Presentation of results from a two-study research project funded by the Bial Foundation looking at individual differences in extraordinary/exceptional experiences and personality states/traits.

1. Depersonalization and OBEs:
Relationships with Dream,
Parapsychological, and Synesthesia
Experiences, Life Satisfaction
and Hallucinations
Nancy L. Zingrone, Ph.D.
Carlos S. Alvarado, Ph.D.
Natasha Agee, B.A.

2. Two Studies
• Stratified Random Survey
of Charlottesville, VA
• 2400 questionnaires
mailed
• 19% returned
undeliverable
• 256 usable datasets
returned = 13% response
rate
• Web-based survey,
volunteers solicited from
transpersonal psychology
and parapsychology sites
• 667 datasets received
• 597 usable
Study 1: Postal Study 2: Web

3. Objectives:
To compare OBErs to Non-OBErs
on the following
• Scores on the Cambridge Depersonalisation Scale (CDS)
• Scores on specific items
• Incidence of particular OBE Features in “high” and
“low” scorers on the CDS
• Relationship between OBEs and depersonalization,
hallucination experiences, dream variables, synesthesias
and psi exeriences
• Scale scores and rates of endorsement by respondents to
the Postal Survey and respondents to the Web-based
survey

4. Demographics
• 62.5% Female
• 37.5% Male
• Mean Age = 49.29 ±
18.70, Range = 17 to 95
• 90.5 % White
• 5.1% Black
• 2.0% Mixed
• 1.6% Asian
• .4% Hispanic
• .4% Celtic
• 64.7% Female
• 35.3% Male
• Mean Age = 45.27 ± 14.15,
Range = 13 to 84
• 87.8% White
• 3.7% Hispanic
• 2.9% Mixed
• 1.7% Asian
• 1.4% Black
• 1% Indian (South Asia)
• .7% Native American
• .4% Arabic
• .2% Albanian
• .2% Sri Lankan
Study 1: Postal
Sex & Age N = 256
Ethnicity N = 253
Study 2: Web
Sex N = 589 / Age N = 587
Ethnicity N = 575

5. Demographics
• 51.8% Married
• 25.1% Single
• 11% Divorced
• 6.7% Widowed
• 5.1% Living together
• .3% Separated
• 25.2% Masters
• 24.8% Bachelors
• 15.3% Some college
• 7.9% High School
• 6.6% Some grad school
• 6.2% Doctorates
• 14% Other
• 43.6% Married
• 27.5% Single
• 14.4% Divorced
• 10.3% Living together
• 22.6% Widowed
• 1.7% Separated
• 27.9% Some college
• 24% Bachelors
• 13% Masters
• 8.8% Doctorates
• 7.1% High School
• 5.7% Some grad school
• 13.5% Other
Study 1: Postal
Marital Status N = 255
Education N = 242
Study 2: Web
Marital Status N = 585
Education N = 509

6. Demographics
• 68.4% Christian
• 12.3% None
• 5.7% Agnostic
• 4.4% Mixed or
Miscellaneous
• 3.5% Atheist
• 3.1% Buddhist
• 2.6% Jewish
• 37.4% Christian
• 22% Agnostic
• 17.1% None
• 5% Miscellaneous
• 4.3% Pagan
• 4.1% Buddhist
• 3.7% Mixed
• 2.7% Jewish
• 2.7% Hindu
• 1% Atheist
Study 1: Postal
N = 228
Study 2: Web
N = 486

7. Religiousness
• 22.9% Not at all
• 24.1% Slightly
• 34.8% Moderately
• 18.2 Very
• Range = 0 to 3
• Mean = 1.48±1.04
• 28.8% Not at all
• 29.3% Slightly
• 29.2% Moderately
• 12.7% Very
• Range = 0 to 3
• Mean = 1.26±1.01
Study 1: Postal
N = 253
Study 2: Web
N = 583

8. Headaches & Head Injuries
• 18.4% never had a
headache
• 44.5% rarely
• 28% occasionally
• 7.4% frequently
• 1.2% most of the time
• 13.7% had suffered a
head injury
• 9% never had a
headache
• 48.7% rarely
• 18.6% occasionally
• 20.2% frequency
• 3.5% most of the time
• 19.5% had suffered a
head injury
Study 1: Postal
N = 256
Study 2: Web
Headache N= 560
Head Injury N = 565

