Disorganized Attachment Promotes Mystical Experiences via a Propensity for Alterations in Consciousness (Absorption)

Abstract

In this article, the authors argue that mystical experiences are linked to disorganized attachment via a proposed mediator—the propensity to enter altered states of consciousness (absorption). Using a sample of predominantly religious/spiritual participants (N = 62), they report that disorganized attachment, as identified with the Adult Attachment Interview, predicted lifetime occurrence of mystical experiences and that this link was mediated by absorption. Alternative mediational models received less conclusive support. Also, more conventional aspects of religion (theistic beliefs and degree of general religiousness) were not related to disorganized attachment or absorption, supporting the discriminant validity of the mediational model. In the discussion, the authors argue that mystical experiences represent a nonpathological and potentially self-reparative “outcome” of disorganized attachment and the related propensity to experience alterations in consciousness.

Notes

*p < .05.

**p < .01; one-tailed.

¹The following six items were excluded from the absorption scale (resemblances with mystical experiences noted in parentheses): “I think I really know what some people mean when they talk about mystical experiences” (personal familiarity with mystical experiences); “Sometimes I feel as if my mind could envelop the whole world” (cf. perception of totality) and “I sometimes ‘step outside’ my usual self and experience an entirely different state of being” (mystical experiences exemplify altered self-states); “Sometimes I experience things as if they were doubly real” (mystical experiences include a profound sense of heightened reality); “It is sometimes possible for me to be completely immersed in nature or in art and to feel as if my whole state of consciousness has somehow been temporarily altered” (cf. nature mysticism); and “At times I somehow feel the presence of someone who is not physically there” (mystical experiences may involve perceptions of the divine).

²For purposes of comparison, 75% (six of eight) of participants assigned a disorganized classification scored above partial agreement, compared with 48% (26 of 54) of participants assigned an organized classification (odds ratio = 3.23).