This Perspective article outlines a concept of minimal selfhood. A central claim is that minimal selfhood is not dependent on possession of a brain, a nervous system or neurons. It will be argued instead that minimal selfhood requires intrinsically reflexive activity, specifically taking the form of self-maintenance, self-reproduction and self-containment. The implications of this in thinking...
Abstract Ibogaine is the most abundant alkaloid present in the African shrub Tabernanthe iboga . As a result of the lack of research on the acute subjective effects, the purpose of this study was to identify categories of the ibogaine experience and gain a better understanding of the internal processes while under its effects. We created a semistructured interview and recruited twenty...
Rationale: Microdosing psychedelics – the practice of consuming small, sub-hallucinogenic doses of substances such as LSD or psilocybin – is gaining attention in popular media but remains poorly characterized. Contemporary studies of psychedelic microdosing have yet to report the basic psychiatric descriptors of psychedelic microdosers. Objectives: To examine the practices and demographics of a...
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic beverage that affects the serotonergic system and have therapeutic potential for many diseases and disorders, including depression and drug addiction. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the potential toxic effects of ayahuasca on rats after chronic exposure, and the levels of monoamines, their metabolites and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)...
Background: Deficient regulation of stress plays an important role in the escalation of substance use, addiction and relapse. Accumulating evidence suggests dysregulations in cognitive and reward-related processes and the underlying neural circuitry in cannabis dependence. However, despite the important regulatory role of the endocannabinoid system in the stress response, associations between...
BMJ OpenFebruary 25, 2020Maaike Maartje Rademaker, Inge Stegeman, Arno Lieftink et al.
Introduction: Chronic subjective tinnitus is a condition that affects 5.1% to 42.7% of the population, depending on the definition and studied population. Evidence-based treatment options are limited. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has been proven effective to improve quality of life and to diminish tinnitus distress. Positive short-term effects of mindfulness-based interventions on...
Welcome to the 0.0 Stress program. A practical trip integrator to reduce stress to its minimum expression. In this chapter, we will deepen our transpersonal experiential program, which can be very useful for anyone who experiences any signs or symptoms of stress such as anxiety, irritability, muscular tension, burnout, apathy, restlessness, headache, fatigue, digestive problems, concentration...
Accurate localization of complex human experiences such as emotions, dreaming, creativity, and consciousness to specific cerebral structures or neural networks has remained elusive despite technological advances. We report the use of acute deep brain stimulation (DBS) to evoke behavioral and emotional effects by applying electrical stimulation (ES) at various voltage strengths to the...
‘Prayer is nothing but an intimate sharing between friends’: so St Teresa of Avila describes the nature of Christian prayer from the perspective of the Western tradition of mystical theology. In this chapter two key aspects of this tradition are explored: the Neoplatonic and the Augustinian. The first, Neoplatonic tradition derives from the Platonic tradition of theosis which although never...
In this his latest book, Sangster presents a comprehensive theory that takes the cognitive view of language in a promising new direction, based upon how linguistic signs relate to one another at different levels of consciousness. At the rational level, where signs are necessarily experienced in context, they are primarily polysemic. At the transpersonal or pre-contextual level, however, they...