Who's being transcended?: the role of belief of other as self in mediating the relationship between mystical experience and mental health

Throughout history humans have experienced instances where the boundary between self and other dissolved, and the ordinary sense of “I” was replaced with a unity to all of existence or a higher power. These are commonly referred to as mystical experiences, and although the relationship between mystical experiences and positive mental health outcomes has largely been supported, the psychological mechanisms underlying it are unknown. This study develops a scale to test the theory that Belief of Other as Self (BOS) mediates the relationship between mystical experience and mental health. This study also hypothesizes spiritual practice and time elapsed since one’s most recent mystical experience moderate the strength of the aforementioned relationship. Results support BOS as a mediator, while neither elapsed time nor spiritual practice were found to be moderators. These findings reveal the need for developing clinical interventions targeting a patient’s fundamental sense of self to improve mental health.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Author dc:creator

• Ishak, Christian

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hood, Ralph W., Jr., 1942-
• Shelton, Jill T.; Huber, Thomas
• College of Arts and Sciences

• Self--Religious aspects
• Psychology--Religious aspects
• Mysticism
• Experience (Religion)

Licence

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English, eng

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/811

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-1975