IntechOpen eBooks
June 26, 2020
Patrizio Paoletti, Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan, Joseph Glicksohn
13 citations
Theta brainwave activity (4–7 Hz) is linked to hypnosis, hypnotic analgesia, meditation, and absorption, and also supports cognitive functions like spatial navigation, memory, creativity, and divided attention. This manuscript synthesizes current knowledge on theta's roles in hypnosis and their connections to movement, noting that movement paradigms such as Quadrato Motor Training modulate theta activity and improve cognition and emotional well-being. The authors discuss these movement paradigms as therapeutic tools related to hypnosis and highlight relationships between diagonal movement and psychological phenomena including intentionality, attention, and the Sphere Model of Consciousness.
IntechOpen eBooks
December 11, 2023
Matea Stiperski Matoc, Zoran Stiperski, Tomica Hruška
2 citations
Amazonian shamans use ayahuasca in guided rituals to expand consciousness and gain deeper insights, primarily for therapeutic purposes. The experience is often described as colorful yet indescribable, so shamans express their expanded consciousness and deep knowledge through painting. These paintings are imbued with their cosmology and understanding of the world, serving as a means to better understand personal problems. While ayahuasca can cause harmful psychotic and paranoid reactions, its therapeutic value—including consciousness expansion, sensitization to psychological issues, and their resolution—is considered paramount.
IntechOpen eBooks
May 28, 2026
Li Wang (15202), Sedine Marie Desiree Nina Agbo, Jin Zhang et al.
Recreational use of nitrous oxide (NO) has increased among young people, and while medical use at controlled doses is generally safe, abuse can cause toxicity. The most common consequence is subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord, often presenting as myeloneuropathy (spinal cord demyelination and peripheral nerve injury). Other reported effects include cognitive, psychiatric, dermatological, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and pulmonary disorders. This chapter reviews major neurological impairments from NO abuse—myelopathy, peripheral neuropathy, and cognitive/psychiatric conditions—to raise awareness and help clinicians recognize, investigate, and manage NO-related neurotoxicity.
IntechOpen eBooks
May 11, 2026
Puspanjali Borthakur, Thaddeus Alfonso
Betrayal violates trust and can cause lasting psychological harm that conventional apologies and forgiveness may not fully address. This chapter argues that mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) offer a complementary approach by fostering present-moment awareness, nonjudgmental acceptance, and kindness, which can aid emotional regulation, empathy, forgiveness, and relational resilience. The authors contend that MBIs can be applied in clinical, professional, and social settings as both a therapeutic technique and a relational strategy to restore trust and promote psychological safety after betrayal. The chapter integrates academic concepts, real-life examples, and tested strategies to support this argument.
IntechOpen eBooks
March 18, 2026
Jörg Fachner, Filippo Pasqualitto, Clemens Maidhof
Adolescent risk-taking, including substance experimentation, is a way of testing the self within social boundaries. Psychoactive substances historically co-evolved with music and popular culture, normalizing their use among young people. The chapter examines the neurobiological overlap between drug-induced euphoria and music-elicited pleasure, both engaging the brain's dopaminergic reward system. This overlap provides a theoretical basis for using music therapy (MT) as a complementary intervention for substance use disorder (SUD). Evidence indicates that MT modulates neural activity, contributes to symptom reduction, emotional regulation, and enhanced motivation, supporting recovery in SUD treatment.
IntechOpen eBooks
March 5, 2026
A. M. Roy, Sushil Prasad Mahato, Deepti Padmanabha Bhat et al.
Mind-body therapies such as meditation, yoga, Tai Chi/Qigong, breathwork, and music-based interventions produce modest yet reliable improvements in attention, working memory, executive function, and cognitive flexibility across healthy and clinical populations. These therapies also offer meaningful adjunctive benefits for neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative conditions. Convergent mechanisms include enhanced self-regulation, fronto-limbic and large-scale network plasticity, increased heart-rate variability, normalization of HPA axis activity, and anti-inflammatory immune modulation. Implementation requires standardized curricula, trained instructors, and safety monitoring. Emerging digital tools like mobile apps, virtual reality, wearables, and EEG/HRV feedback enable scalable access and precision tracking.
