Throughout history, during contemplative practice and during everyday life people have felt oneness with others, nature, or the universe. ACISTE members are invited to participate in a ground-breaking survey on ONENESS.  Eric Van Lente is conducting this research as part of his PhD program at the School of Psychology at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Eric is especially interested if you have some type of meditative practice, but he’d like to invite everyone to participate. …

Participatory Aesthetics: A Phenomenological Study of Aesthetic Experiences of Persons in Substance Abuse Recovery Participatory aesthetics is understood as an active involvement in a creative endeavor. Similar to Spiritually Transformative Experiences, (STEs), an aesthetic experience can be explained as a transformative experience; awakening self to being interconnected with creation and beauty. For this study, 25 participants will be asked to describe their transformative experiences …

People everywhere have experiences like hearing voices and seeing things other people don’t. Sometimes, these are part of mental illness. Often, however, they occur in healthy individuals. There are usually a few differences between the experiences of people who seek psychiatric care and people who don’t. One difference is the ability to regain empowerment in the distressing life experiences that aren’t working for them—specifically with perceptual experiences. For example, many people say th…

Marieta Pehlivanova, PhD, is a junior researcher at the Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia. Dr. Pehlivanova’s work at the Division focuses on near-death experiences, children reporting past-life memories, as well as other unusual experiences. Marieta holds a PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s degree in Statistics from American University. Prior to her academic work, she pursued a career as a statistician in medical res…

A new research project at The University of Adelaide is seeking people who have experienced a psycho-spiritual crisis (spiritual emergency) for an investigation into psychic phenomena. To participate you will need a computer or laptop with internet connection and a quiet space where you can work uninterrupted for approximately 35 minutes. Participation will include responding to a few questionnaires about spirituality, unusual experiences and paranormal beliefs. This will be followed by a 10…

Are you a mental health professional or counselor who has worked with near-death experiencers? The Division of Perceptual Studies at the University of Virginia is recruiting mental health professionals (including therapists, social workers, psychiatrists, and other physicians), chaplains or other types of counselors who have experience working with near-death experiencers, specifically in managing difficulties resulting from the experience, for an online study. Near-death experiences are per…

A note from the researcher: I am in the midst of writing my dissertation and would appreciate your participation in my research. Sharing your experiences may serve others in their integration process. The topic of my dissertation and research focus is how gratitude may affect the integration of spiritually transformative experiences, specifically the experiences of having contact with ultimate reality, source, unity with the cosmos, or the void, and/or dissolution of self. A near death exper…

LICENSED SOCIAL WORKERS INVITED TO CONTRIBUTE TO FIRST RESEARCH IN THE FIELD ON WORKING WITH SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCERS A note from the researcher: Please assist me to build competence within the social work field, towards the non-pathologizing of the spiritual experience. I am a fellow social worker, whose passion is to assist individuals who are experiencing spiritually related difficulties. This passion stems from having experienced a spiritual crisis of my own and having had great difficult…

Researcher Kylie Harris is currently seeking participants for a research study that aims to explore the relationship between spiritual emergence(y), psychosis and personality. Spiritual emergence(y) is a process of integrating spiritual awareness and experience (e.g., mystical and paranormal phenomena, unusual emotional and physical sensations), which generally facilitates positive transformation and growth. However, if the process occurs very rapidly or is triggered suddenly (e.g., via a tra…

The deadline for the ISTEI survey has been extended to November 10 What A survey of how people integrate spiritually transformative experiences*. The study is oriented towards people who have had a profound life-changing spiritual experience that took months to years to integrate into their lives.