Awakening or Psychosis? - How to tell the Difference?

Spotting Narcissism in Spirituality

What's the difference between awakening and psychosis?

Can we tell the difference between a mystical experience and a psychotic break?

When I was a kid, I remember my mother—a psychologist and atheist—used to tell me that all the prophets and religious leaders of the past were probably schizophrenics.

But a little voice inside me said: “They can’t ALL be crazy.”

Telling the difference between spiritual awakening or “emergence” and psychosis has been a lifelong interest. And as I start my graduate school degree this is one of the topics I’ll be studying and exploring in more depth in the coming years.

I’ve begun reading and researching psychological literature on this subject. There isn’t much. But almost all of it is dedicated to answering this same question. How do we tell the difference between madness and mysticism?

This is a very practical and necessary question because treating psychosis and spiritual emergence (or rather spiritual emergency) takes two different paths.

And with more and more people experimenting with spiritual practices and psychedelic use, I believe spiritual emergence and emergencies will become increasingly common in the world.

Luckily, there do seem to be ways ways to tell the difference.

I’ve linked my first video on this subject above, which people online seemed to really connect with. It looks at one specific paper that tries to distinguish practitioners in contemplative traditions from individuals in a psych ward using psychological testing.

The results are fascinating, and give me hope.

I believe identifying and treating spiritual emergence for what it is—a transformational and life-altering event—is a necessary step for western psychology, especially as we begin to bring psychedelics and meditative/mindfulness practices into the medical model.

Sincerely,

Daniel