Adult attachment insecurity, mystical experiences, and the moderating role of transliminality

Research in the psychology of religion has shown relationships with the sacred correspond with the quality of human relationships in a person's life (i.e., a person's God concept) and, on the other hand, compensate for unmet needs in a person's close relationships (i.e., religious conversion). It was predicted that mystical experience would serve the latter, compensatory function consistent with the emotional compensation hypothesis (Granqvist & Hagekull, 1999). This is the first study to apply attachment theory to empirical investigation of mystical experience. Results from a general adult sample (N=128) did not support hypotheses. Correlations between scores on the self-report measures of adult attachment (ECR-R) and mystical experience (M Scale) were weak, suggesting mystical experience and attachment are not related. Results suggest that although religious conversion and mystical experience share features (i.e., suddenness, emotional intensity, significant lifestyle changes) they differ insofar as religious conversion occurs within the fabric of human relationships and is related to attachment insecurity while mystical experience is a private, solitary experience that appears unrelated to attachment. Further, adjunctive findings regarding introvertive and extrovertive types of mystical experience did not support Stace's (1960) theory that introvertive mystical experience is reserved for the spiritually disciplined. There were no significant differences with regard to introvertive mystical experience among individuals reporting regular religious-spiritual practices: When type of religious-spiritual practice was considered, however, significantly greater introvertive mystical experiences were reported by meditators (Cohen's d = .41) with an even larger effect for extrovertive mystical experiences (Cohen's d = .67). Effect sizes were largest for extrovertive mystical experience among individuals engaged in alternative religious-spiritual practices (i.e., yoga, solstice and equinox celebrations; Cohen's d = 1.14). Results indicate that type of religious-spiritual matters when investigating the question of who is more susceptible to mystical experience. Other findings on mystical experience and health indicated significant relationships between introvertive mystical experience and a reported history of psychiatric diagnosis and problematic drug use. No such relationships were found for extrovertive mystical experience, lending further support to the utility of the distinction between introvertive and extrovertive mystical experience in elucidating contradictory findings on mystical experience and health.