Skip to content

Altered States of Consciousness during an Extreme Ritual

Ellen M. Lee, Kathryn R. Klement, James K. Ambler, Tonio Loewald, Evelyn M. Comber, Sarah A. Hanson, Bria Pruitt, Brad J. Sagarin

PLoS One May 13, 2016 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153126 (opens in new tab)

Relevant Not relevant

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Observational study Peer reviewed
Population Participants in the 'Dance of Souls' ritual, including pierced dancers and non-pierced participants (piercers, piercing assistants, observers, drummers, event leaders)
Intervention temporary piercings with hooks or weights attached
Duration 3.5-hour event
Topics Altered states of consciousness
Citations 42
Key findings Both pierced and non-pierced participants experienced altered states of consciousness and similar psychological benefits, but only pierced participants showed increased cortisol levels.

Abstract

Extreme rituals (body-piercing, fire-walking, etc.) are anecdotally associated with altered states of consciousness-subjective alterations of ordinary mental functioning (Ward, 1984)-but empirical evidence of altered states using both direct and indirect measures during extreme rituals in naturalistic settings is limited. Participants in the "Dance of Souls", a 3.5-hour event during which participants received temporary piercings with hooks or weights attached to the piercings and danced to music provided by drummers, responded to measures of two altered states of consciousness. Participants also completed measures of positive and negative affect, salivary cortisol (a hormone associated with stress), self-reported stress, sexual arousal, and intimacy. Both pierced participants (pierced dancers) and non-pierced participants (piercers, piercing assistants, observers, drummers, and event leaders) showed evidence of altered states aligned with transient hypofrontality (Dietrich, 2003; measured with a Stroop test) and flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Csikszentmihalyi & Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; measured with the Flow State Scale). Both pierced and non-pierced participants also reported decreases in negative affect and psychological stress and increases in intimacy from before to after the ritual. Pierced and non-pierced participants showed different physiological reactions, however, with pierced participants showing increases in cortisol and non-pierced participants showing decreases from before to during the ritual. Overall, the ritual appeared to induce different physiological effects but similar psychological effects in focal ritual participants (i.e., pierced dancers) and in participants adopting other roles.

Comparable studies

Other observational and cohort studies on altered states of consciousness, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Neural correlates of the DMT experience assessed with multivariate EEG. 6 female, 7 male human participants 2019 Observational cohort n = 13
Measures of entropy and complexity in altered states of consciousness Subjects during resting wakefulness, different sleep stages, and epileptic seizures 2017 Observational study
Altered States of Consciousness and Short-Term Psychological After-Effects Induced by the First Time Ritual Use of Ayahuasca in an Urban Context in Brazil First-time ayahuasca users in Santo Daime and União do Vegetal rituals 2005 Observational cohort n = 28
Quantifying arousal and awareness in altered states of consciousness using interpretable deep learning Healthy individuals during sleep, individuals under general anesthesia, and patients... 2022 Observational cohort n = 71
Subanaesthetic ketamine and altered states of consciousness in humans Human volunteers 2018 Observational study n = 15

Citations in the library

Cited by 10

and 5 more in the library

Cites 5

Related reading

Explore topics

Altered states of consciousness