Alterations of Consciousness at a Self-Development Seminar: A Matrix Energetics Seminar Survey

Abstract

Matrix Energetics is a system of self-transformation developed by Richard Bartlett in the context of alternative medicine, which he teaches at training seminars around the world to anyone who wishes to learn it. The authors conducted the present study to determine what happens psychologically at a Matrix Energetics seminar and to see if there could be any long-term health benefits associated with participation at such a seminar. Participants were 97 attendees at a Matrix Energetics seminar held over three days at a hotel in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There were 69 women and 26 men (N = 95) with a mean age of 51.1 years (SD = 13.2; age range: 18–77 years; N = 94). Participants were given questionnaires to complete before the beginning of the seminar, at the end of each of the three days, and through a website at a two-month follow-up. The questionnaires included measures of demographic information, personality, psychological well-being, physical and mental health, state of being, and profundity of experiences. In addition, behavioral observations were made and participants were interviewed. During the seminar participants appeared to experience reality as being more plastic than we ordinarily assume it to be while in an attentive, expanded, and emotionally positive state of being. Using the total scale of the 36-Item RAND Health Survey, a paired samples t test revealed that overall health was better at the follow-up (M = 81.33; SD = 10.43) than at the time of the initial questionnaires (M = 72.77; SD = 16.15) with t(24) = 3.42, p = .002 (two-tailed), although that result needs to be interpreted with caution. The alterations of consciousness experienced in the context of Matrix Energetics should be further investigated as should the potentially therapeutic benefits of experiencing Matrix Energetics.