Measuring Spiritual Emergency
Measuring Spiritual Emergency has not been very well defined by numerous authors. Monika Goretski, PhD., has written one of the most informative and well-respected articles published on this theme. She reviews the questionnaire she developed and used in the following article published in 2009. Monika was specifically interested in the difference between psychosis and spiritual emergency. Monika is a Spiritual Emergence Coach®. You can find her email in our Spiritual Emergence Coach® Directory. She currently works as a counsellor at the University of South Australia.
Measuring Spiritual Emergency: ABSTRACT of the Article
Ten questionnaire subscales with a grand total of 84 items were developed to measure 10 different types of spiritual emergency. Also developed was an Experience of Psychotic Symptoms Scale (EPSS). One hundred and nine persons from the general public in Australia were administered an omnibus questionnaire, together with the EPSS, three validity questions relevant to psychosis, and a lie scale. Psychometric properties for the EPSS and the 10 Spiritual Emergency Subscales were calculated. All 10 Subscales correlated significantly positively and highly with the EPSS. The Subscales inter-correlated positively and mostly highly, and a factor analysis showed that there was a single underlying factor that we may call ‘‘spiritual emergency.’’ This factor correlated .76 with experience of psychotic symptoms. There is clearly, as previously suspected, a close link between psychosis and spiritual emergency: it may be suggested that either spiritual emergency is nothing but psychosis, or psychosis is nothing but spiritual emergency.
The complete article on measuring spiritual emergency can be found by clicking on: GoretskiArticleMeasuringSEY.pdf
An article assessing Monika’s measuring tools in 2014 can be found here.
Learn More about Spiritual Emergency
If you are interested in learning how to support someone experiencing Spiritual Emergency symptoms–please explore our online course by clicking here. Taking this course is the first step towards become a Certified Spiritual Emergence Coach®. However, it is available to anyone to help them manage a spiritual crisis within themselves or within someone they care for.
I believe that it was a SE that I experienced in 1979.
As it was not recognised here in Australia, I had to endure the traumas and travails of the “psychiatric mill”… involuntary submissions to asylums… yes, they were medieval in any respects…
I had the good fortune to meet Stanislav Grof at a workshop in Blackwood, Victoria, in 1983. He confirmed my own diagnosis! I am indebted to Stan and Christina for this revelation, and the search which has occupied my life since.
After 35 years of being compulsorily ensnared by the “psychiatric mill”, I have emerged, enlivened, and spiritually aware… !
My intention in the foreseeable future is to conduct a Peace Summit for the Global Prosperity and Peace Initiative… an international organisation which is contributing to the concept of world Peace. for those interested, the website is: http://www.prosperityandpeace.org