Processing old counseling cases for future research
The case collection at IGPP is a unique resource for ExE research. Over 3000 cases from the period 1998 to 2009 have now been reviewed in order to clarify how they should be dealt with. The aim of the project is to select case material that is no longer subject to mandatory documentation, but which appears to be worth preserving for qualitative research purposes. It was found that in 43% of the cases, in addition to the basic documentation, which is used to record information for statistical purposes and quantitative research, there is further material that could be of interest for qualitative studies. This includes experience reports, documents, photos and, in 11% of cases, audio recordings and, in 2% of cases, video recordings of counseling sessions that were made with the consent of those seeking advice. In a first step, the materials were categorized according to ExE forms and analogue audio and video recordings were digitized for later processing. The next step is to assess and evaluate the content of the material in order to decide on its further use. If information is to be preserved in the long term and not destroyed, strict data protection obligations must be observed. Depending on the intended use and future storage location, personal information must undergo complex pseudonymization or anonymization procedures.
ExE and bonding styles among those seeking advice
The six typical ExE-patterns in the IGPP counseling form a phenomenological internal continuum from extrasensory perception (ASW) to internal presence and influen (IPR) to mediumship and automatism (MED) on the one hand and a external continuum from Sensible Inferences (SIN) via poltergeist and apparitions (SPK) to nightmare and sleep paralysis (NAM) on the other. Statistical analyses of more than 2,300 counseling cases documented between 1996 and 2014 show that counseling seekers differ significantly in terms of their social bonding depending on the ExE forms they report. The attachment research describes typical attachment styles in adults that are primarily based on childhood experiences with primary caregivers. A secure-autonomous bonding style goes hand in hand with a balanced relationship between autonomy and bonding. A lack of care or maltreatment in childhood promotes an insecure-distant style that emphasizes autonomy and avoids bonding, or an insecure-entangled style that emphasizes bonding and avoids autonomy. An insecure-disorganized style can be observed particularly in cases of early traumatization due to abuse or loss.
Previous findings indicate that internal phenomena tend to be associated with a distanced and external phenomena with an enmeshed bonding style. People seeking advice with the IPR form tend to socially withdraw, while SPC phenomena predominantly occur in social systems with strong interpersonal bonding. Like the psychophysical phenomena, the fact that the dissociative patterns contradict the tendency of the patterns preceding them indicates a disorganized bonding style. This could result from the fact that the current attachment situation is not compatible with the genuine bonding style of those affected: The bonding of the MED type conflicts with their need for autonomy and the autonomy of the NAM type conflicts with their need for attachment. In order to empirically confirm the previously speculative correlations between attachment representations, attachment styles and ExE, studies will be conducted in the near future using Strauß and Lobo-Drost’s Adult Attachment Type Rating (EPBR). In the EPBR, the attachment history from the past to the present and current relationship behavior is explored by means of a so-called relationship interview. On this basis, the interviewees are categorized into attachment styles.
