ArticleBMC psychiatry2019
Differential executive functioning in the topology of Spirit possession or dissociative disorders: an explorative cultural study.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Gauteng mental healthcare providers' understanding of cultural and religious illnesses.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2025Article
- The Perception and Roles of School Mental Health Professionals Regarding School Bullying (International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Traditional health practitioners' understanding of spirit possession in Gauteng province, South Africa.Health SA = SA Gesondheid · 2024Review
- Cognitive Health and Differential Cortical Functioning in Dissociative Trance: An Explorative Study About Mediumship.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Psychiatric, cognitive functioning and socio-cultural views of menstrual psychosis in Oman: an idiographic approach.BMC women's health · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundIn Oman, anecdotal and impressionistic observation have helped parse and categorize various manifestations of spirit possession into two broad and distinct categories: intermittent dissociative phenomenon and transitory dissociative phenomenon. The primary aim of the present study was to compare the performance of participants on neuropsychological tests among different grades of possession. Other correlates were also sought.
methodsAssessment criteria for the two groups included measures examining executive functioning: controlled oral word association test Verbal Fluency, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (Perseverative error and the number of categories achieved), Trail Making Test and the Tower of London Test (number of correctly solved problems). Sociodemographic variables and the history of trauma were also sought.
resultAmong 84 participants, one third of them presented the intermittent possession type and two thirds, the transitory possession type. Their mean age was 34.17 ± 11.82 and 56% of them were female. Nearly 35% of them endorsed a history of a traumatic experience. Both the multivariate models showed statistical significance (F (5, 78) = 5.57, p < 0.001, R
conclusionsThis study suggests that typology of spirit possession found in Oman tends to differ on indices of executive function. Those with 'diagnosis' of intermittent possession showed impairment in many indices of executive functioning. Despite its wide prevalence, spirit possession has not been examined in terms of its neuropsychological functioning. We believe that this study will be instrumental in laying the groundwork for a more robust methodology.
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