119.
Sexauer,
phenomenology
and
Zeitschrifl
fur
Para)
Psychalogie,
1958,
conclusions of importance for psi investigations. - DA
118. Strauch.
Inge. A contribution to the problem of
"spiritual
healing:
Preliminary
report
on
a
medico-
psychological investigation. Part I. Zeitschrifl fur Pa rapsy-
chologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychology, 1958, 2 |1), 41-64.
20 refs. -Starting from
ti c definition of "spiritual healing given
by Thouless, the author: reports the motivation, the methods
and the results of an investigation which was performed by the
Medizinische Poliklinik of Freiburg University and the Freiburg
Institut fur Grenzegebieje der Psychology un^
Ps
^.
h
“^f
1*",e
(Institute for Border Areas of Psychology and Mental Hygiene),
concerning the activity o)f a "spiritual healer." 650 patients were
medically
and psychologically examined and the results of the
contact with the "spiritual healer" were observed up ‘° 14 rnom
ths. About 52% subjective improvements were stated, scattered
with about 15% on the various diseases (three quarters of the
patients were chronically ill). In contrast to these improvements
there were only few objective improvements.
Finally, the psychological structure of positive reactors is ex-
amined, improved methods are proposed and the agencies of
"spiritual healing' are discussed. -DA
^
,r>
Hans.
A
contribution
to
trie
d
psychology
of
the
poltergeist.
ipsychologie
und
Grenzgebiete
der
Psycnotogie,
i S»,
(2/3),
104-106.
refs.- Poltergeist
phenomena are of a very complex nature. At the samei time: they
show an objective aspect concerning the percepted data and a
subjective one, consisting of a specific emotional resonance
_
The description of the phenomena and their course make ob
vious the illusionary and scenic character of many forms of pol-
tergeist phenomena. The perception of these phenomena
in-
cludes qualities in close relation to the emotional expression o
''"poltergeist phenomena may be
divided
into two
different
groups: those of a dynamic character associated with persons,
and those apparently attached to certain locations. The emo
tional qualities of these experiences have specific parallels
to
the events studied by the psychology of religion. As yet, there is
no parapsychologlcal theory of poltergeist phenomena. Former
attempts of explanation do not seem to hit the very nature of the
occurrences. Depth-psychology contributes important marginal
clues. There are striking analogies to the catathymic pseudo-
hallucinations and to dream experience. But from the parapsy-
chological point of view the decisive question
is, whether the
phenomena do exceed the frame of the subjectivity and if so, in
which way do they. -DA
120.
Ehrenwald,
Jan.
Doctrinal
compliance
in
psychotherapy and problems of scientific methodology.
Zeitschrifl
fur
Pampsychologie
und
Grenzgebiete
der
Psychalogie,
1958,
2:
(2/3),
127-144
21 refs.-Doctrina
com.
pliance in psychotherapy is described as compliance by he pa-
tient with the therapist's preconscious wishes and expectations
concerning the validity
of
his own theoretical concepts and
favorite scientific hypotheses. It may be due to suggestion
con-
scious or unconscious, to “operant reinforcement,
but
it may
also be aided by telepathic leakage from the therapist to the pa-
tient. Influences of
this type may be compared with the
in
evitable interference by the observer in the physical sciences
with objects studied im the microphysical plane. Further points
of comparison between modern physics and psychology are
various other causal and spatiotemporal anomalies, common to
both quantum mechanics and psychoanalytic theory brought up
to
date
by
integrating
the
psi
factor
with
its
system
ot
thou|ht. DA
j:
Qn the dreamlike structure of
telepaihlc
asserticins.
Part
II.
chologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychology, 1958/59, 2
12/3),
145-172.-The sensitive's impressions induced by the telepath
situation often present important deviations m relation to the
material which seems to provoke the parapsychic percept.om In
analyzing these deviations
it becomes obvious that they repre
sent
a
meaningful
and
interpretable
product
*thw
mechanisms (e.g. concentration, displacement, etc.). The author
poses the question of their origin: are these deviations produced
by the mind of the (sensitive or are they elaborated by ‘he sub
conscious of the subject (the presumable "agent
), or aJ®j
hese
deviadoAppfo^efct
amples shows that the deviation had its origin in the mind of the
subject. However, these considerations do not seem to exhaust
the Complexity of the telepathic phenomena, which possibly
might be understood as an
intrinsic
reciprocity between
he
psyches
involved.
