Tempo:
were used as a comparison group, controlling for high interest in esoteric phenomena. On the POBE questionnaire, items relating to phenomenology were selected from the following sources: reports of near-death experiences, mystical religious literature describing transcendent states, philosophical-occult psychic literature describing OBE experiences, psychoanalytic and psychiatric data describing states of depersonalization, psychotic, autoscopic, and hysterical-dissociative states, and dreaming. Five psychological test scales described in our second paper were included to distinguish the psychopathological conditions and states traditionally connected with a tendency toward alterations in consciousness, for example: “attention absorption.”26 Demographic data focused on previous experience with consciousness-altering drugs, hypnosis, and meditative experiences and to determine some of the background belief systems, including religious background and types of reading material. In addition, the PAL questionnaire,27 a well-validated psychological health scale, was sent to the subjects. This instrument is one of the few available tests of psychological health suitable for use in nondisturbed populations. Its health criteria are largely based on concrete behavioral measures rather than subjective assessment of mood states.
Results
Of the 339 subjects who reported an experience, 228 (66%) have had more than one such experience, while 117 (34%) have had only one. 74 subjects have had more than 10 OBEs.
A. PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
Table 1 summarizes the conditions remembered to exist at the time OBE occurred. Of course, no cause-effect relationship necessarily occurs between these conditions and the experience itself, although such has been implied by a number of authors.28 An overwhelming majority of the sample were in a relaxed and calm state of mind (79%), and the variety of emotionally stressful conditions (23% of the sample), and states of physical pain, drug and alcohol intoxication, childbirth, and general anesthetic accounted for much smaller percentages of the sample. The finding that this experience is not usually associated with illness or stress
Results
Of the 339 subjects who reported an experience, 228 (66%) have had more than one such experience, while 117 (34%) have had only one. 74 subjects have had more than 10 OBEs.
A. PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS
Table 1 summarizes the conditions remembered to exist at the time OBE occurred. Of course, no cause-effect relationship necessarily occurs between these conditions and the experience itself, although such has been implied by a number of authors.28 An overwhelming majority of the sample were in a relaxed and calm state of mind (79%), and the variety of emotionally stressful conditions (23% of the sample), and states of physical pain, drug and alcohol intoxication, childbirth, and general anesthetic accounted for much smaller percentages of the sample. The finding that this experience is not usually associated with illness or stress
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