Unusual perceptual experiences among nursing staff and their relation to work stress, schizoid features, absorption, and empathy

Abstract

The objective of this study was to explore the frequency of certain unusual perceptual experiences within hospital environments – those denominated anomalous and paranormal experiences – which are reported by medical and nursing personnel, and to compare the degree of work stress, schizoid features tendency, absorption and empathy with the patient. Three scales were used with 344 nurses from 36 hospitals and health centers in Buenos Aires, Argentina, grouped in those who had had these unusual experiences (n = 235) and those who had not (n = 109). The related most common unusual experiences included feeling a presence, listening to noises, voices, dialogs, cries, or complaints, having extra-sensorial or intuitive feelings related to the patients, and/or their own patients feeling the same situations in addition to other death proximity, praying, and spontaneous healings related experiences, and others experiences manifested by children. Regarding the results, the nurses who had these unusual experiences, also had higher scores in the factor Depersonalization, showing more absorption and schizoid features tendency, as well as more cognitive empathy and emotional comprehension, in comparison to those nurses who had not had these unusual experiences. We believe that some nurses could be better trained in order to adequately address their patients’ suffering and dying processes.