European Journal of Psychotraumatology
March 19, 2026
Philip Gerrans, Hugh McGovern, Jakob Hohwy et al.
Background: Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) is a trauma-related condition characterized by pervasive disturbances in affect regulation, self-concept, and interpersonal functioning that extend beyond the symptom profile of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While neurobiological studies have implicated limbic, salience, and prefrontal systems in C-PTSD, mechanistic accounts...
Anatomy of an Avatar
September 19, 2024
Philip Gerrans
Abstract Users of psychedelic drugs often report that their sense of being a self or ‘I’ distinct from the rest of the world has diminished or altogether dissolved in a phenomenon known as ego dissolution (Nour et al., 2016). This is a case of transient disintegration of the self model caused by actions of serotonin 5HT2A agonists. Psychedelic experience provides a window on the nature of self...
September 19, 2024
Philip Gerrans
Abstract The self is an avatar, a virtual entity, constructed by the brain to play the game of life. To control the organism the mind manipulates the avatar through the world. The avatar co-ordinates bodily, perceptual, sensorimotor, cognitive, and metacognitive processes in pursuit of the organism’s goals, the most basic of which is homeostatic maintenance. Other processes are layered over...
September 13, 2024
Chris Letheby, Philip Gerrans
6 citations
Abstract A recent wave of research in psychiatry and neuroscience has re-examined the properties of ‘classic’ psychedelic substances—also known as serotonergic hallucinogens—such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Evidence to date suggests that psychedelics can be given safely in controlled conditions, at moderate to high doses, and may have...
Philosophical Perspectives on Psychedelic Psychiatry
September 13, 2024
Chris Letheby, Philip Gerrans
1 citation
Abstract The chapter undertakes three main tasks. The first is to review, briefly, the history of psychedelics in psychiatry, including the phenomenological and behavioural effects that first led to their being studied for therapeutic purposes. The second is to give an overview of recent research into the safety, efficacy, and therapeutic mechanisms of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. The...
Philosophical Perspectives on Psychedelic Psychiatry
September 13, 2024
Philip Gerrans
Abstract Daniel Dennett famously argued that the self is a ‘centre of narrative gravity’. In fact, the self is best thought of as a centre of interoceptive gravity whose homeostatic and affective experiences are subsequently interpreted and communicated in a narrative. This idea explains feelings of persistence and unity in the normal case and changed nature of self-awareness in psychedelic...
Neuroscience of Consciousness
2017
Chris Letheby, Philip Gerrans
280 citations
Users of psychedelic drugs often report that their sense of being a self or 'I' distinct from the rest of the world has diminished or altogether dissolved. Neuroscientific study of such 'ego dissolution' experiences offers a window onto the nature of self-awareness. We argue that ego dissolution is best explained by an account that explains self-awareness as resulting from the integrated...
Philip Gerrans, Hugh Mgovern, Jakob Hohwy et al.
1 citation
preprint
Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) is a newly recognized diagnosis that is distinguished from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through additional symptom clusters beyond re-experiencing, avoidance, and a persistent sense of threat. In addition to these core PTSD symptoms, C-PTSD is characterized by disturbances in self-organization, including affective dysregulation, negative...