Taxonomic studies of dreams that continue to influence the dreamer's thoughts and feelings after awakening have distinguished three types of impactful dreams: nightmares, existential dreams, and transcendent dreams. Of these, existential dreams and transcendent dreams are characterized by recurrent metacognitive appraisal of the epistemic tension between complementary (a) metaphoric (A "is" B)...
Abstract Two views on psychedelic experiences include realism and idealism. While a realist view suggests that psychedelic experiences reveal a pre-given world to us, an idealist view suggests they are mere projections of a pre-given mind. This chapter highlights and contrasts their common tendency towards grasping and representations. It presents a promising alternative that aims at going...
Transmethylation in the context of psychiatry has historically referred to the enzymatic transfer of a methyl group from one biochemical to another, whose resulting function can change so dramatically that a biochemical like tryptamine, for example, is converted into the hallucinogen dimethyltryptamine. Central to endogenous methylation activity is the folate cycle, which generates the primary...
Zen Buddhism is perceived by many Buddhists as the path to transcendent truth, and Zen meditation is considered as an effective and representative approach. This article seeks to decipher the Zen meditation experience with the latest findings from Hawkins' theory of thousand-brain intelligence and the cerebral rewarding system. According to the findings, it suggests that Zen meditation might...
Depression is a devastating mood disorder that causes significant disability worldwide. Current knowledge of its pathophysiology remains modest and clear biological markers are lacking. Emerging evidence from human and animal models reveals persistent alterations in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis, suggesting that ER stress-related signaling pathways may be targets for prevention and...
5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a potent classical psychedelic known to induce changes in locomotion, behaviour, and sleep in rodents. However, there is limited knowledge regarding its acute neurophysiological effects. Local field potentials (LFPs) are commonly used as a proxy for neural activity, but previous studies investigating psychedelics have been hindered by confounding...
During the 1960s, several studies were conducted to test the therapeutic effects of hallucinogenic drugs, also known as psychedelics, on various disorders, such as major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the non-medical use of these substances became rampant due to their hallucinogenic effects, leading to their classification as narcotics in numerous countries by the 1970s. Since the 1990s,...
Intense interest surrounds current research on psychedelics, particularly regarding their potential in treating mental health disorders. Various studies suggest a link between the subjective effects produced by psychedelics and their therapeutic efficacy. Neuroimaging evidence indicates an association of changes in brain functional connectivity with the subjective effects of psychedelics. We...
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy has emerged as a potential treatment for psychiatric illnesses, with findings from clinical trials in the last decade demonstrating safety and efficacy in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), among other psychiatric indications. Earlier this year (2024), the Food and Drug Administration in the United States granted priority review for a new drug...
The hypothesis of conscious machines has been debated since the invention of the notion of artificial intelligence, powered by the assumption that the computational intelligence achieved by a system is the cause of the emergence of phenomenal consciousness in that system as an epiphenomenon or as a consequence of the behavioral or internal complexity of the system surpassing some threshold. As...