Features associated with speaking in tongues (glossolalia)

Loewenthal, K M and Grady, B

(1997)

Loewenthal, K M and Grady, B (1997) Features associated with speaking in tongues (glossolalia). British Journal of Medical Psychology, 70 (2).

Our Full Text Deposits

Full text access: Open

Full Text - 34.52 KB

Links to Copies of this Item Held Elsewhere


Abstract

Reports of the frequency, context, associated behaviours, feelings and meaning associated with glossolalia were collected from three groups of informants: speakers (n=14, who practised glossolalia), witnesses (n=15, who had witnessed but had never practised glossolalia), controls (n=16, who had neither witnessed nor practised glossolalia). All informants were practising Christians. Speakers reported glossolalia as a regular, daily, private activity, usually accompanying mundane activities, as a special form of prayer associated with calm, pleasant emotions.
By contrast, witnesses and controls were more likely to describe glossolalia as an exceptional activity, usually occurring in the religious group, and associated with excitement. The views of witnesses were closer to those of speakers than were the views of controls. It is suggested that there may be two types of glossolalia, of which one is more likely to be associated with psychopathology.

Information about this Version

This is a Published version
This version's date is: 06/1997
This item is not peer reviewed

Link to this Version

https://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/112892a8-9413-bac9-3d13-6b04d2805cb5/1/

Item TypeJournal Article
TitleFeatures associated with speaking in tongues (glossolalia)
AuthorsLoewenthal, K M
Grady, B
DepartmentsFaculty of Science\Psychology

Identifiers

Deposited by () on 23-Dec-2009 in Royal Holloway Research Online.Last modified on 23-Dec-2009

References

Alland, A. (1962) Possession in a revivalistic Negro church. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 1, 204-213.

American Psychiatric Association (1994) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM-IV. Washington:
American Psychiatric Association

Boisen, A.T. (1939) Economic distress and religious experience: a study of the Holy Rollers. Psychiatry, 2, 185-194.

Brown, L.B. (1994) The Human Side of Prayer. Birmingham, Alabama: Religious Education Press.


Cappa, S.F., Miozzo, A. & Frugoni, M. (1994) Glossolalic jargon after a right hemispheric stroke in a patient with Wernicke's aphasia. Aphasiology, 8, 83-87.

Goodman, F. (1972) Speaking in Tongues: a Cross-Cultural Study in Glossolalia. Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Hine, V.H. (1969) Pentecostal glossolalia: toward a functional interpretation. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 8, 211-226.

Kildahl, J.P. (1972) The Psychology of Speaking in Tongues. New York: Harper & Row.

Leff, J. (1993) Comment on crazy talk: thought disorder or psychiatric arrogance. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 66, 77-78.

Littlewood, R. & Lipsedge, M. (1989) Aliens and Alienists: Ethnic Minorities and Psychiatry (2nd edition). London: Unwin Hyman.

Loewenthal, K.M. (1995a) Mental Health and Religion. London: Chapman & Hall.

Loewenthal, K.M. (1995b) Possession or psychosis: a Jewish perspective. In Possession and Exorcism in the Contemporary World, Conference, November 1995: University of Newcastle.

Malony, H.N. & Lovekin, A.A. (1985) Glossolalia: Behavioural Science Perspectives on Speaking Tongues. New York: Oxford University Press.

May, L.C. (1956) A study of glossolalia and related phenomena in non-Christian religions. American Anthropologist, 58, 75-96.

Meadow, M.J. & Kahoe, R.D. (1984) Psychology of Religion. New York: Harper & Row.

Siegel, S., & Castellan, N.J. (1988) Non-Parametric Statistics for the Behavioural Sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1934) Thought and Language. English edition 1962, Cambridge, Massachusetts: M.I.T. Press

West, R. (1991) Computing for Psychologists. Chur, Switzerland: Harwood Academic Publishers.

Witztum, E., Grisaru, N. & Budowski, D. (1996) The 'Zar' possession syndrome among Ethiopian immigrants to Israel: Cultural and clinical aspects. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 69, 207-226.


Details