Spirituality in Clinical Practice
March 18, 2021
Brian Laythe, James Houran, Neil Dagnall et al.
27 citations
Subjective and objective anomalies associated with ghostly episodes form a unidimensional Rasch scale, and these interconnected signs or symptoms arguably describe a syndrome model. This model predicts that the phenomenology of these anomalous episodes can be markedly skewed by an experient's psychological set, which is impacted by psychosocial variables affecting attentional, perceptual, and interpretational processes. The overview discusses how Belief in the Paranormal, Religious Ideology, Ideological Practice, Social Desirability, Latency, and Environmental Setting ostensibly influence the contents or interpretations of accounts. Future research should help validate the proposed syndrome model and explore which nuances reflect idiosyncrasies of experients' psychological set versus the core phenomenon.
Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition
August 29, 2023
James Houran, Brian Laythe
4 citations
ChatGPT-3.5-generated narratives of mystical, supernatural, or anomalous entity encounters approximate but do not fully match the phenomenology of real-life accounts. The AI descriptions covered each encounter type, mapped to a Rasch hierarchy of anomalous perceptions, showed below-average scores on the Survey of Strange Events, and referenced at least one recognition pattern of Haunted People Syndrome. Inter-rater reliability was fair, and correlations among narratives were low but generally positive. The findings suggest that prototypical depictions based on popular source material can mimic core features of these experiences, yet they lack the full depth of spontaneous reports.
Journal of Scientific Exploration
March 31, 2025
Ciarán O’keeffe, Brandon Massullo, Brian Laythe et al.
1 citation
A reanalysis of a case study by Auerbach et al. (2023) on a poltergeist-like disturbance investigated with virtual technology during the COVID-19 pandemic finds that the case strongly aligns with the Haunted People Syndrome (HP-S) model. HP-S conceptualizes ghostly episodes as an interactionist phenomenon arising from individuals with heightened somatic-sensory sensitivities, stirred by dis-ease states, contextualized with paranormal belief, and reinforced via perceptual contagion and threat-agency detection. Content analysis by an independent researcher showed the case had below-average 'haunt intensity' and a pattern resembling embellished or false testimony, yet it displayed most HP-S recognition patterns. The findings imply that ghostly episodes are best understood through a biopsychosocial lens, regardless of potential psi contributions.
Journal of Scientific Exploration
July 9, 2024
Brian Laythe, Natalie Roberts, Gordon White et al.
Ritual magic practitioners who combine meditation, visualization, and related mental exercises report more invoked and spontaneously-occurring anomalous phenomena, and this relationship is linked to transliminality, a personality trait reflecting loose mental boundaries. However, on a computerized psi test, these practitioners scored significantly below chance, especially when testing ESP openly or using ritual to influence the test. The findings suggest that magical practice may involve techniques that could remediate a transliminal dis-ease model, but the psi test results indicate a reversal of expected effects.