Psychopharmacology
October 17, 2026
Andreas Krabbe, Lena Lindström, Pilleriin Sikka et al.
Combining meditation with psychoactive substances is often assumed to be a niche practice centred on classic psychedelics. We sought to broaden this narrative in two cross-sectional studies. Study 1 used a broad naturalistic sample (N = 1,391) to examine the prevalence of substance use, meditation, and their simultaneous combination, as well as associations with subjective happiness. Study 2...
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...
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...
Spirituality and Mental Health Across Cultures
August 1, 2021
Etzel Cardeña, Lena Lindström
Throughout history, people have described alterations of consciousness in which they experienced a sense of transcendence, being part of a much larger unity, sometimes encompassing the whole universe, or of being pure awareness. These experiences have been foundational for many religious and spiritual practices, albeit they have sometimes been treated as suspect or outright psycho- and or...