Schizophr Bull
February 1, 2023
Tanya M Luhrmann, Ben Alderson-Day, Ann Chen et al.
AbstractThere are communities in which hearing voices frequently is common and expected, and in which participants are not expected to have a need for care. This paper compares the ideas and practices of these communities. We observe that these communities utilize cultural models to identify and to explain voice-like events—and that there are some common features to these models across...
Psychology of China
2023
Mi Jiawen, Jia Peiyu
Imaginary companions refer to an unseen character or object that a child names and refersto during direct play or conversations with others. Research on imaginary companions originated inthe early 20th century and has continued to the present day. A plethora of studies, primarily focusingon children, indicates that imaginary companions are not uncommon among them. However, recentforeign...
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry
November 8, 2021
Emma Palmer‐cooper, Nicola Mcguire, Abigail C. Wright
6 citations
BACKGROUND: Unusual experiences in Tulpamancer and Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) communities are generally positive and sought after, unlike hallucinations and delusions in clinical populations. Metacognition, the ability to reflect on self-referential experiences, may aid sense-making around unusual experiences, reducing distress. This study investigated group differences in...
May 11, 2020
Anna E Martin, Bailey Thompson, Steven L. Lancaster
preprint
Tulpamancy is a practice that involves the creation of imagined sentient companions, tulpas, who abide within their human host's mind. The primary aim of our study was to examine the personality characteristics of tulpas and their hosts. Further, we examined the role of personality similarity in predicting relationship satisfaction. Individuals with tulpas completed an online questionnaire of...
Research in psychology and behavioral sciences
September 24, 2017
Jacob J. Isler
8 citations
Current models of mental health rely heavily on the assumption that only one agent of self exists in every one brain. Deviations from this model of singularity in mind are heavily stigmatized and often considered disordered. This paper opposes this bias by analyzing one form of plurality in consciousness: tulpamancy. Tulpamancy is a collection of meditative techniques used to create and...
Nova Religio
August 1, 2015
Natasha L. Mikles, Joseph P. Laycock
Since the 1970s, tulpas have been a feature of Western paranormal lore. In contemporary paranormal discourse, a tulpa is a being that begins in the imagination but acquires a tangible reality and sentience. Tulpas are created either through a deliberate act of individual will or unintentionally from the thoughts of numerous people. The tulpa was first described by Alexandra David-Néel...
Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines
November 1, 2007
Charles Fernyhough, Kirsten Bland, Elizabeth Meins et al.
Previous research has reported a link between imaginary companions (ICs) in middle childhood and the perception of verbal material in ambiguous auditory stimuli. These findings have been interpreted in terms of commonalities in the cognitive processes underlying children's engagement with ICs and adults' reporting of imaginary verbal experiences such as auditory verbal hallucinations. The aim...