Schizotypy, delusional ideation and well-being in an American new religious movement population

This study extends two previous UK studies that looked at schizotypy in new religious movements (Peters, Day, McKenna & Orbach, 1999a; Day & Peters, 1999) using a similar religious subgroup from a different culture. A sample of American Hare Krishna devotees was compared with a non-religious control group on measures of delusional ideation, schizotypy and general well-being. The Hare Krishna group scored significantly higher than the control group on delusional ideation, but not other aspects of schizotypy or general well-being. They also scored higher on delusional conviction, but not distress and preoccupation. The findings provide cross-cultural confirmation for the notion of a continuum between normality and delusional thinking, and the need to consider delusional beliefs as multi-dimensional-psychological health seems to be predicated not on what you believe, but how you believe it.