According to the Psi-Mediated Instrumental Response, introduced by Stanford (1974a):

• Extrasensory phenomena are probably operative in daily life far more than we realize,
• The chief function of extrasensory phenomena is to accomplish certain goals or to fulfill certain needs of human beings,
• Extrasensory phenomena operates for the most part unconsciously.

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Not only is the operation of extrasensory perception unnoticed by the individual, but also the need might not even be consciously recognized. However, according to Ehrenwald (1974), extrasensory phenomena are more likely to occur during deficit states of the organism, and therefore; extrasensory perception develops as a compensatory phenomenon. But which position is correct? Are extrasensory phenomena continuously working in the background as a survival mechanism?

Or, do extrasensory phenomena only develop as compensatory mechanisms? In the opinion of this author, both of these statements appear to be true. Extrasensory phenomena in the general population appear to be subtly working in the back ground, as to be so subtle, most are not aware of such processes. At this level, extrasensory phenomena are simply an extension of our other senses that reaches beyond the boundaries of the physical self into the environment and the other people within those environments.

In these cases, a psychic empathist may simply consider themself as “emotionally sensitive,” a precognitive may simply see themself as having “excellent critical reasoning skills,” and a telepathist may simply consider themself to be a “people-person.”

However, when an individual is suddenly or gradually faced with a deficit that cannot be resolved or fulfilled through non-parapsychological means, that which was once subtle and cooperative now becomes noticeable and compensatory. Once this shift to compensation occurs, if negatively experienced, the individual typically experiences distress due to confusion and safety concerns, which can be quelled by properly educating the individual on extrasensory processes.

This may include:

• Devictimization (i.e. the experience is something they are causing rather than something happening to them),
• Correcting misinterpretations in phenomenology,
• Differentiating psychopathological symptomology from parapsychological phenomenology.

References:

Ehrenwald, J. (1974). Telepathy and Medical Parapsychology. New York: Gordon Press.

Standford, R.G. (1974). An experimentally testable model for spontaneous psi events. I. Extrasensory events. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 68, 34-57.

Citation: Kelly, T.M. (2015). Clinical Parapsychology: Extrasensory Exceptional Experiences (Textbook). University of Alternative Studies. Purchase.
Copyright © 2015 Theresa M. Kelly, MsD. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.