9. Main Questionnaires
• CDS Scale (Sierra & Berrios, 2000)
• Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener et al, 1985)
Items we developed
• Dream recall, Lucid dreams, Disturbing dreams, Psi
Experiences (adapted from Palmer, 1979)
• Interference of depersonalization experiences with work,
relationships, sense of self
• Depersonalization experiences and flourescent lights
• Synesthesia of color with sounds or music
• Synesthesia of color with letters or numbers
Follow-up Questionnaires
• Launay-Slade Hallucination Scale (Larøi & Vander Linden,
2005)
• Short Form OBE Questionnaire (Alvarado, 1997)

10. Representativeness of Postal Sample
Stratification held but …
Study 1 Census
Ethnicity
Whites 90.5% 72.3%
African Americans 5.1% 20.8%
“Other” 4.4% 16.9%
Age
Age below 18 .4% 18.9%
Ages between 18 and 65 76.6% 67.5%
Ages above 65 22% 13.6%
Sex
Males 37.5% 46.9%
Females 62.5% 53.1%
Education
High school degree or better 97.1% 80.8%
Baccalaureat degree or better 68.6% 40.8%

11. Order Effects
OBE frequency
– Form A (N = 125)
• Mean = .36
– Form B (N = 127)
• Mean = .71
• z = 2.38, p = .02
Lucid dreams
– Form A (N = 126)
• Mean = 1.28
– Form B (N = 127)
• Mean = .93
• z = 2.12, p =.03
OBE frequency
– Form A (N = 264)
• Mean = 1.10
– Form B (N = 260)
• Mean = 1.28
• z = 1.88, p = .06
Déjà Vu
– Form A (N = 257)
• Mean = 1.94
– Form B (N = 263)
• Mean = .86
• z = 2.75, p = .006
Study 1: Postal Study 2: Web

12. Parapsychological Experiences
& Dream Variables
Experience N Yes
OBEs 253 37.5%
Waking ESP 253 50.2%
Dream ESP 252 49.2%
Apparitions 253 34%
Aura 253 10.7%
Dream Recall 254 96.9%
Disturbing
Dreams 252 92.9%
Lucid Dreams 254 70.9%
Experience N Yes
OBEs 524 67.2%
Waking ESP 524 84.5%
Dream ESP 528 82%
Apparitions 528 80.3%
Aura 527 54.1%
Dream Recall 532 99.4%
Disturbing
Dreams 531 98.1%
Lucid Dreams 530 89.2%
Study 1: Postal Study 2: Web
Internet respondents reported significantly more of all the above at
the p < .0001 level, except dream recall which is p < .004.

13. Other Experiences, Headaches
& Head Injuries
Experience N Yes
Déjà Vu 252 82.5%
Sense of Oneness 253 58.9%
Seeing colors
music/sound 254 22.4%
letters/numbers 251 13.9%
Headache 256 81.6%
Head Injury 35 13.7%
Experience N Yes
Dé jà Vu 520 94.8%
Sense of Oneness 527 90.3%
Seeing colors
music/sound 522 45.8%
letters/numbers 525 33.7%
Headache 565 91%
Head Injury 109 19.5%
Study 1: Postal Study 2: Web
In all of the above except Head Injury, Web respondents reported
significantly more of the experiences at the p < .0001 level.
Head Injury was significant at p = .044.

14. Scale Scores & Indexes
Study 1 : Postal Study 2 : Web
N Mean Range N Mean Range
CDS* 256 20.13 0-93 591 37.18 0-279
SWLS* 256 25.17 0-35 597 20.39 0-34
LSHS* 43 16.63 0-48 76 35.11 3-63
Psi Index* 256 1.79 0-5 597 3.24 0-5
OBE Feature*** 11 6.91 0-18 61 4.46 0-28
OBE Transformation
Score** 11 1.55 0-6 61 3.53 0-8
* p < .0001, ** p = .035, *** = n.s.

