The psychological researchers disagree on whether there is an elevated level of mental illness in the group of new-age people. Granqvist and Hagekull (2001) who found signs of this had recruited their respondents from new age environments in a big city. Farias et al. (2005) which did not find such signs had researched, inter alia, in English druids. One possible reason for this outcome may be that they are in fact different groups.

For the spiritual field, there is no consensus on what are relevant boundaries and how different variants should be called. Frisk (2007b) suggests from a religious perspective that researchers should use statistical methods in order to arrive at a suitable classification. This seems urgent to try to achieve. However, different diciplins may need different models and what may prove to be a relevant subdivision for religious studies needs does not necessarily have to conform to the division that would be most illustrative or useful for psychological purposes.

Granqvist (2014) highlights differences in god's relationship or image of God, which is probably a significant variable to consider. It cannot be excluded that the respondents, for example, in Farias et al. (2005) mentioned above had a connection-like relationship with nature itself, which could explain why the results of that investigation differed from, for example, Granqvist and Hagekull (2001).

The present study has investigated how the interviewees approached the existential conditions of the human being, as these can be formulated based on psychoanalysis, which is possibly another variable that can contribute to a psychologically relevant division of newness or spirituality at all.

The presence of gaps in the thought system (Hammer, 2004) is a possible third such variable. For example, due to a lack of prior knowledge, a couple of people were included in the present study who actually had a more Gnostic outlook on life. These people certainly embraced the ideas of reincarnation, karma, and the perfection of the individual, but in a slightly different way. This became apparent only late in the analysis work. One impression is that respondents with a Gnostic worldview responded more thoughtfully and in some sense more "religiously" than the others, when it was about the role of God, the power of thought, the individual versus the collective, the possible progression in development, and more. In short, they seemed to have a bigger such gap in their world of thought. Gnosticism seems to be psychologically a middle between traditional religion and newness.

Översikt Uppsats