Preprints.orgAugust 3, 2021Rabya Mughal, Siu Sing Wong, Dagmara Dimitriou et al.
preprint
Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) experience significantly higher rates of sleep disturbances than their typically developing peers. Pre-sleep anxiety and waking emotional content is known to affect the content and frequency of nightmares, which can be distressing to children and caregivers. This is the first study to analyse nightmare...
According to property-emergentism, consciousness is an emergent property of certain aggregate neurological constructions, whereas substance-emergentism maintains that the emergence of consciousness depends on the emergence of mental substance or soul. In this article, we presented some arguments supporting substance-emergentism by analysing various properties of consciousness, including the...
Scientific ReportsAugust 3, 2021Amelia Dahlén, Mahdi Zarei, Adam Melgoza et al.
High doses of the Cannabis constituent Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) increase the risk of psychosis in humans. Highly accessible animal models are needed to address underlying mechanisms. Using zebrafish with a conserved endocannabinoid system, this study investigates the acute effects of THC on adult zebrafish behavior and the mechanisms involved. A concentration-dependent THC-induced...
Meta-analyses suggest that dance has potential to decrease psychological distress, increase trait mindfulness, and enhance quality of life. Conscious dance can be defined as unchoreographed, intentionally nonevaluative mindful movement commonly practiced in a group setting for purposes of authentic self-expression, self-discovery, interpersonal connectedness, and personal healing or growth. To...
Conscious perception of a near-threshold (NT) stimulus is characterized by the pre- and post-stimulus brain state. However, the power of pre-stimulus neural oscillations and strength of post-stimulus cortical activity that lead to conscious perception have rarely been examined in individual cortical areas. This is because most previous electro- and magnetoencephalography (EEG and MEG,...
SUMMARY Ketamine produces rapid antidepressant action in patients with major depression or treatment-resistant depression. Studies have identified brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and its receptor, tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB), as necessary for the antidepressant effects and underlying ketamine-induced synaptic potentiation in the hippocampus. Here, we delete BDNF or TrkB in...
Philosophy of Psychedelics is the first scholarly monograph in English devoted to the philosophical analysis of psychedelic drugs. Its central focus is the apparent conflict between the growing use of psychedelics in psychiatry and the philosophical worldview of naturalism, which holds that the natural world is all that exists. The book reviews scientific evidence that psychedelics such as...
‘On the need for a natural philosophy of psychedelics’ provides a brief overview of the history of psychedelics in science and psychiatry, and a detailed review of recent evidence for their therapeutic and transformative efficacy. The chapter reviews clinical trials showing that one or two controlled psychedelic experiences can durably reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression, and addiction, and...
Out-of-body experiences (OBEs) are hallucinatory visual experiences that involve seeing the physical body placed in an external visual space. Many psychiatric disorders, brain dysfunctions, pharmacological agents, and altered psychological states are reportedly associated with these phenomena. OBEs have been linked to various brain lesions, particularly in the parietal and temporal regions,...
July 31, 2021Shelley R. Upton, Tyler L. Renshaw, Amanda Morice
preprint
Mindfulness is a traditional, sacred Buddhist practice that has entered the mainstream of applied psychology and become secularized. This study examined the differential influence of the presentation priming of mindfulness meditation—as either a “sacred Buddhist practice” (sacred condition) or a “scientifically proven tool” (secular condition)—on its therapeutic effectiveness in a general...