Abstract

Every year about 400 people from all over Germany who claim exceptional experiences approach the "Institut fur Grenzgebiete der Psychologie and Psychohygiene e.V." (IGPP) in Freiburg asking for advice and help in order to find explanations and means of coping for these experiences.

In April '96 the research project "Counseling and Help for People who claim Exceptional Experiences" was brought into being by the outpatient service of the Psychological Institute of the University of Freiburg and the IGPP with the purpose of meeting these counseling needs with a professional counseling approach. The objective of this research project is the development, implementation and evaluation of an empirically based clinical approach for people who claim these experiences and are irritated by them.

The research group considers the term "Exceptional Experiences" as a collective term, including occurrences such as recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis, passivity experiences, telepathy, clairvoyance, appearances or apparitions, extrasensory perceptions such as precognition, unusual dreams, experiences with occultism, spiritualism or alternative-esoteric practices as well as exceptional experiences in the context of meditation, yoga etc

The presented paper discusses the relevance of these experiences for the average population. Different models trying to explain the development of paranormal beliefs are presented and role of dissociation as a possible key concept for the understanding of exceptional experiences is discussed. The need of counseling for people who claim exceptional experiences and as a result eventually develop emotional problems is illustrated by referring to the latest results of the research project. These results show who claims exceptional experiences and of what kind these experiences are, which people seek information or need counseling or therapy, how many of them can be classified as being mentally disturbed and how the counselors deal with these requests.

The relevant data is collected by means of a special documentary system, developed by the research group which, in addition to transcripts of the counseling sessions, serves as the main source of information. According to these data, half of the people who look for advice can be classified as having a psychological disorder because of the stated symptoms and problems, 45 % report experiences with psychiatry or/and psychotherapy.

In the theoretical and practical guidelines of the developed counseling approach clinical-psychological and parapsychological knowledge are integrated. To avoid early labeling the counselors respect exceptional experiences for what they are, narratives of a truly exceptional experience. Beyond that the counselors consider it important to dedramatize and demythologize the experience. This helps the client to integrate the experience into the client's concept of the self and the world. A further goal of the counseling process is to enhance the flexibility in the cognitive connections to allow not only paranormal but also normal explanations for the exceptional experiences. Regaining self-control and perspective is another counseling goal since many of the clients (26%) feel influenced by external forces or other persons. On the basis of the results of a specially developed evaluative questionnaire which is sent to all clients who received some kind of counseling the actual counseling approach and model will be developed further.