Neuroimage
February 4, 2026
Gabriel A. Della Bella, Agustina Velez Picatto, Dante Sebastián Galván Rial et al.
Non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOC) offer a way to examine how large-scale brain dynamics reorganize as experience changes. We studied a participant able to reliably enter a self-induced NOC state characterized by vivid imagery, altered bodily perception, and a sense of unity. Across 20 fMRI sessions, we measured functional connectivity in four conditions (Baseline, Transition, NOC, and...
Psychology of Consciousness Theory Research and Practice
June 12, 2025
Etzel Cardeña, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana, Katja Valli et al.
11 citations
This article presents a taxonomy of altered states of consciousness, primarily based on their central phenomenological features. Following taxonomic principles and a modified Delphi methodology, a multidisciplinary, international group identified eight distinct phenomenological/behavioral states (some with subcategories): proto and transitional, delirium, minimal to no awareness, experiential...
The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis
2025
Aminata Bicego, Naji Alnagger, Etzel Cardeña et al.
1 citation
Mystical-type experiences can be induced through techniques like hypnosis and meditation. These experiences are common in near-death experiences (NDEs) and have been linked to paranormal beliefs. This study explored auto-induced cognitive trance (AICT) as a method to induce mystical-type experiences and NDE outside of life threatening situations (NDE-like), as well as examining the influence of...
The International journal of clinical and experimental hypnosis
2025
Etzel Cardeña
In the 1970s, researchers and theoreticians of states of consciousness jointly discussed hypnosis and psychedelic alterations of consciousness, but recent research has mostly kept these topics apart. This paper discusses the similarities and differences of hypnosis and psychedelic alterations of consciousness, stressing that states of consciousness should not be defined by their preceding...
Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition
November 27, 2024
Amal Ait Melloul, Karolina Kinnunen, E. Cardeña
Objective: To explore what it is like to have a distressing near-death experience (NDE) and its aftereffects. Method: We accessed all distressing NDE narratives from the International Association for Near-Death Studies (IANDS) database and analyzed eight individual narratives using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: Distressing NDEs include features such as disturbing...
Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition
June 5, 2024
E. Cardeña
Following the previous homage to Charles T. Tart and considering that Stan Krippner has celebrated more than 90 birthdays, this issue commemorates Stan along with two consciousness trailblazers who collaborated with him while they were alive: Jeanne Achterberg and Ruth-Inge Heinze. Jeanne was a very influential pioneer in mind/body medicine, particularly imagery in healing. Ruth-Inge Heinze had...
Brain and Cognition
August 1, 2023
Etzel Cardeña, Lena Lindström, Philippe R. Goldin et al.
4 citations
To evaluate the neurophenomenology of automatic writing (AW) in a spontaneous automatic writer (NN) and four high hypnotizables (HH). During fMRI, NN and the HH were cued to perform spontaneous (NN) or induced (HH) AW, and a comparison task of copying complex symbols, and to rate their experience of control and agency. Compared to copying, for all participants AW was associated with less sense...
Journal of Anomalous Experience and Cognition
April 3, 2023
Etzel Cardeña
N/A
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2023
Lena Lindström, Philippe R. Goldin, Johan Mårtensson et al.
12 citations
Alterations of the sense of self induced by meditation include an increased sense of boundarylessness. In this study, we investigated behavioural and functional magnetic resonance imaging correlates of trait self-boundarylessness during resting state and the performance of two experimental tasks. We found that boundarylessness correlated with greater self-endorsement of words related to...
Journal of Consciousness Studies
June 1, 2022
Lena Lindström, Petri Kajonius, Etzel Cardeña
25 citations
In this study, we investigate the phenomenology of selftranscendent experiences, in which the usual sense of self is lost. Based on a taxonomy of nine aspects of self and three types of content of consciousness, we compare ten accounts of such experiences acquired through in-depth interviews. Sense of separateness and identification with body and narrative self were reported as lost in all of...
Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.)
October 30, 2021
Eli Somer, Etzel Cardeña, Ramiro Figueiredo Catelan et al.
19 citations
Reality shifting (RS) is a trendy mental activity that emerged abruptly following the flare-up of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and seems to be practiced mainly by members of the post-millennial generation. RS, described as the experience of being able to transcend one's physical confines and visit alternate, mostly fictional, universes, is discussed by many on Internet platforms. One RS forum...
