Among regular members of a West Indian Pentecostal congregation, those who experienced spirit possession scored higher on measures of neuroticism and hysteria than those who did not. The 10 possessed subjects had significantly elevated scores on the Eysenck Personality Inventory's neuroticism scale and the MMPI hysteria scale compared to the control group. The authors suggest that spirit possession may represent a culture-bound neurotic disorder.
A randomized controlled trial compared Integrated Coping Awareness Therapy (I-CAT), which combines mindfulness and positive psychological interventions, with treatment-as-usual (TAU) for 38 young adults with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Over 9 months, participants reported daily positive and negative affect. I-CAT and TAU did not differ in their overall impact on daily affect. However, among I-CAT recipients, daily practice of positive coping skills was linked to better daily affective outcomes, while mindfulness practice was associated with poorer affective outcomes during certain phases. The findings suggest that specific components of I-CAT, particularly positive coping skills practice, may improve daily emotional well-being in this population.
In a large general population sample, cognitive schizotypy—measured by the STA scale—was the strongest predictor of nightmare distress, even after accounting for neuroticism. Other psychosis-proneness measures, such as anhedonia, showed no link to nightmares. Sex and sex roles influenced results: feminine females reported the highest nightmare distress, masculine males the lowest. High schizotypes also more often reported enjoyable dreaming, suggesting that greater imaginativeness may underlie both positive and negative dream experiences.