Spirituality and epilepsy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Quality of Spiritual Experiences in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
IRAS ID
243691
Contact name
Marco Mula
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
St. George's, University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 30 days
Research summary
This study aims to investigate the quality of spiritual experiences of people with epilepsy, and evaluates whether their experiences differ from those of people who do not suffer from epilepsy.
Spirituality is a phenomenon that is universally yet uniquely experienced by each individual. It has also been considered to be an inner source of resilience for collective cultures, through countless generations. Yet, on the other hand, among the different brain disorders, epilepsy has been the disorder that has been associated with heightened spiritual experiences. In some studies, temporal lobe epilepsy has been associated with increased spiritual interests and mystical experiences, as well as other personality features which have been grouped together in the trait of hyper-religiosity. However, this finding is a still a matter of debate, as some other studies failed to reach the same conclusion. It was noted that these studies are affected by several limitations, and therefore the link between temporal lobe epilepsy and spirituality is still unknown.
This project aims to study the spectrum of spiritual experiences of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, taking into account the areas evaluated from all previous studies, as well as other factors that might influence the spiritual orientation of individuals. The study will compare the experiences of patients with epilepsy with those of their first-degree relatives and a control group of individuals without epilepsy, who have been matched for age, gender and religious background to the epilepsy patients.REC name
West of Scotland REC 5
REC reference
18/WS/0106
Date of REC Opinion
13 Jun 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion