The mind possessed: well-being, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals regularly experiencing religious possession

Roma Delmonte; Miguel Farias; Marco Aurélio V Bastos; Leandro Madeira; Beatriz Sonego

doi:10.47626/1516-4446-2021-2414

The mind possessed: well-being, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals regularly experiencing religious possession

Roma Delmonte, Miguel Farias, Marco Aurélio V Bastos, Leandro Madeira, Beatriz Sonego

Research Centre for Peace and Security

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

53 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To further our understanding of religious possession experiences by focusing on personality, cognitive, and quality of life outcomes.

METHODS: Data collection was undertaken at Umbanda sessions in Brazilian cities. Participants were mediums who regularly experienced possession (n=334) or those who attended the same rituals but had never been possessed (n=54).

RESULTS: We found that mediums were not significantly different across variables from the control group, except for anxiety, which was lower among mediums. Correlational and regression analysis showed that the level of meaningfulness attributed to possession and fusion with the spiritual entity were strongly positively correlated with most quality-of-life dimensions, and negatively with anxiety; in addition, level of meaningfulness predicted lower anxiety, and psychological quality of life was predicted by level of fusion and meaningfulness. Contrary to expectations, there were no detrimental effects of a lower level of bodily control over the possession experience.

CONCLUSION: Together, these results suggest that individuals regularly experiencing possession within a religious context are psychologically similar to those who attend the same rituals without experiencing possession, and that the way they appraise their experiences as meaningful, as well as the level of spiritual fusion, are predictors of well-being.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	486-494
Number of pages	9
Journal	Revista da Associacao Brasileira de Psiquiatria
Volume	44
Issue number	5
Early online date	28 Jul 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.47626/1516-4446-2021-2414
Publication status	Published - 2022

Bibliographical note

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited..

Keywords

Quality of life
anxiety
dissociative identity disorder

Themes

Faith and Peaceful Relations

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.47626/1516-4446-2021-2414Licence: CC BY

PublishedFinal published version, 819 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

@article{423467120a6a42bfa152a2aff93c9758,

title = "The mind possessed: well-being, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals regularly experiencing religious possession",

abstract = "OBJECTIVE: To further our understanding of religious possession experiences by focusing on personality, cognitive, and quality of life outcomes.METHODS: Data collection was undertaken at Umbanda sessions in Brazilian cities. Participants were mediums who regularly experienced possession (n=334) or those who attended the same rituals but had never been possessed (n=54).RESULTS: We found that mediums were not significantly different across variables from the control group, except for anxiety, which was lower among mediums. Correlational and regression analysis showed that the level of meaningfulness attributed to possession and fusion with the spiritual entity were strongly positively correlated with most quality-of-life dimensions, and negatively with anxiety; in addition, level of meaningfulness predicted lower anxiety, and psychological quality of life was predicted by level of fusion and meaningfulness. Contrary to expectations, there were no detrimental effects of a lower level of bodily control over the possession experience.CONCLUSION: Together, these results suggest that individuals regularly experiencing possession within a religious context are psychologically similar to those who attend the same rituals without experiencing possession, and that the way they appraise their experiences as meaningful, as well as the level of spiritual fusion, are predictors of well-being.",

keywords = "Quality of life, anxiety, dissociative identity disorder",

author = "Roma Delmonte and Miguel Farias and Bastos, {Marco Aur{\'e}lio V} and Leandro Madeira and Beatriz Sonego",

note = "This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited..",

year = "2022",

doi = "10.47626/1516-4446-2021-2414",

language = "English",

volume = "44",

pages = "486--494",

journal = "Revista da Associacao Brasileira de Psiquiatria",

issn = "1516-4446",

publisher = "Associacao Brasileira de Psiquiatria",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The mind possessed

T2 - well-being, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals regularly experiencing religious possession

AU - Delmonte, Roma

AU - Farias, Miguel

AU - Bastos, Marco Aurélio V

AU - Madeira, Leandro

AU - Sonego, Beatriz

N1 - This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited..

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - OBJECTIVE: To further our understanding of religious possession experiences by focusing on personality, cognitive, and quality of life outcomes.METHODS: Data collection was undertaken at Umbanda sessions in Brazilian cities. Participants were mediums who regularly experienced possession (n=334) or those who attended the same rituals but had never been possessed (n=54).RESULTS: We found that mediums were not significantly different across variables from the control group, except for anxiety, which was lower among mediums. Correlational and regression analysis showed that the level of meaningfulness attributed to possession and fusion with the spiritual entity were strongly positively correlated with most quality-of-life dimensions, and negatively with anxiety; in addition, level of meaningfulness predicted lower anxiety, and psychological quality of life was predicted by level of fusion and meaningfulness. Contrary to expectations, there were no detrimental effects of a lower level of bodily control over the possession experience.CONCLUSION: Together, these results suggest that individuals regularly experiencing possession within a religious context are psychologically similar to those who attend the same rituals without experiencing possession, and that the way they appraise their experiences as meaningful, as well as the level of spiritual fusion, are predictors of well-being.

AB - OBJECTIVE: To further our understanding of religious possession experiences by focusing on personality, cognitive, and quality of life outcomes.METHODS: Data collection was undertaken at Umbanda sessions in Brazilian cities. Participants were mediums who regularly experienced possession (n=334) or those who attended the same rituals but had never been possessed (n=54).RESULTS: We found that mediums were not significantly different across variables from the control group, except for anxiety, which was lower among mediums. Correlational and regression analysis showed that the level of meaningfulness attributed to possession and fusion with the spiritual entity were strongly positively correlated with most quality-of-life dimensions, and negatively with anxiety; in addition, level of meaningfulness predicted lower anxiety, and psychological quality of life was predicted by level of fusion and meaningfulness. Contrary to expectations, there were no detrimental effects of a lower level of bodily control over the possession experience.CONCLUSION: Together, these results suggest that individuals regularly experiencing possession within a religious context are psychologically similar to those who attend the same rituals without experiencing possession, and that the way they appraise their experiences as meaningful, as well as the level of spiritual fusion, are predictors of well-being.

KW - Quality of life

KW - anxiety

KW - dissociative identity disorder

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140322989&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.47626/1516-4446-2021-2414

DO - 10.47626/1516-4446-2021-2414

M3 - Article

C2 - 35901456

SN - 1516-4446

VL - 44

SP - 486

EP - 494

JO - Revista da Associacao Brasileira de Psiquiatria

JF - Revista da Associacao Brasileira de Psiquiatria

IS - 5

ER -

The mind possessed: well-being, personality, and cognitive characteristics of individuals regularly experiencing religious possession

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Themes

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this