Problem-Solving models for spiritual experiences have been employed in an explanatory manner by a number of eminent psychological authors, including James (1902) and Jung (1938) and most recently Jackson (1991) and Clarke (2001). The present study focuses upon the Cognitive Problem-Solving Hypothesis, (CPSH: Jackson 1991; Jackson and Fulford 1997), as it is the most explicitly process-based explanatory description of the stages and underlying processes of spiritual experiences. This four-stage model proposes that antecedent stress, in the form of existential crises, precedes the occurrence of
spiritual experiences, which in tum lead to new perspectives that directly address antecedent issues, providing a cognitive resolution. Further, this model proposes that schizotypal personality traits enhance the person's susceptibility for spiritual experiences.
The present study employed Confirmatory Factor Analyses, (chapter 2), to examine and modify measurement models of spiritual experience (the Spiritual Experiences Questionnaire: Jackson 1991), schizotypal personality trait (the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences: Mason 1995), existential life attitude (the Life Attitude Profile: Reker and Peackock 1981) and dissociative personality trait (the Dissociative Experiences Scale: Bernstein and Putnam 1986). Path Analyses were subsequently employed to examine the relationships between the same variables (Chapter 3).
Path Analytic models were constructed on the basis of (and drawn from) the CPSH. It was found that only one schizotypal dimension (Unusual Experiences) was significantly associated with two dimensions of spiritual experiences (Mystical and Numinous Experiences) while dissociative trait was exclusively and significantly associated with more negative qualities of spiritual (Evil) experiences.
The effects of spiritual experience were examined via the relationships between the dimensions of spiritual experience, existential life attitude and depression (measured using the SCL-90-R). It was found that Mystical experiences and Evil experiences were associated with elevations in current depressive symptoms. Numinous and Mystical experiences were associated with more positive existential life attitudes, while Evil experiences were associated with more negative life attitudes.
Some components of the CPSH were not amenable to quantitative examination. Chapter 4), employed an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IP A: Smith 1996) to examine the personal meaning, encompassing context and effects that spiritual experiences had upon a sample reporting spiritual experiences of an elevated proto-typicality. It was found that spiritual experiences were valued for the attenuation of dysphoria. However, contrary to the proposal of the CPSH, it was the repeated occurrence of such experiences that facilitated this function . Further, this analysis showed the importance of socially derived feedback, obtained while attempting to understand and validate anomalous experience, was crucial in determining their outcome.
These studies have supported the more general proposal for a ' problem-solving' model of spiritual experiences. However, the findings also suggest a greater specificity regarding the way in which spiritual experiences address antecedent personal issues.