alexd181
Member/Review Board Member
Posts: 3 
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Intro
May 4, 2014 23:52:20 GMT -5
Post by alexd181 on May 4, 2014 23:52:20 GMT -5
Hey all, I just thought I'd stop by and quickly say hello.
I'm really thrilled to have discovered the Journal/Community, as I don't think there is anything quite like this out there, and research into this area (the practical/clinical aspects) of parapsychology is so important.
A bit of background about me: I am currently working as a lecturer at Monash University in Australia, where I am also completing my Ph.D. (I hope to complete sometime early next year).
My main area of research is in out-of-body experiences (OBEs), but I have a broad range of other interests. I've mostly published on OBEs (you can see some of my work at my Google Scholar page in my signature). My honours thesis was on personality factors that can predict one's proneness to OBEs, as well as 'types' of OBEs, and the relationship between pre-sleep states (hypnagogia) and OBEs. As part of my Ph.D. I am looking into potential approaches for inducing OBEs, and visual illusions (such as the rubber hand illusion).
I've also published on clinical approaches for working with OBEs, and this is really an area I am quite interested in, especially when it comes to bridging the gap between research/theory and how therapists and practitioners can assist those who have had extraordinary and transcendent experiences in their personal and spiritual growth.
I look forward to meeting others with similar interests here, as well as contributing to the development of the Journal.
Alex
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Intro
May 5, 2014 16:10:08 GMT -5
Post by Erika A. Pratte on May 5, 2014 16:10:08 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum, Alex! You didn't mention you are a review board member of JEEP so I am mentioning it for you  |
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Intro
May 5, 2014 18:51:25 GMT -5
Post by salexanderhardison on May 5, 2014 18:51:25 GMT -5
Hey all, I just thought I'd stop by and quickly say hello. I'm really thrilled to have discovered the Journal/Community, as I don't think there is anything quite like this out there, and research into this area (the practical/clinical aspects) of parapsychology is so important. A bit of background about me: I am currently working as a lecturer at Monash University in Australia, where I am also completing my Ph.D. (I hope to complete sometime early next year). My main area of research is in out-of-body experiences (OBEs), but I have a broad range of other interests. I've mostly published on OBEs (you can see some of my work at my Google Scholar page in my signature). My honours thesis was on personality factors that can predict one's proneness to OBEs, as well as 'types' of OBEs, and the relationship between pre-sleep states (hypnagogia) and OBEs. As part of my Ph.D. I am looking into potential approaches for inducing OBEs, and visual illusions (such as the rubber hand illusion). I've also published on clinical approaches for working with OBEs, and this is really an area I am quite interested in, especially when it comes to bridging the gap between research/theory and how therapists and practitioners can assist those who have had extraordinary and transcendent experiences in their personal and spiritual growth. I look forward to meeting others with similar interests here, as well as contributing to the development of the Journal. Alex Hi, Alex.
That name seems familiar to me, for some reason.
Anyway, it's great to have you. I just responded to Nemo's post and he also mentioned an interest in OBE-type phenomena. I have an interest in the phenomena (and in the relation of hypnagogic/hypnapompic experiences to "paranormal" experiences), so I do look forward to seeing what you contribute to the discussions. By "types" of OBEs, what do you mean? Admittedly, my familiarity with the OBE literature is more mediocre than my familiarity with other aspects of parapsychological inquiry.
Like I said above, glad to have you on the forum.
Kind regards,
Other Alex
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alexd181
Member/Review Board Member
Posts: 3
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Intro
May 6, 2014 1:33:04 GMT -5
Post by alexd181 on May 6, 2014 1:33:04 GMT -5
Hi Alex, good to meet you.
OBE 'types' are certainly not a clear-cut area, in that there are few definite classifications of OBEs that all researchers agree on. It's an area I've explored by asking open-endedly "can certain OBEs be categorised in a particular way(s)". So far I've found some differences between spontaneous and willfully induced OBEs (the latter appear to involve a more visceral sense of body separation). Some people also tend to report veridical OBEs corresponding to the 'real world' more frequently, whereas others report 'otherwordly OBEs'. But this is not so clear-cut in terms of differing 'types', as some OBEs can start out in an environment very similar to one's physical surroundings, but then they may overlap with imaginary dreamlike realms.
Developing an OBE classification is really an area I've just scraped the surface of, but it's something I hope researchers will focus on more in future. If you've read a bit into literature on OBEs you may have found that people tend to talk about such experiences in very different terms, and the characteristics between two experiences can vastly differ, so looking at classifying OBEs more clearly is definitely worthwhile IMO.
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Intro
May 6, 2014 11:37:44 GMT -5
Post by salexanderhardison on May 6, 2014 11:37:44 GMT -5
Hi Alex, good to meet you. OBE 'types' are certainly not a clear-cut area, in that there are few definite classifications of OBEs that all researchers agree on. It's an area I've explored by asking open-endedly "can certain OBEs be categorised in a particular way(s)". So far I've found some differences between spontaneous and willfully induced OBEs (the latter appear to involve a more visceral sense of body separation). Some people also tend to report veridical OBEs corresponding to the 'real world' more frequently, whereas others report 'otherwordly OBEs'. But this is not so clear-cut in terms of differing 'types', as some OBEs can start out in an environment very similar to one's physical surroundings, but then they may overlap with imaginary dreamlike realms. Developing an OBE classification is really an area I've just scraped the surface of, but it's something I hope researchers will focus on more in future. If you've read a bit into literature on OBEs you may have found that people tend to talk about such experiences in very different terms, and the characteristics between two experiences can vastly differ, so looking at classifying OBEs more clearly is definitely worthwhile IMO. You said that willfully-induced OBEs "involve a more visceral sense of body separation"? I find that surprising, actually, since I would have presumed that spontaneous experiences would take the grail with that. I've seen distinctions made between OBEs and lucid dreams in the past, but never between willfully-induced/spontaneous experiences. It certainly sounds like a worthwhile aspect of research.
I've noticed quite a few differences (amid the consistencies) with the modest degree of research into the OBE phenomena that I can claim, though the same sort of thing actually applies to a good portion of the individual accounts in the NDE literature. When I have examined OBEs, it's been from the angle of examining the alleged paranormality of them, while there are certainly more ways to go about the research (understanding the phenomenology of the experiences is certainly the best way to illuminate them -and that doesn't only apply to OBE-type phenomena).
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