Anomalous bodily-self experiences among recreational ketamine users.
Leanne K. Wilkins, Todd A. Girard, J Allan Cheyne
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 2012 DOI: 10.1080/13546805.2012.663162 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational survey study with path analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 192 |
| Population | Individuals reporting recreational ketamine use (n=128) and non-ketamine polydrug users (n=64) |
| Topics | Esketamine Ketamine |
| Key findings | The 'disintegration' model, in which illusory movement experiences lead to out-of-body feelings, which in turn lead to out-of-body autoscopy, fit the survey data best among seven competing models, with out-of-body feelings fully mediating the relation between illusory movement and autoscopy. Lifetime ketamine use predicted the frequency of illusory movement experiences. The authors argue these results support a structural model of out-of-body phenomena and encourage including neurochemical systems in future studies of their causes. |
Abstract
Out-of-body experiences present a unique paradigm to investigate cognitive and neural mechanisms of bodily-self processes and their disorders. Previous work on out-of-body experiences associated with sleep paralysis supported a model in which illusory movement experiences reflect disrupted bodily-self integration generating anomalous vestibular and motor sensations. Further disintegration and progression of the experience may then give rise to out-of-body feelings, which in turn may instigate out-of-body autoscopy. The current study assesses the disintegration model through analyses of out-of-body experiences reports from an online survey of individuals reporting recreational ketamine use (n=128) and cross-validation in a sample of nonketamine polydrug users (n=64). Path analyses using intensity and frequency measures of anomalous experiences assess the fit of seven competing models. The disintegration model (illusory movement → out-of-body feelings → out-of-body autoscopy) emerged as the best fitting model overall and results support full mediation of the relation between illusory movement experiences and out-of-body autoscopy by out-of-body feelings. Moreover, lifetime measures of ketamine use predicted the frequency of illusory movement experiences. The results corroborate this structural model of out-of-body phenomena and encourage a framework for future studies into aetiological mechanisms of out-of-body experiences to include neurochemical systems.
Comparable studies
Other cross-sectional and survey studies on ketamine, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5-Year Trends in Use of Hallucinogens and Other Adjunct Drugs among UK Dance Drug Users People who use drugs in dance contexts | 2006 | Repeated-measures cross-sectional survey | |
| Preliminary analysis of positive and negative syndrome scale in ketamine-associated psychosis in comparison with schizophrenia Healthy subjects, ketamine abusers, and schizophrenia patients | 2014 | Cross-sectional study | n = 998 |
| Ketamine as a primary predictor of out-of-body experiences associated with multiple substance use Online survey respondents | 2011 | Cross-sectional survey | n = 192 |
| Self-reported prevalence of dependence of MDMA compared to cocaine, mephedrone and ketamine among a sample of recreational poly-drug users Global non-treatment-seeking sample of last year users of MDMA, cocaine, mephedrone,... | 2014 | Cross-sectional survey | |
| Near-Death States Reported in a Sample of 50 Misusers Previous ketamine misusers who reported a ketamine-related near-death experience | 2010 | Cross-sectional survey | n = 50 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 7
- Ketamine and Ketamine Metabolite Pharmacology: Insights into Therapeutic Mechanisms Pharmacological Reviews June 26, 2018
- Disrupted integration of sensory stimuli with information about the movement of the body as a mechanism explaining LSD-induced experience. Medical Hypotheses March 1, 2017
- Ketamine evoked disruption of entorhinal and hippocampal spatial maps bioRxiv Preprint Server February 5, 2023
- The Analgesic and Dissociative Properties of Ketamine are Separate and Correspond to Distinct Neural Mechanisms bioRxiv July 31, 2025
- Research on Experiences Related to the Possibility of Consciousness Beyond the Brain: A Bibliometric Analysis of Global Scientific Output. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 2017
and 2 more in the library
Cites 15
- Out‐of‐body experience and autoscopy of neurological origin Brain January 15, 2004
- The Out-of-Body Experience: Disturbed Self-Processing at the Temporo-Parietal Junction The Neuroscientist January 4, 2005
- From drugs to deprivation: a Bayesian framework for understanding models of psychosis Psychopharmacology May 27, 2009
- Out-of-body experience, heautoscopy, and autoscopic hallucination of neurological origin Brain Research Reviews July 13, 2005
- The body unbound: Vestibular–motor hallucinations and out-of-body experiences Cortex June 6, 2008
and 10 more in the library