MEPF
Mystical Experience with Psychotic Features (MEPF) is a proposed DSM classification intended to provide more sensible diagnostic advice and guidance to psychiatrists and medical professionals dealing with individuals having a mystical experience with psychotic features.
Syncretic Terms
Nadir Experience > Dark Night of the Soul, Death, Flooding, Psychotic Mysticism, Spiritual Emergency
Notes
The proposal is specifically aimed at promoting the recognition that even though mystical experiences with psychotic features are pathological, they may lead to positive outcomes, and they should be treated differently than individuals experience actual psychosis.[1] As Lukoff notes, "Accurate diagnosis of MEPF cases could reduce inappropriate hospitalization and use of medication for individuals who could be treated with less stigmatizing methods which have fewer side-effects."[2]
Footnotes