George Gregg has recently posted these comments on Facebook.
He adds that diagnosis of FPP requires 6 of the 14 characteristics.In 1981 Wilson and Barber first identified what they called a fantasy-prone personality (FPP) type (this work actually extended from Josephine Hilgard’s observations of people who were very susceptible to hypnosis). These are people who not only lead a rich fantasy life but seem to blur the lines between fantasy and reality. They identify 14 characteristics of fantasy proneness: (1) being an excellent hypnotic subject, (2) having imaginary playmates as a child, (3) fantasizing frequently as a child, (4) adopting a fantasy identity, (5) experiencing imagined sensations as real, (6) having vivid sensory perceptions, (7) reliving past experiences, (8) claiming psychic powers, (9) having out-of-body or floating experiences, (10) receiving poems, messages, etc., from spirits, higher intelligences, and the like, (11) being involved in “healing,” (12) encountering apparitions, (13) experiencing hypnagogic hallucinations (waking dreams), and (14) seeing classical hypnagogic imagery (such as spirits or monsters from outer space).
He continues...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3746620(2) having imaginary playmates as a child, (3) fantasizing frequently as a child, (4) adopting a fantasy identity, (5) experiencing imagined sensations as real, (6) having vivid sensory perceptions, (8) claiming psychic powers, (10) receiving poems, messages, etc., from spirits, higher intelligences, and the like, (11) being involved in “healing,” (12) encountering apparitions, (13) experiencing hypnagogic hallucinations (waking dreams), and (14) seeing classical hypnagogic imagery (such as spirits or monsters from outer space).
I think after watching the BBC 3 film he has 11/14 thus fitting the FFP criterion.
Anyone want to comment? It is an area I know nothing about.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...274&topic=8592
Fantasy-prone personality is a possibility but it's always dubious practise to try to diagnose people online!
I've attached the paper linked to on PubMed for members to read.
If you don't understand statistics, just ignore those bits. You can get a good idea of what a paper is about by reading the introduction (where background info and the rationale for the study is usually given) and the discussion (where the results are considered in the context of the introduction).
Reading primary source material like research papers is a good thing to do when you can get a hold of them but always remember, they are written by experts for their peers. So don't think that by reading such a paper you become qualified to start designating people personality types, diagnosing mental illnesses etc. just because you've read a paper.
Just treat them as informative research material.
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JohnOriginally Posted by John Jackson
Thanks for that - I've saved the document and will tackle it tomorrow.
Just to clarify, I wouldn't dream of trying to identify personality types or diagnosing mental illness because I had read, and probably not fully understood a paper.
The comment wasn't aimed at you (or even anyone on here).
It's just a general comment as you do sometimes get people who discover things on Wikipedia etc. about personality disorders and such like and then start diagnosing other people online!
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I'm a bit disturbed that experiencing the paranormal is included as a 'symptom' of being fantasy-prone. These experiences are generally explainable without any need to invoke particular personality types. In my experience, there isn't a 'typical' paranormal witness 'type'.
Once upon a time witnesses were reluctant to report their experiences for fear of being labelled 'mad'. Now we have the opposite situation where people can't wait to get in tiuch with their local rag for their 15 minutes of fame. It would be a pity if we regressed to the earlier situation by implying experiencers may be fantasy-prone, which inevitably makes them sound a naive and maybe stupid.
It occurs to me that a common factor in many of the symptoms is a tendency to attribute subjective experiences to external, independent agencies. Maybe that is a better indicator than belief in the paranormal.
Last edited by Mulder; 31st March 2009 at 09:09 AM.
It's the interpretation of the experience rather than the experience itself that's relevant. A tendency to interpret experiences as "paranormal" rather than look for a more mundane explanation probably says something about a person's personality.
Nice to see your all still so well!
69 pages wow you lot really do like a gossip!
What nonsense are you talking about now? Probally check back again in another few months!
Still yours ...
Perfect response!
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Hi Gary, I saw you on TV the other day. Nice show! I was disappointed not to see the blood associated with traditional 'psychic surgery'. It seemed to me that what you do looked no different from any other psychic healer (who do not claim to perform any kind of surgery).
So how is what you do 'surgery'? Have you any evidence that anything physical happens internally to your patients?
Hiya, Gary!
What did Brent and Harrow Trading Standards have to say to you last week? By the way, I was pleased to see that in the brochure for an upcoming Mind/Body/Spirit fair you no longer name your "leading medical professionals" Dr Gowri Motha, Manesh Naidoo and Glen Davies. I'm sure Trading Standards will also be pleased that you've dropped what they called "this misrepresentation". However, I don't think the names Archie Roy, Patricia Robertson and Harry Oldfield will cut much ice. By the way, is Harry Oldfield still claiming to have worked as a visiting Professor of Medicine at the non-existant "University of Grenada"?
Love and light,
Julia
Come back when you've got some evidence mate.
When it comes to talking nonsense Gary, you are an expert. Did you actually watch Emeka's film - you know, that bit where Abraham, the 4 thousand year old Jewish prophet from another planet spoke to Emeka through you, in English, in a posh English accent, making the same sort of grammatical errors as you do.
Now, there we have total and utter nonsense.
Last edited by bindeweede; 2nd April 2009 at 08:27 PM. Reason: added comment
Or the bit when you were pushing a glass around on that table with your finger?
Ho ho ho
You do know how gullible your workshop participants are, don't you? 8)
Gary, do you still intend to teach "levitation" at your workshops? You do realize that your version is just a parlour trick?
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