|
|
|
In both psychic literature and research on childhood traumatic experiences, out-of-body experiences (OBE) have been reported. Little comparison has been made of the two phenomena. Humans are instinctually programmed for survival. Under normal circumstances, humans will adapt to most dangers that threaten survival. It is the belief of the author that severe abuse in childhood may present a threat to physical and psychic survival and therefore is a traumatic experience. A comparison of the two phenomena may shed light on the issue of whether there are two separate phenomena or one. According to Banks (1980), in his book An Introduction to Psychic Experience, the OBE consists of a series of experiences that are fairly common in psychic experience. Banks (1980) states that an OBE occurs when "the physical body is separated from the etheric body" or spirit body (p. 40). Muldoon & Carrington (1970) state that the etheric body leaves the physical body during sleep, hovering nearby. In trances, while unconscious either through fainting or anesthetic, the etheral body will also involuntarily leave the body (p. 16). Muldoon and Carrington (1970) continue by stating that when a person "wills" that the etheral body separate from the physical, the person is awake and the etheral body is aware of its separate existence. Banks (1980), quotes one person's experience: A few months ago while in bed at night, I found myself 'outside myself' looking down at my own body. I seemed to be about 2 feet above the bed, at the side, slightly at the back, looking down at myself. (p.41).The person can look at the body, (usually from above, and can, if desired travel to other places. The etheral body is usually aware that it has powers that are beyond what is possible in the physical body, and can return to the body when desired (p. 16). Banks (1980) states that in the out-of body experience people state that they have: observed their own physical bodies lying inert; have seen and heard persons while they remained imperceptible; perceived and remembered people, things, places and events which were out of reach of the five physical senses (p.41).Banks also states that during times of great stress, illness, sleep, trances, or any other condition that renders the person unconscious, the etheral body make choose to leave the physical body (p.42). According to researchers on psychic phenomena, these types of experiences are psychic in nature, lets us know there is life after death and provides clues about what it will be like on the other side. In the last decade, psychologists have become aware of similar phenomena related to the occurence of severe childhood abuse resulting in Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). Putnam (1989) states that OBEs occur when a person perceives his or her awareness or mind as being outside or separated from the physical body (p. 21). Putnam goes on to say that there are two main theories of how OBEs occur; a group he refers to as "separationists" who believe that there is a "soul, the psyche, the astral body" that really leaves the physical body and can travel to other places, and the psychologists, who believe that OBEs are a "special state of consciousness and that the experience is hallucinatory" (p.22). Traumatic OBEs occur most frequently in young children who are faced with severe, prolonged,and repeated abuse. For the young child who has few resources, psychically leaving the body may be the only defence available to her. In Finney's book Reach for the Rainbow:Advanced Healing for Survivors of Sexual Abuse, (1990), one survivor described her experience this way: I can't stand this another minute. I feel like I'm dying. I want to die. Oh, please, let me die. What's happening? I can't feel the pain anymore. Why don't I feel the pain? I don't feel anything. I feel so peaceful. I'm floating, floating up to the ceiling. What is happening? I can see my father's naked body on the bed below me. I can see his back and the back of his legs. He's on top of a little girl, a girl with long dark hair like me. That is me! I'm so confused. I don't understand. How can I be down there and up here on the ceiling at the same time? I can see my father and the girl--me--moving on the bed, but my feelings and the pain are gone. I don't feel anything, but I can hear her crying. I'm glad I'm not there anymore. I don't want to go back there. (p. 153).Given the extreme abuse that was occuring and a young child's inability to find physical protection, the mind chooses to find psychic protection. Many recent books on child sexual abuse (Gil, 1988; Courtois, 1988; Blume, 1990) discuss OBE's in a variety of ways. Many incest survivors have experienced OBEs as a defence mechanism against the severity of the abuse they experienced as children. Frequently, as the survivors age, the mechanism to dissociate or have an OBE continues, sometimes well into adulthood. The explanation for OBEs, both psychic and traumatic, may be in what Watkins & Watkins (1982) describe as "ego-states". Dissociative phenomena like many psychological processes, lie along a continuum. According to Watkins and Watkins, (1982), eso state theory is "based upon the concept that personality is not a unity but is composed of various subentities or organizational patterns of behavior and experience" (p.136). In a healthy individual, these ego-states work together for the benefit and protection of the individual. Varieties of dissociative experience range from a driver who can scream and yell at other drivers on the road, but at work is quiet and polite to a classic case of multiple personality. For most people, there is a continuing awareness that one has been yelling in the car but one would never talk to the boss that way. For the person with multiple personality disorder, they might not be aware of the differences in their behavior. It is believed that when one part of the mind is in executive control of the body another part is watching and recording all experiences for later retrieval. For example, some part of the mind would remain in touch with what is happening to the body when it is being abused, while another part is floating to the ceiling, in our previous experience. The part of the body that has floated to the ceiling has become dissociated from the body, so much so that it is unaware of the feelings that the body is experiencing during the abuse. That part is so disconnected from the body that it perceives itself to be really separate from the body. At this point in the research with psychic experience and traumatic experiences, it seems impossible to determine exactly what happens when a person has an OBE. While there are similarities between what the person experiences, the cause for those experiences has not been proven.
|