The development of a new self-report scale to measure "self-addiction"

What is it about?

Ontological addiction (OA) is a new Buddhist concept of "addiction to self". It holds that many mental illnesses, including addiction, are due to the mistaken belief in an inherently existent self that operates independently of external phenomena. Ontological addiction theory (OAT) describes how different types of mindfulness/meditation-based practices can help to undermine such beliefs and allow a person to reconstruct their view of self and reality such that they are not excessively preoccupied by and attached to selfhood, and attachments relating to self. However, in order to study this "self-addiction" it is important to have a questionnaire which can be used to rate a person's level of OA.

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Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Why is it important?

In order to study the relation of things like OA to other factors, or to examine the effect of an intervention (such as meditation) on levels of "self-addiction", we must have a way of scoring people on these qualities. A self-report questionnaire is a common means of giving numerical scores for such characteristics, and enables scientists to construct scientifically sound experiments for addressing such research questions.