Journal of Scientific Exploration
March 8, 2021
Marilyn Schlitz, Daryl Bem, † Davíd et al.
11 citations
Two experiments involving an international collaboration of experimenters sought to replicate and extend a previously published psi experiment on precognition by Daryl Bem that has been the focus of extensive research. The experiment reverses the usual cause–effect sequence of a standard psychology experiment using priming and reaction times. The preregistered confirmatory hypothesis is that...
The Oxford Handbook of Meditation
October 4, 2019
Etzel Cardeña
Abstract Contemplative traditions have posited that exceptional abilities can occur in conjunction with meditation. These claims have been often dismissed as mere fantasies, but some have been evaluated experimentally. This chapter reviews historical accounts from Asian and Western traditions about such abilities and summarizes the research on the relation of meditation with exceptional...
Ethos (Berkeley, Calif.)
December 1, 2018
Etzel Cardeña, Yvonne Schaffler
14 citations
In this paper we present a multidisciplinary, developmental analysis of a Dominican Republic Vodou servidor ("Marcos"), from childhood to early adulthood, integrating ethnographic observation, field documentation, and anthropological analysis, with relevant constructs from developmental, personality, and clinical psychology. Marcos transitioned from a child with many problems to a young adult...
The American journal of clinical hypnosis
October 1, 2016
Devin B. Terhune, Etzel Cardeña
53 citations
Although most definitions of hypnosis consider inductions as the initial stage in a hypnosis protocol, knowledge of inductions remains poor and uninformed by recent developments in theory and research. It is frequently argued that inductions play a critical role in hypnotic responding or, by contrast, are largely interchangeable and unimportant. Drawing on the literature on suggestibility,...
Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry
March 1, 2016
Yvonne Schaffler, Etzel Cardeña, Sophie Reijman et al.
30 citations
Recent studies in African contexts have revealed a strong association between spirit possession and severe trauma, with inclusion into a possession cult serving at times a therapeutic function. Research on spirit possession in the Dominican Republic has so far not included quantitative studies of trauma and dissociation. This study evaluated demographic variables, somatoform dissociative...
Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior
February 1, 2013
Etzel Cardeña, Peter Jönsson, Devin B. Terhune et al.
151 citations
After a hypnotic induction, medium and highly hypnotizable individuals often report spontaneous alterations in various dimensions of consciousness. Few studies investigating these experiences have controlled for the inherent demands of specific hypnotic suggestions and fewer still have considered their dynamic properties and neural correlates. We adopted a neurophenomenological approach to...
Depression and Anxiety
September 1, 2011
D. Spiegel, R. Loewenstein, R. Lewis-Fernández et al.
Background: We present recommendations for revision of the diagnostic criteria for the Dissociative Disorders (DDs) for DSM‐5. The periodic revision of the DSM provides an opportunity to revisit the assumptions underlying specific diagnoses and the empirical support, or lack of it, for the defining diagnostic criteria. Methods: This paper reviews clinical, phenomenological, epidemiological,...
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...
Transcultural Psychiatry
June 1, 2005
Marjolein Van Duijl, Etzel Cardeña, Joop De Jong
62 citations
There is little systematic research on the cross-cultural validity of the dissociative disorders, especially in non-western countries. This study evaluates the fit of the DSM-IV classification and concepts of these disorders with local concepts, experiences and local presentations in south-west Uganda. We conducted focus group discussions with medical students, traditional healers, religious...
Imagination, Cognition and Personality
September 1, 1998
Barbara L. Easterlin, Etzel Cardeña
This study compared perceived stress and cognitive and emotional differences between two groups of Buddhist mindfulness meditators. Nineteen beginning and twenty-four advanced meditators carried electronic pagers for five days and responded to daily random signals by completing an Experience Sampling form (ESF) containing items related to the dependent variables. As compared with beginners,...
Anthropology of Consciousness
June 1, 1996
Etzel Cardeña
Cultivating Consciousness: Enhancing Human Potential, Wellness, and Healing. Edited by K. Ramakrishna Rao. Connecticut: Praeger, 1993. 235 pp. (cloth). $55.00