The reliable recognition of different types of spiritual
problems is in its infancy. There is considerable overlap
in terminology in all the proposed taxonomies. Despite
the human desire for order, nature does not usually
divide phenomena into neat categories. I have seen
people in spiritual emergencies whose episode combined
elements from more than one of the types described
in this course. One case I wrote about in Myths
in Mental Illness had elements of both mystical
and a visionary experiences. My own spiritual emergency
had elements from both shamanic crisis and mystical
experience.
Yet there is sufficient regularity in these self-reports
to establish phenomenologically-based types determined
by the way people have described the experiences. There
is no claim that these experiences are "objectively
true."