Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
August 4, 2026
Rupsha Singh, Christina M. Puchalski, Alexander Moreira-Almeida et al.
Sleep-an essential pillar of health-has historically been considered not only a biological phenomenon but also based on experiences interpreted through spiritual, moral, existential, and cultural frameworks worldwide [1-5].Across societies, dreams, nightmares, sleep paralysis, and nocturnal visions have frequently been attributed to soul journeys, spirits, precognitions, moral conflict,...
International Psychogeriatrics
March 1, 2026
Marianna Abreu Costa, Alexander Moreira-Almeida
Humanity is undergoing a profound demographic transition, with older adults representing a growing share of society. This late stage of life not only prompts profound reflections on the meaning of life and the inevitability of death, but is also associated with a higher occurrence of certain non-ordinary experiences - such as end-of-life experiences (ELEs), after-death communications (ADCs),...
Palliative & Supportive Care
December 26, 2025
Taís Oliveira Silva, Bruno Angeli-Faez, Lorena Cândida Ferreira Paixão et al.
End-of-life dreams and visions (ELDVs) and delirium frequently occur near death but differ in core features. Clinical differentiation becomes challenging when they co-occur. This case report illustrates the interplay between ELDVs and delirium, examines the limits of current diagnostic criteria in mixed cases, and outlines a nuanced approach to distinction. We report the case of an elderly...
Transcultural Psychiatry
August 1, 2025
Maria Cristina Monteiro de Barros, Frederico Camelo Leão, Homero Vallada Filho et al.
Spiritual and religious experiences (SREs) are common subjective phenomena related to the awareness of transcendence, which transforms one's perception of life, death and suffering. Despite the high prevalence of SREs worldwide, not enough studies have been conducted beyond Europe and North America. To fill this gap, this study investigates the prevalence of SREs in Brazil and their association...
History of Psychiatry
June 1, 2025
Marcelo Gulão Pimentel, Klaus Chaves Alberto, Alexander Moreira-Almeida
The French educator Allan Kardec (1804-1869) was one of the first researchers to propose the scientific investigation of psychical experiences and was an influential scholar in Europe during the second half of the 19th Century. However, his life and the outcome of his research in this field are currently little known and often misconstrued. This paper briefly presents Kardec's biography and his...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Marianna de Abreu Costa, Alexander Moreira-Almeida
7 citations
The mind-brain problem, which explores the relationship between the mind and brain and the nature of consciousness, remains a scientific challenge. It is not a purely theoretical issue; it profoundly shapes our understanding of human nature. This paper reviews evidence on mind-brain problem views impacting ethical, clinical, and academic domains. Evidence shows that dualism is prevalent, even...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Alexander Moreira-Almeida
4 citations
The nature of consciousness remains unclear, and academic discussions usually ignore the scientific evidence about anomalous and spiritual experiences suggestive of the mind beyond the brain, mainly because of the lack of a scientific framework that makes sense of these experiences. This manuscript proposes the 'Pragmatic interactionist' scientific framework for the mind-brain relationship...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
2025
Marianna de Abreu Costa, Alexander Moreira-Almeida
2 citations
Mediums are individuals who claim to communicate with deceased persons or non-material beings. Rigorous studies have reported that mediums can provide accurate anomalous information (i.e. information not obtained through the conventional senses or inferential reasoning). This paper reviews the evidence about these claims and explores the main conventional explanatory hypotheses: fraud, sitter's...
Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999)
2025
Wagner Farid Gattaz, Marianna de Abreu Costa, Angélica Salatino-Oliveira et al.
There has been a call for neuroscientific studies of spiritual experiences due to their global prevalence, significant impact, and importance for understanding the mind-brain problem. Mediumship is a spiritual experience where individuals claim to communicate with or be influenced by deceased persons or non-material entities. We assessed whether mediums carry specific genetic alterations. We...
Die Wissenschaft vom Leben nach dem Tod
2024
Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Marianna de Abreu Costa, Humberto Schubert Coelho
Wenn man den gesamten Körper an Überlebensevidenz mit einem rationalen, rigorosen und offenen Geist analysiert, fällt es schwer, dem Schluss zu widerstehen, dass das Überleben des menschlichen Bewusstseins nach dem permanenten körperlichen Tod eine Tatsache der Natur ist. Tatsächlich ist dies konsequent die Schlussfolgerung, die von der überwiegenden Mehrheit der Menschheit gezogen wurde,...
Explore (New York, N.Y.)
2022
Elizabeth Schmitt Freire, Alexandre Caroli Rocha, Victor Scio Tasca et al.
Mediumship is understood as a kind of spiritual experience in which a person (i.e., a medium) claims to be in communication with, or under the control of, spiritual beings. In the last decades there has been a resurgence of studies on psychological, psychiatric and neuroscientific aspects of mediumship, as well as studies assessing the claim that mediums can obtain anomalous information from...
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
October 29, 2014
Adriana Sleutjes, Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Bruce Greyson
38 citations
This article reviews mainstream scientific publications on near-death experiences (NDEs). We searched near-death experience in titles, key words, and abstracts at the Web of Knowledge database published between 1945 and 2013. We identified 266 relevant documents, the oldest from 1977. There was a strong predominance of opinion articles (book reviews, commentaries, and editorials), review...
Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999)
May 1, 2011
Alexander Moreira-Almeida, Etzel Cardeña
To review research articles in psychiatry and psychology involving Latin American populations and/or produced by Latin American scholars to investigate the differential diagnosis between spiritual/anomalous experiences and mental disorders in order to contribute to the validity of the International Classification of Diseases towards its 11th edition in this area. We searched electronic...
Archives of Clinical Psychiatry (São Paulo)
2007
Alexander Moreira-Almeida
39 citations
Since ancient times, spiritual beliefs, practices and experiences have been one of the most influential and prevalent components of most societies.Health providers, researchers and the general population have increasingly recognized the importance of the religious/spiritual dimension to health.The number of studies investigating the relationship of spirituality and health has increased...