A comparison of metacognitive belief, thought strategies and hallucination in a spiritual and non-spiritual population

This study tested hypotheses about the role of spiritual beliefs in Morrison's (2001) model of hallucination using non-clinical spiritual (church attendees and mediums) and non-spiritual (control) groups.;The hypotheses were that metacognitive beliefs about uncontrollability and self-consciousness would be positively correlated with predisposition to hallucination for all groups. However, the spiritual group was expected to report more of these beliefs corresponding to a greater predisposition to hallucination. In addition only the control group was expected to show significant positive correlations between punishment, worry and reappraisal thought control strategies and hallucination. No differences were anticipated across the groups on the overall scores on these strategies.;A within and between design was used to test hypotheses, using a non-random volunteer sample, recruited from spiritual churches, medium and adult education colleges. A total of 78 questionnaires were returned from the 150 distributed. Questionnaires measures predisposition to hallucination, though control strategies, metacognitive beliefs, anxiety and autobiographical information including spiritual beliefs.;There was mixed support for the hypotheses, as the groups differed significantly on associations between uncontrollability and predisposition to hallucination. However, the medium and control group showed similar associations on the self-consciousness. In addition both spiritual groups reported stronger beliefs about self-consciousness corresponding to greater predisposition to hallucination. Consistent with the secondary hypotheses only the control group showed the predicted associations between the thought control strategies and hallucination. However, the medium group reported greater use of reappraisal and distraction strategies. Post-hoc analyses revealed differences between groups on rating for specific items comprising these strategies.;Spiritual beliefs were implicated in the relationship between metacognitive beliefs, thought control strategies and predisposition to hallucination. The theoretical and clinical implication of these findings were discussed with the strengths and weaknesses of the study and recommendations made for future studies.