http://www.well.com/user/selene/SENarticles/SpiritPsychosis.html, Spiritual Emergence or Psychosis? (Link no longer active)
by Selene Vega

[Excerpt]

Some of the signs and behavioral symptoms that the DSMIII-R (American Psychiatric Association, 1987) classifies under schizophrenia appear in individuals who may be experiencing a nonordinary state of consciousness that is not indicative of mental disease. It is, rather, a potentially transformative state that can, with proper treatment, lead the individual through the crisis into a higher state of being. Christina and Stanislav Grof (1986) maintain that "these experiences - spiritual emergencies or transpersonal crises - can result in emotional and psychosomatic healing, creative problem-solving, personality transformation, and consciousness evolution."

Although these states have historical and multi-cultural precedents, our society has no categories for these experiences and the people undergoing them, and the similarities to the symptoms of psychosis lead the authorities to treat what might be considered a mystical state as pathology. The DSMIII-R does acknowledge the difficulty of distinguishing the "beliefs or experiences of members of religious or other cultural groups" from delusions and hallucinations and cautions us not to consider them evidence of psychosis when shared and accepted by a cultural group. This might cover mystical experiences that occur under the auspices of a particular sect or within a cultural context, but it does not address the variety of states that might be considered spiritual emergiencies or mystical experiences.

The Grofs have grouped the spiritual crises they have seen personally and reviewed in written accounts into six categories, which I will summarize here.

1. Awakening of Kundalini (Serpent Power)

Kundalini is an energy described by Indian scholars as residing at the base of the spine. When aroused, it can rise through the chakras (psychic centers situated along the spine from the tailbone to the top of the head), creating physical symptoms ranging from sensations of heat and tremors to involuntary laughing or crying, talking in tongues, nausea, diarrhea or constipation, rigidity or limpness, and animal-like movements and sounds.

Kundalini does not rise only in those who know about it and actively seek to arouse it. A variety of spiritual practices can bring it on, and it has been known to occur in people who have done nothing consciously to awaken it. A discussion of this spontaneous awakening can be found in Sanella (1978).

Kundalini awakening can resemble many disorders, medical as well as psychiatric. The physical nature of the symptoms can bring to mind conversion disorder, and it might also lead to a misdiagnosis of epilepsy, lower back problems, incipient multiple sclerosis, heart attack or pelvic inflammatory syndrome. The emotional reaction to the awakening of Kundalini can be confused with disorders involving anxiety, depression, aggression, confusion and guilt.

Unlike those suffering from psychosis, individuals experiencing Kundalini rising are "typically much more objective about their condition, communicate and cooperate well, show interest in sharing their experiences with open-minded people, and seldom act out" (Grof, C. & S. (1986). Spiritual emergency: The understanding and treatment of transpersonal crises. ReVision, 8 (2), 7-20).