Are Phenomena that Constitute Exceptional Experiences (ExE) Subclinical Symptoms of a Psychosis Continuum?

Annette Zwickel

Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP)

Freiburg, Germany

Introduction: Exceptional experiences (ExE) deviate from beliefs about reality of the affected individuals and/or their social environment and/or from epistemological concepts, scientific principles, and laws established in modern societies. In clinical psychology, ExE often are considered symptoms of mental disorders and, especially in psychiatry, as part of the psychosis continuum. Psychosis is seen as an expression of a general disposition that can vary from subtle features to moderate mental disturbances to schizotypy and schizophrenia. In this sense, Unterrassner interpret ExE as “psychotic-like experiences at the healthy end of the psychosis continuum.” However, several studies show that ExE cannot simply be subsumed under clinical symptoms, and the relationship between ExE and a hypothetical psychosis continuum remains unclear. With our research, we would like to clarify the issue.

The “Phenomenology of Exceptional Experiences Questionnaire” (PExE-II) developed at IGPP is based on a phenomenological approach and is free of psychopathological presuppositions. It allows the assignment of ExE to “externality,” “internality,” “coincidence,” and “dissociation” as four dimensions of their mental representation.

We assume that ExE has to be differentiated from psychosis-like symptoms, but an overlap is to be expected in the case of ego-dystonic internal phenomena.

To proof our hypothesis, we use the concept of psychoticism from the Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders. The DSM-5 Personality Inventory, with its dimensional design across five domains, covers a continuum of maladaptive personality traits, one of which is psychoticism. Psychoticism has particular relevance to the schizotypal personality, symptoms of which are often associated with ExE in clinical psychology. Schizotypal features, in turn, precede schizophrenic-type features on a hypothetical psychosis continuum. Facets of psychoticism include unusual beliefs and inner experiences (UBE), eccentricity (ECC), and cognitive and perceptual dysregulation (DYS). Conceptual links between UBE and ExE are obvious.

If there is a meaningful relationship between a psychosis continuum and ExE, then we should expect significant correlations between all ExE dimensions and psychoticism facets.

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Annette Zwickel is a clinical psychologist (M.Sc.) at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP) in Freiburg, Germany. She joins the IGPP as a research associate and counselor for people with exceptional experiences (ExE). In her counseling research, she currently focuses on differential diagnostic issues related to ExE, particularly with internal phenomena and mental disorders with psychotic symptoms. She has basic training in systemic counseling and is currently training as a Jungian psychotherapist. She completed her bachelor’s degree with an empirical study on parapsychology and her master’s degree with a contribution on the meaning of life and exceptional experiences.

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Program chaired by Jacob W. Glazier. Download the Abstracts at https://parapsych.org/uploaded_files/pdfs/00/00/00/01/26/2023_pa_abstracts_of_presented_papers.pdf

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Published on January 13, 2025