Para-psychology is divided into two main branches: a) extra-sensory perception (ESP) which is the study of communications ostensibly without the known sensory organs and, b) psychokinesis (PK) or the study of physical events that apparently occur without involvement of any recognized motor organs.
The ESP or paranormal experiences include i) telepathy or communication between two geographically separated persons, outside the range of sensory organs; ii) clairvoyance or knowledge of hidden objects or events occurring outside the physical reach of the person and iii) precognition or knowledge of future events that can not be predicted or inferred from the available information. Examples of PK would include poltergeist phenomenon and paranormal healing.
There may be phenomenological similarities between parapsychological experiences and psychiatric conditions. However, with adequate knowledge and training a detailed evaluation would show that the two conditions are entirely different and require different management strategies.
A considerable number of cases of paranormal experiences have been carefully investigated, found authentic by independent investigators, and published in the scientific books and journals of high standards. These publications include different aspects of paranormal experiences such as telepathy,[1–4]near-death experiences (NDE)s and out-of-body experiences (OOBE),[5–13]apparitions,[14,15]poltergeist[16] and reincarnation.[17–27]I am referring here mostly to the work of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals.
I shall not go into the amount of evidence available on paranormal phenomena; it is beyond the scope of the present article. Suffice it to say that enough evidence is available on the authenticity of the phenomena to understand its relevance to psychiatry. Independent surveys of general populations have shown that between 10% and 15% of persons reported having had communications from persons not in contact with them; perception of such communications generally occurs in visual or auditory modalities. Such visions usually occur during an altered state of consciousness (dozing or daydreaming) and the person perceived is usually a close relative or a friend in a crisis or stressful situation, often in a life-threatening situation. Some of the persons having such experiences may be confused or perplexed. A psychiatrist who is not at least open-minded about the possibility of paranormal experiences will almost certainly be unable to distinguish psychopathological from paranormal and equally unable to assist the occasional person who is perplexed about unusual experiences that he would like to report and discuss with someone outside his family.
Read More – Relevance of para-psychology in psychiatric practice
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