Further
research
should
also
stress
he
analysis of the unverifiable "mediumistic material which could
perhaps indicate how the telepathic process is imbedded in the
psychism of the
sensitive, and thus open the path
to under-
standing
the
relationship between
telepathy and
individual
PSY
122
C
Bender, Hans. Mediumistic psychoses: A contribu-
tion to the pathology of spiritualistic practices
Zeitschrifl
fur
Parapsychologie
und
Grenzgebiete
der
Psychology
1068/59
2(2/3)
173-201.29 refs.-This paper on the pathology
JfsSualfstic
practices
(table-tilting,
ouija-board
automatic
writing pendulum,
etc.) describes by a series of characteristic
Tases typical mental disturbances arising in connection with
the alleged spirit-communication. The emotional shock, cause
by the misinterpreted experience of the spiritual world by the
subject, is important for the pathogenesis of these disturbances
which
in
the German
literature
are
termed
mediumistic
psychoses." This misinterpretation
is induced by subconscious
manifestations which imply characteristic
features
o
an
in-
telligent
activity. This subconscious activity
is
a
sort of
in-
depSnt
thinking," not
controlled by the conscious mind.
Such a mental automatism may rest in the frame of the norm
buithere
is the danger of pathological degenerations arising,
which are characterized by auditory hallucinations, delusions,
compulsions, etc., which are often misinterpreted as symptoms
of schizophrenia. But with the exception of transition-cases they
are
rather
attributable
to
hysterical
manifestations
lego-
weakness, deintegration, autonomous complexes).
D
ITALIAN LANGUAGE
Spearheaded by Paola Giovetti, Ph.D., a group of Italian para-
psychologists have promised
to prepare
English- anguage ab-
stracts of the Italian parapsychologlcal literature. In th e mean-
time, Michela Alfieri of the Metapsichica Rivista Italiana di Para-
p7cohgia
lias generously supplied the Parapsychology Source
of Information Center with a run of back issues. Since 196o
has published
English-language
abstracts,
four
of which
are
given below.
.
123. Inardi, Massimo. Spiritism in Brazil. Metapsichica
Rivista Italiana di Parapsicologia,
1965
(Jul/Dec|, 20
(3/4),
65-84- Based on the book, Spiritism
in Brazi/
by a Capuchin
friar, Bonaventure Kloppenburg of the Catholic University o
Rio de Taneiro, this paper describes the situation of spiritism in
Brazih Shows by means of direct and indirect statistical data
that such practices are widely spread throughout the country.
He describes the doctrinal picture, and touches upon three prin-
cipal currents or movements into which spiritism has split in
Brazil and also the branches into which each movement has tur-
ther divided over a period of time. He also considers the genera
and particular cases which have brought or may have brought
about such a wide and deeply rooted diffusion of these prac-
tices. Briefly describes - from an ethnological point of view
the
spiritlstic-fetishistic
rites,
principally
of
African
origin,
with
American interaction and with Christian religious syncretism,
which
are
commonly
known
by
the
name
of
"Umbanda."- DA/R.A.W.
.
.
124. Riccardi, Nicola. An orientation considering the re-
establishment of psychical research. Metapsichica Rivista
Italiana
di
Parapsicologia,
1965,
(Jul/Dec),
(
),
102-111. -In an article recently published in Luce e Ombra, the
author proposes that the vitalistic concept of the "aura'
is the
turning point of paranormal phenomenology. He urges large
scientific
institutions to conduct controlled research into the
aura, enlisting many teams uncompromised with spiritualism or
parapsychology to engage in free interdisciplinary opera lona
research in this subject. Longitudinal repetitions of mediumistic
apports in the laboratory would be likely to make it possible to
identify the permanent presence of psychical transmutations in
the mechanism of sensory perception as well. We can see, then,
the gradual nuUification of the artificial walls between the nor-
mal and the paranormal. The basic hypothesis is that the events
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