Dissociative alterations in body image among individuals reporting out-of-body experiences: a conceptual replication.
A conceptual replication of the link between self-reported dissociative alterations in body-image under experimental conditions and the reporting of prior out-of-body experiences in a recent data set was undertaken. Also examined was whether this relationship would hold for experiences reported during the experimental context and whether it is independent of self-reported New Age belief. Data from mostly undergraduates (N= 40; M age = 33.5, SD = 12.5; 27 women) in a mirror-gazing study were retrospectively analyzed. The 9 individuals who reported prior out-of-body experiences, relative to those 31 who did not, exhibited significantly greater self-reported dissociative alterations in body-image during the mirror-gazing task, even when the influence of scores on New Age belief was controlled for statistically. The same differential relationship was not found between 6 individuals who did and 34 who did not report out-of-body experiences during the task.
Terhune
Devin Blair
DB
Division of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, 85 East Newton St., Suite M918E, Boston, MA 02118, USA. devin.terhune@gmail.com
D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D003469:Culture; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010268:Parapsychology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013404:Suggestion