INTRODUCTION: There is a high prevalence of Anomalous Experiences (AEs), as psychotic experiences, in the general population. There is little information about characteristics of people with non-pathological AEs seeking religious institutions. OBJECTIVES: To investigate personality profiles, quality of life (QoL) and religiosity in people with EAs. METHODS: One hundred and fifteen subjects who sought Spiritist Centers in Juiz de Fora/MG, Brazil, and who had AEs were interviewed: sociodemographic data; ITC-R (140) - (Temperament and Character Inventory, revised), Durel-P (Duke Religious Index, Portuguese version), and WHOQOL-BREF (Assessment of Quality of Life of the World Health Organization-Brazilian abbreviated version). RESULTS: Cooperativity was the personality dimension with the highest mean (77.0 ± 11.2). High non-organizational religiousness was reported by 77% of the sample; 58.9% were affiliated to Spiritism; psychological dimension of QoL had the lowest mean (61.1 ± 19.4) and physical domain the highest (67.1 ± 18.2). CONCLUSIONS: Individuals with AEs who seek help seem to be a population at risk for mental or emotional problems in general, being necessary to develop appropriate approaches and more studies about the topic.
Anomalous experiences; personality; religiosity; quality of life and mental disorders
