Treatment - Types of Spiritual Emergencies
The number of types of spiritual emergency has grown from the original 8 that Stan and Christina described in the ealry 1980s to some 30 types in the literature today. Obviously there is considerable overlapping terminilogy, and despite the human desire for order, nature does not usually divide phenomena into neat categories.
Loss, questioning or change of spiritual values
Mystical or unitive experience
Psychic opening
Kundalini
Possession States
Shamanistic crisis
UFO abduction
Near-death experience
Dying, grief, and life-threatening illness
The types above are ones that are not associated with mental disorders. Spiritual emergencies can also occur in conjunction with substance abuse, bipolar, and other disorders as well.
SEN@CIIS uses a similar typology:
Loss or change of faith
Existential and/ or spiritual crisis
Experience of unitive consciousness or altered states
Psychic Openings
Possession
Near-Death Experience
Kundalini
Shamanic journey
Difficulties with a meditation practice |
