Ghost Encounters Among Traumatized Cambodian Refugees: Severity, Relationship to PTSD, and Phenomenology.
Devon E Hinton, Ria Reis, Joop De Jong
Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry September 1, 2020 DOI: 10.1007/s11013-019-09661-6 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Cambodian refugees at a psychiatric clinic |
| Topics | PTSD Philosophy of mind |
| Keywords | Complex trauma Culture Ghosts Hallucination States of consciousness |
| Citations | 17 |
| Key findings | Ghost encounters are a key idiom of distress among Cambodian refugees, highly correlated with PTSD severity. |
Abstract
Ghost encounters were found to be a key part of the trauma ontology among Cambodian refugees at a psychiatric clinic, a key idiom of distress. Fifty-four percent of patients had been bothered by ghost encounters in the last month. The severity of being bothered by ghosts in the last month was highly correlated to PTSD severity (r = .8), and among patients bothered by ghosts in the last month, 85.2% had PTSD, versus among those not so bothered, 15.4%, odds ratio of 31.8 (95% confidence level 11.3-89.3), Chi square = 55.0, p < .001. Ghost visitations occurred in multiple experiential modalities that could be classified into three states of consciousness: full sleep (viz., in dream), hypnagogia, that is, upon falling asleep or awakening (viz., in sleep paralysis [SP] and in non-SP hallucinations), and full waking (viz., in hallucinations, visual aura, somatic sensations [chills or goosebumps], and leg cramps). These ghost visitations gave rise to multiple concerns-for example, of being frightened to death or of having the soul called away-as part of an elaborate cosmology. Several heuristic models are presented including a biocultural model of the interaction of trauma and ghost visitation. An extended case illustrates the article's findings.
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on PTSD, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy Using Low Doses in a Small Sample of Women with Chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Women with chronic PTSD secondary to sexual assault | 2008 | Observational cohort | n = 6 |
| An Ambulatory Polysomnography Study of the Post-traumatic Nightmares of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment-seeking veterans, current serving military members, and emergency service... | 2017 | Observational study using ambulatory polysomnography | n = 35 |
| Increased Mastery Elements Associated With Imagery Rehearsal Treatment for Nightmares in Sexual Assault Survivors With PTSD. Female sexual assault survivors with chronic nightmares | 2004 | Observational cohort | n = 44 |
| Posttraumatic stress symptoms following near-death experiences. Persons who report near-death experiences and those who came close to death without NDEs | 2001 | Observational study | |
| Impact of oral ketamine augmentation on hospital admissions in treatment-resistant depression and PTSD: a retrospective study. Outpatients with treatment-resistant depression and PTSD | 2018 | Retrospective review | n = 37 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 3
- The hypnagogic state: A brief update Journal of Sleep Research August 26, 2022
- Associations between sleep variables and ostensibly paranormal experiences and paranormal beliefs: A scoping review. British Journal of Psychology November 1, 2023
- Hypnagogic states are quite common: Self-reported prevalence, modalities, and gender differences. Consciousness and Cognition October 1, 2023
Cites 7
- Agency, embodiment and enactment in psychosomatic theory and practice. Medical Humanities June 1, 2019
- Theory and method at the intersection of anthropology and cultural neuroscience Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience December 3, 2009
- When the war was over, little changed: women's posttraumatic suffering after the war in Mozambique. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease July 1, 2006
- Mass fainting in garment factories in Cambodia. Transcultural Psychiatry April 1, 2017
- What Is the Link Between Hallucinations, Dreams, and Hypnagogic-Hypnopompic Experiences? Schizophrenia Bulletin June 29, 2016
and 2 more in the library