Research with the Questionnaire on the Phenomenology of Exceptional Experiences: From PAgE-R to PExE-II

Wolfgang Fach

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

Freiburg, Germany

We present a validated and, for the second time, revised and redesigned version of the “Questionnaire on the Phenomenology of Exceptional Experiences.” The instrument has previously been known as PAgE, which is the German acronym for “Phänomenologie Aussergewöhnlicher Erfahrungen,” and is now abbreviated as PExE in the English translation. The construction of the questionnaire is based on a phenomenological classification system for exceptional experiences (ExE) developed by Fach (2011). It is inspired by Metzinger’s (2003) theory of mental representations but, in contrast, remains neutral with respect to the ontological status of ExE. According to his approach, the human mental system produces a phenomenal reality-model comprising the totality of all mental states consciously experienced at a given time in a self-model and the world-model as its fundamental components.

With a response format of a five-point frequency scale, it captures exceptional phenomena, i.e., mental representations that constitute exceptional experiences (ExE), in four basic classes: (1) external phenomena located in the world-model (e.g., poltergeist phenomena); (2) internal phenomena located in the self-model (e.g., ego-dystonic phenomena); (3) coincidence phenomena as exceptional connections between the self-model and the world-model (e.g., extrasensory perceptions); (4) dissociation phenomena as exceptional separations of the self-model and the world-model (e.g., out-of-body experiences).

The PExE was first revised in 2011, redesigned as PExE-R, and translated into English (Fach et al., 2014). Since then, it has been used in a number of studies (e.g., Fach et al., 2013; Landolt et al., 2014; Schmidt et al., 2019; Wyss, 2016). Unterrassner et al. (2017) ignored the purely phenomenological intention of the PExE-R, i.e., its independence from psychopathological categories, and equated exceptional phenomena with subclinical symptoms on a psychosis continuum. Using factor analysis, they identified three dimensions, which they labeled “odd beliefs,” “dissociative anomalous perceptions,” and “hallucinatory anomalous perceptions.” With these factors, they questioned the content validity and theoretically presupposed dimensionality of the ExE construct. However, their approach suffered from technical flaws, and their use of the factors as scales without conducting the required item and scale analyses does not meet test-theoretic standards. We conducted a validation study that showed that the ExE construct had the expected dimensionality after appropriate selection of weak and ambiguous items. As a final result, the PExE-R was revised again and transformed into the PExE-II. The new questionnaire and the results of a follow-up study that reconfirmed its validity are presented in detail.

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Wolfgang Fach, Dipl.-Psych., studied psychology in Trier and Freiburg. Licensed as a psychological psychotherapist with depth psychology-based training in integrative therapy. Since 1995, he has been a research associate at the Freiburg Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP). Since 2013 lecturer at the C.G. Jung Institute in Küsnacht/Zurich. Main fields of activity at IGPP: counseling people with exceptional experiences (ExE) and coordination of research and quality assurance in the field of counseling psychology. Research interests: Phenomenology and mental representation of ExE, ExE and attachment theory, approaches and concepts for counseling and therapy of people with ExE, ExE and dual-aspect monism.

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Published on June 21, 2024