Dr Martina Belz

Martina Belz, holds a Ph.D. in psychology and studied psychology, cultural anthropology and classical archeology. She works as a research fellow in psychology at the University of Bern as well as a licensed psychotherapist and supervisor in her own private practice and is engaged in manifold activities in psychotherapy training in Germany and Switzerland with a focus on the topics of exceptional experiences (ExE), chronic depression, emotion and gender. Her research has centered on the study of the psychological functioning of people claiming ExEs, case conceptualization and emotion regulation, subjective health concepts and gaining expertise in psychotherapy. Since 1998 she has been clinical supervisor and research advisor at the counseling unit of the Institut für Grenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene (IGPP) in Freiburg. Martina has several congress papers and publications in textbooks and journals. She is also a member of the German Association of Psychology (DGPs), the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR) and the Federation of Swiss Psychologists (FSP). Her website may be located at www.ptp.unibe.ch/content/team/belz/index_ger.html.

Clinical Psychology for people with Exceptional Experiences in practice
Martina Belz, University of Bern

Nowadays there is a great amount of ambivalence and reserved reactions towards the topic of exceptional experiences (ExE) in main stream psychological research as well as in main stream clinical practice. Reports of ExE are mainly considered as misperceptions of normal and naturally explainable events, as non-existent or as signs of a mental disorder often in combination with an unscientific and esoteric world view. As a consequence people reporting ExE are either referred to a psychiatrist  for medication or considered as strange characters who are beyond help.

A representative survey in Germany in 2000 showed that between 50% and 70% of the general population believe in the existence of paranormal phenomena and report having at least one subjective paranormal experience of their own in their life (Bauer & Schetsche, 2003). As far as we know from current epidemiological data for mental health problems (Jacobi, Hoyer & Wittchen 2004) the one month prevalence of psychological disorders in Germany is 31%, whilst the lifetime prevalence is 43%. Similar results can be found in many other countries. These numbers show that it is plain statistics to expect an overlap between individuals who have some kind of psychological disorder and the two third of the population who report their own ExE and believe in the existence of such phenomena.

So the greatest challenge facing clinical psychologists working with people with ExE is the necessity to differentiate between a mental disorder and ExE in order to avoid unjustified pathologization on the one hand, and to identify a psychological disorder which needs adequate treatment in good time on the other hand. We also have to be aware of the fact that dealing with people who report ExE is not an either/or issue but that mental health problems and ExE can be intertwined in many different ways. Beyond that we are also called to offer clinical approaches for healthy people who report ExE when these experiences are unsettling, problematic, troubling or threatening for the affected people.

Based on the available empirical data in the field we will discuss healthy and less healthy forms of ExE, show the overlap between ExE and symptoms of mental disorders, define when and where our clinical psychological knowledge is needed, what might be promising approaches for counseling and psychotherapy with people who report irritating ExE and which helping skills and clinical expertise are needed so that health care professionals can be effective and efficient when working with people who report ExE. Finally we will show the importance of integrating this area of clinical psychology in the mainstream arena.