Abstract

PARRA, Alejandro. Out-of-body experiences are a form ofcorporal hallucination?. Subj. procesos cogn. [online]. 2009, vol.13, n.2, pp.164-173. ISSN 1852-7310.

In an out-of-body experience (OBE), the "self", or center of awareness, seems to temporarily occupy a position spatially remote from one's body. In support of previous studies, undergraduate students reporting OBEs (N = 132) showed a higher level of cognitive-perceptual schizotypy, dissociation, visual and kinetic hallucination proneness, and visual imagery than did non-OBEs (N = 516). The results support a dissociation model of OBEs. Some persons reported beneficial adaptive effects from their OBEs. Despite the widespread occurrence of anomalous perceptual experiences, including OBEs, in the general population, the term hallucination still has pejorative overtones. Such findings suggest that OBEs may be related to dissociation and cognitive-perceptual schizotypy. When taken in conjunction with other surveys of the general population, this study confirms that psychic experiences are a common occurrence in non-clinical populations, and that, although they are correlated with dissociation, they are not necessarily associated with pathology.

Keywords : Out-of-body experience; Schizotypy; Dissociation; Hallucination proneness.

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