15. OBE Frequency & CDS Score
Study N rs p
Postal Respondents 253 .49 <.0001
Web Respondents 524 .37 <.0001

16. CDS Scores for OBErs vs Non-OBErs
Mean
Study N CDS Score z p
OBErs Postal 95 31.13
Non-OBErs Postal 158 13.49 6.51 < .0001
OBErs Web 350 47.48
Non-OBErs Web 168 26.49 6.83 < .0001

17. SWLS Scores for OBErs
vs Non-OBErs
Mean
SWLS
Study N Score z p
OBErs Postal 95 24.61
Non-OBErs Postal 158 25.59 1.985 < .047
OBErs Web 350 21.32
Non-OBErs Web 172 22.06 1.19 < .231

18. LSHS Scale Scores for OBErs
vs Non-OBErs
Mean
LSHS
Study N Score z p
OBErs Postal 14 20.14
Non-OBErs Postal 29 14.93 1.09 < .276
OBErs Web 53 38.42
Non-OBErs Web 23 27.48 3.02 < .003

19. Correlations between OBE Frequency
and the Other Experiences
Study 1 : Postal Study 2: Web
Variable N rs N rs
Age 251 .03 518 .04
Education 239 .08 466 -.06
Religiousness 250 .17 515 .12
Headaches 253 .23* 522 .23*
SWLS 253 .05 524 -.01
LSHS 43 .31 76 .62*
*p < .0001

20. Correlations between OBE Frequency
and the Other Experiences continued
Study 1 : Postal Study 2: Web
Variable N rs N rs
Waking ESP 252 .46* 520 .55*
Dream ESP 251 .42* 521 .48*
Apparitions 252 .52* 523 .53*
Auras 252 .59* 520 .54*
OBE Feature Index 253 .65* 61 .49*
OBE Transformation Index 253 .64* 61 .54*
Psi Experiences w/o OBE item 253 .61* 524 .52*

21. Correlations between OBE Frequency
and the Other Experiences continued
Study 1: Postal Study 2: Web
Variable N rs N rs
Sense of oneness 252 .36* 520 .48*
Déjà Vu 251 .38* 510 .42*
Dream recall 253 .28* 524 .29*
Disturbing dreams 251 .27* 524 .24*
Lucid dreams 253 .36* 523 .481*
Seeing colors while hearing
sounds, music, voices 253 .52* 520 .49*
Seeing colors while seeing,
hearing, or thinking about
letters or numbers 250 .55* 521 .54*
* P < .0001

22. Significant Differences between Studies on
Features of the OBE Experience
Study 1: Postal Study 2: Web Fisher
OBE Features N % N % Exact
Able to pass through
matter 10 0 48 45.8 .005
Illumination while
out not normal
light 10 0 52 40.4 .01
Sensation of
rising while
going out 9 66.7 50 38 .08
Looking down
while out 9 66.7 54 40.7 .10

23. OBE Transformation Items
Study 1: Postal Study 2 : Web
(N = 11) (N = 61)
% Yes % Yes
Yourself 27.3 56
Human Nature 9.1 48
Communication
with others 18.2 43
Material Wealth 9.1 28
Society 0 36
Life 27.3 49
Death 27.3 53
God 27.3 41
Other 9.1 0
Study 1 OBE Transformation Score was 1.55, significantly lower than the
Study 2 OBE Transformation Score of 3.53, p < .0001.

24. Relationship of CDS Score to
OBE Feature Index
& OBE Transformation Score
Study 1: Postal Study 2: Web
N rs p N rs p
CDS Score to:
OBE Feature
Index 11 -.15 ns 61 .32 .013
OBE Transformation
Score 11 -.13 ns 61 .42 .001

25. Relationship of LSHS Score to
OBE Feature Index
& OBE Transformation Score
Study 1: Postal Study 2: Web
N rs p N rs p
LSHS Score to:
OBE Feature
Index 9 .52 ns 61 .46 .001
OBE Transformation
Score 9 .05 ns 61 .47 .001

