The following diagnostic criteria set was developed for use in clinical, educational, and research settings and are intended to be utilized by individuals with appropriate clinical training and experience and an appropriate professional education in scientific parapsychology. It is important that criteria not be applied mechanically by untrained individuals. The following criteria are intended to serve as guidelines and applied in a culturally and contextually sensitive manner.
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A. Normal content, form, and processing factors: The presence of two (or more) of the following criteria, known and applicable, are required criteria for a genuine extrasensory experience without the need for co-diagnosis. At least one of these must be (1).
1) Characteristic phenomenology
2) Voluntary volition and control
3) Positive valence
4) Normal content
5) Benign entity
6) Normal beliefs
7) Functional
8) Discerned peculiarity
9) Medication intolerance
B. Social/occupational need: A subconscious need has been identified as the catalyst for the initiation of extrasensory processes (e.g. identified an inability to meet basic needs and/or an inability communicate needs, feelings, or thoughts to an individual(s) in an interpersonal, academic, or occupational context).
C. Validation: The clinician determines the experience was more than a coincidence/chance occurrence based on the quality of the information received and reported, and all other known explanations for obtaining the information are excluded. If validation does not apply, yet extrasensory experience is still plausible, the experience should be assigned as “Possible Extrasensory Perception” (PESP).
Citation: Kelly, T.M. (2014). Clinical Parapsychology: Extrasensory Exceptional Experiences (Textbook). University of Alternative Studies. Purchase.
Copyright © 2014 Theresa M. Kelly, MsD. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
