Believing in OBE = Insanity

[Chiron]

Well, i'm a psychologist, and I regularly astrally project.  I think the specific words I am looking for is 'cognitive polyphasia'... the capacity to adhere to two apparently contradictory forms of knowledge and belief.  But I don't see any problem with it.  And I read tarot []

C

[Frère]

I will make my psy read that one!

[Aerostars]

Seems to me that 30% of the times someone who has an O>B>B>E has done some form of a drug..changing the PH of the brain  which starts an illusion or an OBBE experience....then there are those who have them when they are asleep....unaware until they feel as though they just fell 3ft while laying in their bed and then awaken to find themselves
in disbelief....where was I....?? LOL

THen we have those that happen while we are lucit...awake....or doing something....like thinking very deeply...day dreaming or...driving a car down a higway......LOL

[shadowatcher]

My parents make me go to a physcologist, and Ive never told her about my spiritual beliefs. When she asked me about my church, I told her that I worshiped the almighty Plywood.

[TorosDead]

Tough question to answer really.  It's impossible to say what any random psychologist is going to think about OBE.  The world is definately awakening to spirituality, but most of it isn't there yet.  Most people don't even care about such experiences, they just don't find them practical to the world we live in.  Walk on broken eggs when you decide to share you experiences with someone.

[Soulfire]

Hi,

I was a dual major (Psychology / Christian Education) in college.  In the simplest terms, I was taught that you only "medicate" (or in more severe cases institutionalize) someone who you believe is a reasonably credible danger to society or themselves.  If a patient ASKS for help alleviating some problem that you feel medication would help, that is a discretionary call.

As you can see, there is a lot of room for subjective opinion in this.  Accordingly, you will find vast differences between psych professionals according to their personal beliefs.

Keep in mind I was only a college student, and at least one person here is apparently an actual psychologist, so maybe he can offer a more authoritative answer?

--Soulfire

[Tab]

I once got scheduled (without my knowing) for a school psychological counselor interview because I "thought I could mystically astral project" among other ignorant, stupid, and baseless accusations. At any rate, I came out of it fine, but I remember some of the questions like "do you believe you can see things that other people can't see" "do you believe you can hear things that other people can't hear". My answer was no, of course not. If I didn't know that they were just an attempt to diagnose schizophrenia I would have added the rest of my thought; I don't see or hear things that other people can't, just that most people don't.

[Jon_88]

I am currently seeing a Psycologist and telling about obes . ¨
She asked if i saw things  , said no (havent managed obe).
She asked if i heard things others did not and was very interested when i said yes . Though it dabbed off when it was clear that it was tinnitus (hearing noises).

Besides that she didnt care much about obes as i currently sees her for the emotinal problems i got from my experience to induce them (normal meditation and visualization).

Today thought i did a abilitys test , did good on evrything cept spacial reasoning and logic thinking , those where way better than whatever normal she uses . Guess its because of my episode with obe attempts that ended with me getting no sleep ,very much energy ,and something best described as "getting photoshop and 3d studio programs crabbed in your head". I could imagine/construct any object i wanted and rotate/change them in my head off course in realtime =).

it died down since after i got more "normalised" (my standard=) ).
But i still can very easy rotate "simplistic cube constructs" and count up blocks its made of.

Myself find it not extraordinary but my psycologist seems easy to please in the test department. Hehe i thought she was about to say "your pretty smart for being so twisted" after we finnished .
Well thats my experience with the psycologist.

The normal doctor however almost fell out of the chair when i told him what problems i had , and prescribed antipsycothics pills to make the bad stuff go away while i waited for more "proffecional" help.

Those pills MADE me psycothic ! + something extra . Well i may not have gotten fully psycothic . but was very confused and emotinal (EVERYTHING on tv triggered a strong feeling ) + things where falling down around me .

Well thats my story for meeting  the "proffecionals" its not so bad thought i still advise beeing the judge for whats good or bad for you .

[beavis]

Doctors will give you antipsychotic pills to counterbalance the chemicals your brain has. If They are closer to normal than the doctor thought (or he thought there was too much but there was not enough, or vice versa), then it will push your chemicals more off center. But its boring to be on center.

[holy reality]

any halfway decent psychologist will realize that spiritual/religious/cultural beliefs are not reason to deem someone "crazy" unless they interfere/bother the person and they think he may be a threat to himself or others.

and many people we would deem "crazy" are highly respected in other cultures, and in the past were in our own.

so...

having said that, i hate how they hand pills out like they are candy... I mean.... THEY JUST GUESS that you have a chemical imbalance... WELL WHAT IF YOU DON'T? Isn't there some way to test that? I mean, it's crazy, if you give someone with a normal brain anti depressants you are going to screw up his brain chemistry....

and those things are hell to quit... I know from experience, I stopped taking mine (without them knowing) after I got sick of the side effects and how they constantly wanted to up my dosage all the time because the pills weren't making me happy (i wonder why...)....

At one point I remember my dosage quadrupling within a one month period... or maybe just tripling.. I can't remember too well... but I know that I got sick of it and weaned myself off them... which was living hell...

Constantly feeling like you're gonna pass out for a solid month... very cold, during the summer... extremely weak... horrible horrible horrible nightmares....