26. Logistic Regression: CDS Items as Predictors
of OBE Group Membership
Study 1: Postal
N = 253
Standard T
Variable Coefficient Error Ratio p
Item 6. Detached observer of self .391 .149 2.63 .009
Item 24. Feeling “robotic” .625 .241 2.59 .01
Item 15. Autoscopy 1.008 .404 2.50 .013
Item 17. Déjà Vu -.333 .142 -2.31 .019
Item 13. Detached from
surroundings .450 .195 2.32 .021
Item 8. Body feels light .417 .182 2.29 .022
Constant -1.378 .282 -4.88 .000
2
(27)=107.932, p < .0001, log of likelihood = -113.473
79.1% of the cases were classified correctly

27. Logistic Regression: CDS Items as Predictors
of OBE Group Membership
Study 2: Web
N = 521
Standard T
Variable Coefficient Error Ratio p
Item 8. Body feels light .301 .085 3.54 .000
Item 2. What is seen, flat, lifeless -.190 .057 -3.38 .001
Item 15. Autoscopy .378 .124 3.05 .002
Item 3. Parts of body don’t
don’t seem to belong to me .342 .164 2.09 .037
Item 27. Have to touch myself
to make sure my body is real -.403 .193 -2.09 .037
Constant -.261 .200 -1.30 .293
2
(27)=132.751, p < .0001, log of likelihood =
-260.009123, 87.3% of the cases correctly classified

28. Logistic Regression: Experiences, CDS w/o OBE,
Psi Index w/o OBE as Predictors
of OBE Group Membership
Study 1: Postal
N = 244
Standard T
Variable Coefficient Error Ratio p
CDS Score w/o OBE .047 .011 4.45 .000
Constant 51.982 2152.483 .02 .981
2(13)=63.39, p < .0001, log of likelihood = -129.469411,
73.4% of the cases correctly classified

29. Standard T
Variable Coefficient Error Ratio p
ESP Dream .619 .141 4.38 .000
Aura .406 .142 2.87 .004
Synesthesias
Numbers .560 .208 2.69 .007
Disturbing
dreams -.423 .171 -2.48 .013
CDS Score
w/o OBE item .009 .005 2.09 .037
Constant 35.11 1364.09 .03 .98
2
(13)=197.174, p < .0001, log of likelihood =
-221.00384, 76.4% of the cases correctly classified
Logistic Regression: Experiences, CDS w/o OBE, Psi Index
w/o OBE as Predictors
of OBE Group Membership
Study 2: Web
N = 501

30. CDS Scores for Yes/No Responses on
Dream, Psi and Synesthesia Experiences
Study 1: Postal Study 2: Web
CDS Mean CDS Mean
Experience Yes No z Yes No z
Waking ESP 26.81 13.96 5.42*** 44.15 25.12 4.97***
Dream ESP 27.52 13.46 5.47*** 43.18 30.33 3.61***
Apparitions 29.61 15.17 4.98*** 45.48 22.39 6.68***
Aura 30.19 18.87 2.37* 50.00 30.12 6.32***
Sense of Oneness 23.64 15.64 3.61*** 42.32 25.96 3.46***
Déjà Vu 22.05 11.66 3.98*** 41.82 23.96 4.03**
Synesthesia Color
with Sounds 37.74 15.22 7.05*** 53.32 30.71 6.73***
Synesthesia Color
with Numbers 38.03 17.19 5.25*** 57.38 32.86 7.33***
* p = .018, ** p = .001, *** = < .0001

31. LSHS Scores for Yes/No Responses on
Dream, Psi and Synesthesia Experiences
Study 1: Postal Study 2: Web
LSHS Mean LSHS Mean
Experience Yes No z Yes No z
Waking ESP 18.04 15.44 .623 36.85 24.82 2.67**
Dream ESP 20.35 12.59 1.90 36.29 23.88 2.67**
Apparitions 24.00 13.73 2.34* 37.62 24.87 3.08**
Aura 24.86 15.14 1.99* 40.26 28.25 3.77***
Sense of Oneness 17.39 15.20 1.22 35.44 30.80 .66
Déjà Vu 18.00 9.57 1.83 36.04 18.50 2.24*
Synesthesia Color
with Sounds 23.17 14.09 2.17* 39.95 30.26 3.21***
Synesthesia Color
with Numbers 24.80 14.15 2.63** 39.94 31.59 2.68**
*p <.05, ** p < .01, *** p < .0001

32. And now for something completely
different …