Galanter M, Rabkin R, Rabkin J, Deutsch A
Am J Psychiatry. 1979 Feb;136(2):165-70. doi: 10.1176/ajp.136.2.165.
The authors undertook this study to enhance psychiatric understanding of contemporary charismatic religious sects. After a pilot study, a representative sample of members of the Unification Church (N = 237) completed a 216-item structured questionnaire. Respondents were below the mean for an age- and sex-matched group on a psychological general well-being scale, and they reported significantly greater neurotic distress before conversion. The authors discuss correlates of an improved emotional state following conversion and employ attribution theory, drawn from social psychology, to put the conversion process into a psychiatric perspective.
作者开展这项研究是为了增进精神病学对当代魅力型宗教教派的理解。经过一项试点研究后，统一教成员的一个代表性样本（N = 237）完成了一份包含216个条目的结构化问卷。在心理总体幸福感量表上，受访者低于年龄和性别匹配组的均值，并且他们报告在皈依之前有明显更多的神经症困扰。作者讨论了皈依后情绪状态改善的相关因素，并运用社会心理学中的归因理论，从精神病学角度对皈依过程进行阐释。
