TABLE 1.

Criteria for differentiating psychopathologies from religious, spiritual or mystical experiences considered across different studies.

	Spiritual Emergencya	Mysticism and Psychosisb	DSM-5c	Jackson and Fulford (1997)	Vieten and Scammell (2015)	Menezes and Moreira-Almeida (2009, 2010)	VCE Study
Phenomenological Qualities	+	+	+	+	+	−	+
Distress	x	−	+	−	×	+	+
Control	−	+	+	+	−	+	+
Duration	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Impact	+	+	−	+	+	+	+
Functional Impairment	×/+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Health History or Condition	+	−	−	−	+	+	+
Critical Attitude	+	−	+	+	+	+	+
Circumstances of Onset	x	+	+	−	+	−	+
Cultural Compatibility	+	−	+	+	+	+	+
Teachers’ Skills or Resources	−	−	−	−	−	−	+

+, addressed in the source(s) as a possible criterion; −, not discussed in the source(s); x, addressed in the source(s), but rejected as a possible criterion. ^aGrof and Grof (1989), Grof and Grof (2017), Lukoff et al. (1998), Johnson and Friedman (2008). ^bBrett (2002), Heriot-Maitland (2008), Parnas and Henriksen (2016). ^cConsidered in particular were the “culture-related diagnostic issues” associated with Brief Psychotic Disorder (§298.8), Schizophrenia (§295.90), Dissociative Identity Disorder (§300.14), Depersonalization/Derealization Disorder (§300.6) and Religious or Spiritual Problem (§V62.89). In the DSM more generally, “differential diagnosis” functions as means of differentiating between types of psychopathology rather than between psychopathology and religious experience.