure of transcendence as a character virtue rooted in Awakened Awareness (as a tendency towards spiritual perception). Methods: Two studies were conducted on a...
BACKGROUND: The quality and valence of psychedelic experiences are influenced by a range of psychological and contextual factors. This study examines baseline mood and the "relational triad"-comprising social connectedness, mindfulness, and spirituality-as potential predictors of the quality of naturalistic psychedelic experiences. METHODS: Data were drawn from the Predicting Responses to...
ABSTRACT The present study aimed to characterize the relationship between mystical experience and psychopathology measures in a general-population sample of 763 U.S. adults. The participants were assessed across various domains including psychopathology, spirituality, personality, and life experience. The analysis revealed three distinct profiles among individuals: Transcendent Wellness,...
The aim of the current investigation was to identify universal profiles of lived spirituality. A study on a large sample of participants (N = 5512) across three countries, India, China, and the United States, suggested there are at least five cross-cultural phenotypic dimensions of personal spiritual capacity—spiritual reflection and commitment; contemplative practice; perception of...
This study investigates the lived-experience of spiritual life in contemporary USA, India, and China. A qualitative coding frame was constructed based on participant responses to open-ended questions regarding spirituality. Qualitative analysis was facilitated by the use of Dedoose, a mixed methods software. The exploratory approach of this study takes on a cross-culturally comparative lens,...
Background and aims Spirituality is an important component of 12-step programs for behavioral and substance addictions and has been linked to recovery processes. Understanding the neural correlates of spiritual experiences may help to promote efforts to enhance recovery processes in behavioral addictions. We recently used general linear model (GLM) analyses of functional magnetic resonance...
Across cultures and throughout history, human beings have reported a variety of spiritual experiences and the concomitant perceived sense of union that transcends one's ordinary sense of self. Nevertheless, little is known about the underlying neural mechanisms of spiritual experiences, particularly when examined across different traditions and practices. By adapting an individualized...
Rationale: Possible genetic correlates of spirituality and depression have been identified in community samples. We investigate some of the previously identified candidates in a sample of families at both high and low-risk for depression. Method: Offspring and grandchildren of individuals at high and low-risk for depression, participating in a multi-wave thirty-year longitudinal study, were...
While the field of empirical study on religion and spirituality in relation to mental health has rapidly expanded over the past decade, little is known about underlying dimensions of spirituality cross-culturally conceived. We aimed to bridge this gap by inductively deriving potential universal dimensions of spirituality through a large-scale, multi-national data collection, and examining the...
Diagnosis of depression has low reliability (kappa = 0.28) due to "covert heterogeneity," making the identification of sub-types a focus of research. Very high rates of moderate or sub-threshold depression among adolescents (35-45 % beyond the 20-25 % with MDD), prompt consideration of a potential sub-type of moderate sub-threshold depression, linked to adolescent development. Previously,...
Spirituality and the surge of its development in adolescence have been established in the research. To date, however, these studies look at tendencies across full samples of adolescence rather than investigating multiple subgroups or multiple pathways of spiritual development. The current study uses latent class analysis to identify subgroup portraits of spiritual life in adolescence, based...
The healing process of the Best Self Visualization Method (BSM) is described within the framework of meditation, neuroscience, and psychodynamic theory. Cases are drawn from the treatment of high-risk youth, who have histories of poverty, survival of sexual and physical abuse, and/or current risk for perpetrating abuse. Clinical use of BSM is demonstrated in two case illustrations, one of group...
Moderated by Lisa Miller from Newsweek, evolutionary biologist Kenneth Miller (Brown University) and theologians John Haught (Georgetown University) and Nancey Murphy (Fuller Theological Seminary) discuss the questions Are we immortal? Do our souls exist beyond our bodies? and What scientific evidence is there for mystical experience? from a cultural, historical, and scientific perspective. The...
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and helpfulness of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Children (MBCT-C) for the treatment of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in a sample of nonreferred children. Twenty-five children, ages 9 to 12, participated in the 12-week intervention. Assessments were conducted at baseline and posttreatment. Open trial...
This study is an open clinical trial that examined the feasibility and acceptability of a mindfulness training program for anxious children. We based this pilot initiative on a cognitively oriented model, which suggests that, since impaired attention is a core symptom of anxiety, enhancing self-management of attention should effect reductions in anxiety. Mindfulness practices are essentially...