(one involuntary OBE with some bright shimmery guy in my room, that was kind of cool)

Stay off medication without getting your brain tested to see that there are actually chemical problems going on, and even then, be leary of it.

Pills aren't going to fix things, it is ultimately your own resopnsibility to decide to get better.
(at least probably 99% of the time)

[Phong]

I saw a psychological therapist in college after I went to a career counselor to find out what I wanted to do with my life. There just wasn't anything in society I wanted to do - and yet I felt I could do anything. My career counselor suggested emotional counseling.

I was very open with my therapist (it would be useless not to) and wanted to hear a professional opinion on issues affecting human consciousness - lucid dreams, astral projection, etc. The more I kept a dream journal I felt mental "noise" while I was awake - an indecipherable cloud of thoughts that made it difficult to concentrate. Understandable, I thought, I was expanding my consciousness and this was difficult to deal with. It just happened that I also I felt like I was experiencing an onslaught from an entity in my dreams - the "external" feeling was clear, and in waking life I encountered what felt like an uncanny amount of bad luck, and entertained the possibility that my bad dreams were connected.

I wasn't doing very well in school. I did enough just to get by, and I was considering withdrawal because there was nothing I wanted to do - why waste my parents' money. I told my therapist I considered suicide out of the fact that I simply didn't like life - I didn't like the people, I didn't like the system, I didn't like the way things worked - and that I felt this way since the 4th grade. For me, choosing death was an emotionless matter of opinion - an opinion I wanted people close to me to accept as my own and understand. Understandably, this hurt my ability to form personal relationships. An anxiety surfaced out of the observation that I was someone out of place in a world I didn't belong in.

I was pushed antipsychotic drugs and antidepressents by a psychiatrist after meeting with him once. Always open-minded, I accepted and figured drugs could possibly help clear my mind, which would allow me to find my place in life and society. I was not told they were for schizophrenics, or that there was anything wrong with me, in fact - just that they might help.

The antidepressants did nothing but make me incredibly thirsty, so they increased the dosage twice, which increased the side effects. They gave me others which did they same. On top of this were the antipsychotics - which were dreadful.

Absolutely horrible creations of mad science. I was knocked unconscious when I took them and didn't dream, sleeping 12 hours, missing classes. My will was weakened and lost capacity to think. I said they were awful and weren't working, and they said I had to adjust to them. They increased the dosage. I'm a patient person - I stuck through 10 years straight of wanting to die, but chose to give life time.

Eventually the drugs "cleared" my mind, alright. I had the soul of a robot. All thought was a single track. I could do homework perfectly with no distractions. No daydreaming. No night dreaming either, but lots of sleep. Fun with my girlfriend was something of the past. Any sort of creative thought was out of the question. It just wasn't a viable option to be imaginative, odd as that may seem. Having the "will" to do something sounded like a meaningless concept - I had no will, only action.

Once I recognized what was going on, I immediately stopped the drugs and appointments, if not for being treated like a lab rat. Saying I would learn to live as a free thinking human being or die trying, my loving and patient girlfriend was upset.

To make a long story short, I found out that what I needed to learn was love. I never had very good teachers - (my parents worried and fought, love was not something they knew instinctively). I pushed my girlfriend away telling her she deserved a better lover, a selfless and mature lover, but that I would devote my life to learning how to love like that and come back to her when I was ready.

I'm ready. She's with someone else. Don't see psychiatrists. Learn love. And, if you can, don't learn it by losing it. Please don't.

Please don't.

[Leyla]

Most of the time the psychologist is crazier than you are.[][][]

The ones I've known personally went into the field to figure out their own problems. And I mean --> huge <--  crippling mental problems; much worse than anything their patients are dealing with.

Seriously folks, when somebody today tells me they're a counseler or therapist I wonder what they must have wrong with them.

[kiauma]

http://www.imagerynet.com/book/index.html

Great book, by a very spiritual man.  I think it is a very forward step for OBE and psychic science in general.

[catmeow]

Slightly off-topic...

I have a friend who had a teacher at school, who once announced to the class "Can any of you actually PROVE that you're sane?"  To which there was silence.. After this the teacher said  "WELL I CAN!"  and he pulled out a piece of paper CERTIFYING that he was sane!  

Apparently this was given to him earlier in the year when he was discharged from a psychiatric institute.  I guess that really gave all those school kids a nice warm safe feeling inside....!

Must get one of those....

catmeow

[mazdaaf]

wow thats kinda sad that they actually give certificates out saying that your sane...its impossible to prove that someone is sane or insane because we all are different.. also-- isnt that saying if your just like everyone else and you dont think differently then you are sane.. but then you are never learning anything new and were all just forcing ourselfs to not progress... hmm the idea of it is confusing me now.. i shouldnt post when im tired...[B)]

[PeacefulWarrior]

If one were to walk in to schedule an appointment with a psychologist and walk in and share his or her ideas and beliefs about OBE's and the astral, what do you think the psychologist would say?

Would there be differences in what one psychologist would say compared to another?  Would they administer tests and as long as you came out ok in other areas they would not think you are "crazy."

I know I took a psych test and because I answered certain questions with the affrimative, such as "Do you in non-physical beings" OR "Do you ever "hear" voices?" I came out as having some schizophrenic tendencies.

So the question is, what would a psychologist likely say?  Have any of you ever visted a psychologist or some health professional and told them about your OBE beliefs?