The presentation of extrasensory experiences is typically elegant and subtle in healthy individuals as they function along with the individuals “normal” mental processes.
Because of this, extrasensory experiences are viewed as being self-perpetuating, by the subconscious or preconscious mind, and often remain unnoticeable to the general public due to their subtle nature and because most individuals have not been taught how to identify and classify such experiences. However, the presentation of extrasensory experiences is typically pronounced and often obtrusive in individuals under stress and are not self-perpetuating.
The following are perpetuating factors that can allow pronounced and distressing extrasensory experiences to continue for a long period of time or return after a period of dormancy.
Cognitive Biases. Includes situations that can lead the individual to confuse non-genuine extrasensory experiences as authentic and confound aspects of causation and phenomenology that may mislead the individual in a perpetual cycle of cognitive biases when such experiences should be approached with some level of skepticism (e.g. conceptual-perceptual biases, probabilistic reasoning errors, etc).
Fatalistic Viewpoint. Applies when the individual possesses the belief that all things and events are inevitable, fated, or pre-determined by nature or by God.
Positive Appraisal of Negative Experiences. Applies when a distressing extrasensory experience is given a positive appraisal this can cause the individual to avoid the cessation of future experiences and misinterpret the experience as a “gift” that they are not “strong enough to control.”
External Causation. Applies when an individual attempts to apply meaning to distressful extrasensory experiences and in doing so misunderstands the cause of the experience as being entirely external.
Neglecting the Issue. Includes situations where the individual knows, or the clinician has explained to the individual, why they are facing such distressful extrasensory experience, yet the individual does not attempt to, or cannot on their own, resolve the issue causing the experience.
Shifting the Issue. Includes situations where issues are only partly resolved; whereby, the individual continues down a road brimming with same or similar distressing extrasensory experiences due to similar issues rather than just the initial issue.
Citation: Kelly, T.M. (2015). 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.
