Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T16:24:28.577Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An early Dutch study of déjà vu experiences

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Herman N. Sno  and
Douwe Draaisma
Herman N. Sno*
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam; University Department of Psychonomics, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
Douwe Draaisma
Affiliation:
University Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Centre, Amsterdam; University Department of Psychonomics, Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Herman N. Sno, Academic Medical Centre, Psychiatric Out-patient Clinic, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

In 1904 and 1906, Heymans reported the results of two prospective questionnaire surveys on déjà vu experiences and depersonalization in a sample of mainly students. Déjà vu experiences appeared to be more frequent than episodes of depersonalization. Emotional sensitivity, unstable mood fluctuations, apathetic episodes and irregular working rhythm emerged as predisposing personality traits. With the exception of the working rhythm, these traits were more prominent among the respondents with episodes of depersonalization than among those with déjà vu experiences. Heymans inferred that these findings supported his hypothesis that déjà vu experiences and depersonalization both resulted from the diminishing or disappearance of a sense of familiarity due to a momentary reduction of psychological energy. A re-analysis of Heymans' data partly confirmed his findings and conclusions as to the predisposing factors. The authors conclude that his studies and his hypothesis have been hitherto undervalued and would deserve more attention.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , February 1993 , pp. 17 - 26
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

American Psychiatric Association (1987). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd edn, revised (DSM-III-R). American Psychiatric Association: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Anjel, . (1878). Beitrag zum Capittel über Erinnerungstäuschungen. Archiv für Psychiatrie 8, 57–64.Google Scholar
Bergson, H. (1908). Le souvenir du présent et la fausse reconnaissance. Revue Philosophique 66, 561–593.Google Scholar
Bernard-Leroy, E. (1898). L'illusion de Fausse Reconnaissance F. Alcan: Paris.Google Scholar
Berndt-Larsson, H. (1931). Ueber das déjà vu und andere Täuschungen des Bekanntheitsgefühls. Zeitschrift für die Gesamte Neurologie und Psychiatrie 133, 521–543.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boirac, E. (1876). Correspondence. Revue Philosophique 1, 430–431.Google Scholar
Brauer, R., Harrow, M. & Tucker, G. J. (1970). Depersonalization phenomena in psychiatric patients. British Journal of Psychiatry 117, 509–515.Google Scholar
Chapman, A. H. & Mensh, I. N. (1951/1952). Déjà-vu experience and conscious fantasy in adults. Psychiatric Quarterly (suppl.), 25–26, 163–175.Google Scholar
Dickens, C. (1849). The Personal History of David Copperfield. Penguin Books: London. 1985.Google Scholar
Draaisma, D. (1988). De Geest in Getal: Beginjaren van de Psychologie. Swets & Zeitlinger: Lisse.Google Scholar
Ebbinghaus, H. (1915). Grundzüge der Psychologie, p. 5. von Veit & Co: Leipzig.Google Scholar
Ellis, H. (1911). Memory in dreams. In The World of Dreams. Constable: London.Google Scholar
Harper, M. A. (1969). Déjà vu and depersonalization in normal subjects. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 3, 67–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, O. van der & Friedman, B. (1989). A readers's guide to Pierre Janet on dissociation: a neglected intellectual heritage. Dissociation 2, 3–16.Google Scholar
Heymans, G. (1904). Eine Enquête über Depersonalisation und ‘Fausse Reconnaissance’. Zeitschrift für Psychologic 36, 321–343.Google Scholar
Heymans, G. (1906). Weitere Daten über Depersonalisation und ‘Fausse Reconnaissance’. Zeitschrift für Psychologie 43, 1–17.Google Scholar
Jensen, J. (1868). Über Doppelwahrnehmungen in der gesunden wie in der kranken Psyche. Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie und Nervenkrankheiten, Supplement Heft 25, 48–64.Google Scholar
Lalande, A. (1893). Des paramnésies. Revue Philosophique 36, 485–497.Google Scholar
Lapie, P. (1894). Nole sur la paramnésie. Revue Philosophique 37, 351.Google Scholar
Le Clair, R. C. (ed.) (1966). The Letters of William James and Theodore Flournoy, p. 168. University of Wisconsin Press: Madison and London.Google Scholar
Linzwurzky, J. (1909). Zum Problem des falschen Wiedererkennens (déjà vu). Archiv für die Gesamte Psychologie 15, 256–260.Google Scholar
Myers, D. H. & Grant, G. (1972). A study of depersonalization in students. British Journal of Psychiatry 121, 59–65.Google Scholar
Neppe, V. M. (1979). An Investigation of the Relationship between Subjective Paranormal Experience and Temporal Lobe Symptomatology. (Dissertation), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Google Scholar
Neppe, V. M. (1983). The Psychology of Déjà Vu: Have I Been Here Before? Witwatersrand University Press: Johannesburg.Google Scholar
Richardson, T. F. & Winokur, G. (1967). Déjà vu in psychiatric and neurosurgical patients. Archives of General Psychiatry 17, 622–625.Google Scholar
Richardson, T. F. & Winokur, G. (1968). Déjà vu – as related to diagnostic categories in psychiatric and neurosurgical patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 146, 161–164.Google Scholar
Sno, H. N. & Linszen, D. H. (1990). The déjà vu experience: remembrance of things past? American Journal of Psychiatry 147, 1587–1595.Google Scholar
Sno, H. N., Linszen, D. H. & de Jonghe, F. (1992 a). Art imitates life: déjà vu experiences in prose and poetry. British Journal of Psychiatry 160, 511–518.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sno, H.N., Linszen, D. H. & de Jonghe, F. (1992 b). Empirical research on déjà vu experiences: a review. Behavioural Neurology 5, 151–161.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sully, J. (1881). Illusion – A Psychological Study C.K. Paul: London.Google Scholar
Veen, H. G. van der (1983). Levensloop. In Gerard Heymans: objectiviteit in filosofie en psychologie (ed. Draaisma, D.), pp. 13–32. Het wereldvenster: Weesp.Google Scholar
Wigan, A. L. (1844).The Duality of the Mind, pp. 64–65. Joseph Simon, 1985: Malibu, Calif.Google Scholar