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G - Ghosts or Hallucinations: Spirituality and Mental Illness

FragmentDID

*Note: this post is not an invitation to debate the existence of the supernatural. We are speaking based on our own beliefs and ask that you respect that.


Ghosts. Visions. Premonitions. Prophecy. For the majority of human existence, we've had words for things and experiences we can't explain. In the year 2024, we've made a lot of scientific progress to help us understand the world around us. But there are some things science still can't explain.

We grew up in very spiritual households. On one side was strong Catholicism that included beliefs in angels, gifts of the Holy Spirit, and miracles. On the other side was a growing paganism, which included spells, rituals, and developing psychic abilities. We pretty much grew up learning to become a priestess. As such, we have some very strong supernatural beliefs. Still, we are very strong proponents of science. We love learning the science behind the things we experience. But there are some things science hasn't caught up with yet. And these are the areas that our spiritual beliefs come into play.

We are also extremely into psychology. It's a special interest. So we know that there are some psychological explanations behind spiritual experiences. So how do we determine what is mental health and what is spirituality?

There is no black and white answer for us. A lot of what we believe is based off of intuition. Ghosts and visions can be hallucinations. Claireaudience can be auditory hallucinations and "voices" (as my alters laugh). Feeling other people's energy or emotions can be hypervigilance. We won't go into our personal experiences here, but we've been faced with situations where we've had to question if this is spiritual or psychological.

I think the only way to really know is to try one remedy, and if that doesn't work try the other. And this is of course only for those situations that cause distress. If you see ghosts and mostly just ignore them, then it may not be anything worth looking into. If you see ghosts and it causes distress or affects how you live your life, that needs to be addressed.

For us, we tend to try psychological solutions first. It's usually the most logical explanation and the easiest to test. Our emotions are all over the place. One possibility is we have emotional dysregulation. Another is that we are experiencing the emotions of people around us. Well, mood stabilizers help. So that points to emotional dysregulation. Some might say the meds are just blunting our abilities, but the solution remains the same. Our emotions are less all over the place.

So I think what it comes down to is what does the least harm. We know that significant psychological harm has been done because people tried spiritual solutions. Which is why we usually go science first. We just don't think there's always a scientific explanation.

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