一份2013年的《今天心理學》(Psychology Today),有作者在引述一些最新研究之後,表示﹕那些自稱注重靈性事情(spiritual)的人〔即新紀元人物〕,他們較多使用治療精神異常的藥物,濫用藥品,經歷到廣泛性焦慮症、恐懼症、或其他精神失常,或有不正常的進食態度。他們也常形容自己為怪誕和瘋狂。此外,他們常有『另類』信念(例如﹕心靈致動、輪迴、占星術、巫術、靈異能力)。(Scott A. McGreal, “Troubled Souls: Spirituality as a Mental Health Hazard.” (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/unique-everybody-else/201301/troubled-souls-spirituality-mental-health-hazard). )為什麼說那些注重靈性事物的人是新紀元人物呢?因為受新紀元影響的人通常說自己「注重靈性事情,但不篤信宗教」(spiritual, not religious ),他們不願意和宗教認同,也未必接受任何宗教信念,但他們實踐一些宗教操練,甚至神秘經歷。例如他們不承認自己是佛教徒,但他們喜歡禪宗冥想;他們不承認自己是印度教徒,但卻熱衷瑜伽。所以連同社會上和心理學圈子,也把各種新紀元技術形容為「屬靈操練」(Spiritual practice,或作修行),或靈性事物。
塔特(Charles T. Tart)在他的代表作《超心理學》(Transpersonal Psychologies)中表示,催眠術和各種冥想技術,都是改變意識狀態的技術。該書描述各種屬靈心理學(如禪宗冥想或瑜伽)所使用的技術,叫人意識變異,直接經歷屬靈事情。[xxv] 還有一位精神醫生作同樣表示,催眠或自我催眠可以幫助人經歷很多不同的意識狀態,其中有靈性的或者超越的,所以他認為催眠術和靈性事物有關聯。[xxvi]
[i] Caroline Brett, “Transformative Crisis,” in Isabel Clarke, ed., Psychosis and Spirituality: Consolidating the New Paradigm (UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), p. 155. [ii] Stanislav Grof & Christina Grof, Spiritual Emergency: When Personality Transformation Becomes a Crisis (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1989), p. x-xiv. [iii] Natalie Tobert, “The Polarities of Consciousness,” in Psychosis and Spirituality, p. 38. [iv] Mark D. Epstein and Jonathan D. Lieff, “Psychiatric Complications of Meditation Practice,” The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 1981, Vol.13, No.2, p. 137-47. (http://www.atpweb.org/jtparchive/trps-13-81-02-137.pdf) [v] Roberto Assagioli, “Self-Realization and Psychological Disturbances,” in Spiritual Emergency, p. 32, 34-37. [vi] Lee Sannella, “Kundalini: Classical and Clinical,” in Spiritual Emergency, p. 105. [vii] Sandy Brundage, “Bad Vibes: Warning, Meditating May Be Hazardous to Your Health,” SFWeekly, Aug 28 2002. (http://www.sfweekly.com/2002-08-28/news/bad-vibes/full/). [viii] Mary Garden, “Can Meditation be Bad for You?” Humanist, September/October 2007. (http://www.thehumanist.org/humanist/MaryGarden.html) [ix] “Sleeping with the Angels: A Spiritual Journey through Schizophrenia” (http://www.freewebs.com/yvonnenahat/introduction.htm);“Schizophrenia or an advanced spiritual state?” (http://www.gurusfeet.com/forum/schizophrenia-or-advanced-spiritual-state).;Janette Scott, “Yoga and Schizophrenia” (http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1997/esep97/schizo.shtml). [x] Steve Robson, “Spiritual people are more likely to be mentally ill (but at least they think life has more meaning),” Daily Mail Online, January 2013 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255894/Spiritual-people-likely-mentally-ill-think-life-meaning.html) [xi] Scott O. Lilienfeld, “Psychological Treatments That Cause Harm,” Perspectives on Psychological Science, Vol 2, No 1, p. 62, 65. [xii] Graeme A. Yorston, “Mania precipitated by meditation: A case report and literature review,” Mental Health, Religion & Culture, volume 4, issue 2, 2001, p. 209-213. ( http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/713685624#.UobXAXDrz0E). [xiii] Joseph J. Schildkraut, Alissa J. Hirshfeld, Jane M. Murphy, “Mi nd and mood in modern art: II. Depressive disorders, spirituality, and early deaths in the abstract expressionist artists of the New York School,” The American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol 151(4), Apr 1994, p. 482-488. (http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1994-37536-001) [xiv] 例﹕「New Age Search」組織(http://www.newagesearch.com/videos-bipolar-spiritual-awakening.html); Therese Borchard, “The Spiritual Life and Bipolar Disorder,” (http://www.beliefnet.com/Health/Emotional-Health/Bipolar/The-Spiritual-Life-And-Bipolar-Disorder.aspx) ; “Bipolar Disorder: A Spiritual Perspective For 2013” (http://rachelmiller1511.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/bipolar-disorder-a-spiritual-perspective/)。 [xv] Richard P. Halgin & Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Abnormal Psycholoyg: Clinical Perspective on Psychological Disorders (Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education, 2009), p. 195. [xvi] Richard J. Castillo, “Trance, Functional Psychosis, and Culture,” Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes, 2003, Vol. 66, No. 1, pp. 9-21. (http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/psyc.66.1.9.20285) [xvii] Beng-Yeong Ng, “Qigong-Induced Mental Disorders: A Review,” Australian and New Zealand Psychiatry, April 1999, vol. 33, no. 2, p. 197-206. (http://anp.sagepub.com/content/33/2/197.short). [xviii] Robson, “Spiritual people are more likely to be mentally ill,” Daily Mail Online. [xix] Halgin & Whitbourne, Abnormal Psycholoyg, p. 326-27. [xx] Gordon Claridge, Miguel Farias and Mansur Lalljee, “Personality and cognitive predictors of New Age practices and beliefs,” Personality and Individual Differences, 39.5 (Oct. 2005): p979. (http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&UID=2005-12590-013) [xxi] K. Bennett, J. Shepherd, A. Janca A, “Personality disorders and spirituality,” Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 2013 Jan, 26(1), p. 79-83.( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23201965); Nic White, “Personality disorders and spirituality relationship explored,” Science Network, 09 May 2013, (http://www.sciencewa.net.au/topics/social-science/item/2125-personality-disorders-and-spirituality-relationship-explored.html). [xxii] Stanislav Grof & Christina Grof, “Spiritual Emergency:Understanding Evolutionary Crisis,” in Spiritual Emergency, p. 8. [xxiii] Ibid., p. 13-14. [xxiv] Clarke, Psychosis and Spirituality. [xxv] Charles T. Tart, ed., Transpersonal Psychologies (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1975), p. 15, 41, 55. [xxvi] Gérard V. Sunnen, “How hypnosis is clinically utilized to address the spectrum of cancers physical and psychological dimensions.” (http://www.triroc.com/sunnen/topics/cancer.hypnosis.htm) [xxvii] Chris C. Streeter, Theodore H. Whitfield, Liz Owen, Tasha Rein, Surya K. Karri, Aleksandra Yakhkind, Ruth Perlmutter, Andrew Prescot, Perry F. Renshaw, Domenic A. Ciraulo, and J. Eric Jensen, “Effects of Yoga Versus Walking on Mood, Anxiety, and Brain GABA Levels: A Randomized Controlled MRS Study,” The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. November 2010, 16(11), p. 1145-1152. (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2010.0007) [xxviii] Margarita Argarita Tartakovsky, “How Mindfulness Can Mitigate the Cognitive Symptoms of Depression,”( http://psychcentral.com/lib/how-mindfulness-can-mitigate-the-cognitive-symptoms-of-depression/00016240). [xxix] V. Marck Durand & David Barlow, Essentials of Abnormal Psychology, 3ed. (Pacific Grove, CA: Thomson Wadworth, 2003), p. 266-67. [xxx] G Kirkwood, H Rampes, V Tuffrey, J Richardson and K Pilkington, “Yoga for anxiety: a systematic review of the research evidence,” British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2005, 39, p. 884-891 . (http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/39/12/884.short) [xxxi] Albert J. Arias, Karen Steinberg, Alok Banga, and Robert L. Trestman, “Systematic Review of the Efficacy of Meditation Techniques as Treatments for Medical Illness,” The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. October 2006, 12(8), p. 817-832. (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/acm.2006.12.817) [xxxii] Scott R. Bishop, “What Do We Really Know About Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction?” Psychosomatic Medicine, January/February 2002, vol. 64 no. 1 p. 71-83. (http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/content/64/1/71.short) [xxxiii] Gordon Claridge, “Spiritual Experience: Healthy Psychoticism?” in Psychosis and Spirituality, p. 86-87. [xxxiv] David Lukoff, G. Francis & Robert Turner, “Cultural Considerations in the Assessment and Treatment of Religious and Spiritual Problems,” Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Vol 18(3), Sep 1995, p. 467-485. (http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1996-20044-001) [xxxv] David Benner & Peter Hill, Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology & Counseling, 2nd ed., (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999), p. 960. [xxxvi] Lee Sannella, “Kundalini:Classical and Clinical,” in Spiritual Emergency, p. 106-07. [xxxvii] Ram Dass, “Promises and Pitfalls of the Spiritual Path,” in Spiritual Emergency, p. 184-85. [xxxviii] Emmanuelle Peters, “Are Delusions on a Continuum? The Case of religious and Delusional Beliefs,” in Psychosis and Spirituality, p. 134-35. [xxxix] 馬國棟,《邪不能勝正﹕靈界檔案之》(香港﹕香港基督徒短期宣教訓練中心,1999年增訂版),頁63-66。