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Psychic Infection, anyone knows some literature about these phenomena?

Posted by Karina Grijzen on January 24, 2012 at 7:11am in Depth Psychology General

Lately I learned about psychic infection.

As I was very surprised since I heard about it, but never in a analytical context.

Can anyone here help me find analytically originated literature about this, especially the therapeutical aspects of the receiver and 'giver'? 

I've covered the 'put on a golden cape' theories, but they did not satisfy my need to know what is really underneath this dynamic between two persons.

Thanks for reading my question,

Karina

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Replies

  • Joe Bill Schirtzinger March 6, 2012 at 9:32am

    Kay,

    When I do something like yoga, it is typically a mixture of tai chi and tsa lung. I find movement to be important for me.

    I actually dialog with chakras combined with something sorta like reiki. Between that and astrology, I can usually zero in on an issue and get it resolved. Having said that, I think there are some issues such as having a damaged chakra that are not so easy as meditating to repair. It all depends on the why and how, and while letting go is a good thing along with "fixing" the chakras, I think some things also have to be lived.

    But yes, I agree with your basic point. Introspection and self correction are the methods by which one can hope to escape their self-constructed cages.

  • Joe Bill Schirtzinger March 5, 2012 at 7:52pm

    Take psyche to mean soul. Take infection to mean "something that shouldn't be there that causes harm". Furthermore, for the purposes of elucidation, take chakras to be the centers that comprise the soul. When a person attains enlightenment, the highest possible state, then all of their chakras are balanced. By that definition, probably few people in the history of mankind have ever achieved such a thing. When these centers are off, it is possible for someone or something to tap into them. When this happens, there is a parasiticness involved in the situation and the person's soul has been compromised. If they do not meditate and balance themselves, they do not re center, and if they do not re center, they effectively allow the thing or person to "borrow" their energy for their/its purposes. If this happens long enough, there is bleed back energy from the parasite to the host, not to mention depletion of the host. This can lead to things as dramatic as spiritual death.

  • John R White February 27, 2012 at 8:32am

    I don't know if any of you have an interest in philosophy, but the early phenomenologist, Max Scheler, spoke about something similar. He called it psychic "contagion" rather than "infection," though the language symbols are similar enough that you can see why they are probably related. Though psychic contagion was not the focus of Scheler's book On the Nature of Sympathy ]it does interweave throughout the first (of three) part of the book, as a kind contrast to genuine communal feeling for others. Like Jung, certain existential thinkers, personalist phliosophers, etc. Scheler also was concerned about the problem of so-called "mass society" and the various ways in which it inhibits the development of unique personality.

  • Lee Lawrence February 25, 2012 at 12:21am

    I too am interested in this subject.  

    Karina, could you define the term as you use it?  I looked in up in Mosby's Medical Dictionary and it says:

    psychic infection

    Etymology: Gk, psyche + L, inficere, to stain
    the spread of psychic effects or influences on others on a small scale, as in folie à deux, or on a large scale, as in the dance and witch manias of the Middle Ages or the spread of hysteria or panic in a crowd.
    I have studied this extensively in my research involving hypnosis, cult programming and mind control techniques.  Allow me to say that it is most prevalent in group identities, especially with strong peer groups.   There are some simple techniques utilized to create this phenomena and very difficult to remove unless the individual is removed from the group.  I've often referred to it as "Group Think."  Recently this happened in a group of high school females and was in the national news.  
    The above should not by confused with "psychic intrusion."  That is different and can be caused by several factors.
    Not sure which direction you are researching.  Please let me know and I can provide original literature and references.
  • Bonnie Bright January 24, 2012 at 12:15pm

    HI Karina. I'm really intrigued about this term. It made me think of a fascinating dissertation I read about projection and how we sometimes wander inadvertently into another persons projections (the text portrayed projections as almost these "bubbles" of energy that we can get caught in and become possessed). I feel like there's a correlation here somehow. Can you give your definition or understanding of what psychic infection is?--particularly in an analytical context? I'm also curious about where you initially learned about it....

  • Ed Koffenberger January 24, 2012 at 7:31am

    Just pulled this quickly:

    Interesting definition

    Curious...seems that social psychology addresses this more directly than anything I've read so far in depth psychology.

    I take that back, liberation psychologies address this yet these do not speak of the mania, hysteria, or panic mentioned in the above linked source. I'll be interested to hear what other responses you get.

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