IntechOpen eBooks
February 2, 2026
Clarine Jacobs
Awareness during general anesthesia, affecting 1 to 2 in every 1,000 patients, challenges assumptions of total unconsciousness. The chapter weaves together personal narratives of two family members who endured traumatic anesthesia awareness events and the author's own experience with a medically-induced anesthesia overdose. These stories illustrate psychological and neurobiological consequences such as post-traumatic stress, hypervigilance, and diminished trust in healthcare. The chapter argues that trauma in a setting presumed safe can alter lifelong perceptions of security, advocating for greater empathy, trauma-informed care, and patient-centered practices. It emphasizes the fragile boundary between neurobiology and human experience, noting that awareness can persist even in states of forced unconsciousness.
IntechOpen eBooks
June 10, 2025
Ratna Jyothi Kakumanu
A classical Buddhist doctrine, the Abhidhamma, offers a cognitive model in which consciousness, mental factors, and materiality co-arise through causally interdependent processes, articulated by the principle of Dependent Origination. The chapter argues that this model's cognitive sequences (vīthi-citta) converge with modern neuroscientific accounts of sensory processing and motor responses. It proposes an integrative framework that bridges contemplative insight and empirical science, reinforcing a holistic mind-body paradigm. The authors contend that the Abhidhamma's emphasis on mental training, such as Vipassana meditation, aligns with findings on neuroplasticity, suggesting that intentional mental states can reshape neural architecture and offering potential clinical applications for psychosomatic disorders and altered states of consciousness.
IntechOpen eBooks
April 22, 2025
Patrick Jones
A theoretical framework proposes five major stages of human development toward enlightenment, each with distinct markers. Stage 1 is the conventional self, where well-being depends on pleasure and pain. Stage 2 (Mindfulness) brings nonjudgmental objectivity and seeing thoughts as passing events. Stage 3 involves awakening events that interrupt the sense of a continuous self. Stage 4 is a stabilized, altruistic, peaceful state with no discernible self and increased functionality. Stage 5 is the rare, uninterrupted blissful state of perfected enlightenment with unlimited capacities. The authors argue that evidence-based mindfulness research can evaluate these stages and may offer psychological antidotes to mental health issues, shifting from coping to contentment.
IntechOpen eBooks
January 13, 2025
Matthew Furnell, William van Gordon
The concept of enlightenment, often linked to profound insights into self and reality, is examined through the lens of non-dualism, emphasizing the dissolution of an independent, permanent self and the emergence of self-transcendent experiences. These experiences involve universal oneness, benevolence, compassion, and feelings of happiness and love. The chapter critically evaluates practices proposed to facilitate such states, including near-death experiences, insight meditation, and psychedelic substances. By reviewing empirical studies, it assesses their role in promoting well-being and positive psychological and behavioral effects, aiming to illuminate pathways to enlightenment and foster a more compassionate human existence.
IntechOpen eBooks
December 13, 2024
Amir Freimann, Aviva Berkovich-Ohana
Enlightened joy and love are described as stable, constant features of a spiritual “high plateau” state called “Living Transcendence,” which differs from transient mystical “peak” experiences. Drawing from a phenomenological study of 32 “spiritual exemplars” from various traditions, the research identifies these qualities as subtle and integrated into daily life rather than intense emotional peaks. They are intertwined with noetic awareness, embodied presence, and relational interbeing. Two Buddhism-inspired models—the Self-Based Psychological Functioning model and the Pattern Theory of Selflessness—suggest that selflessness is related to enlightened joy and love. The findings indicate that enlightened joy and love offer a sustained sense of well-being and connectedness beyond ordinary fluctuating emotions.