Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science
March 13, 2025
Priscilla Fabrizi, Thomas Ditye
This study investigates the effects of the Gateway Experience (GE) on psychological well-being. The GE has been developed several decades ago for the induction of altered states of consciousness. It incorporates several techniques such as hypnosis, meditation, and binaural beats, which are known to facilitate well-being, sleep, learning and memory, and emotional states, but have not been tested...
PsyArXiv
March 11, 2025
Eleftheria Pistolas, Boris Quétard, Sucharit Katyal et al.
preprint
A Ganzfeld is a homogeneous visual field, devoid of any focal points. Such a stimulus has been used by researchers to study perceptual phenomena in the absence of changes in sensory structure. Others have used it to study altered states of consciousness (ASCs). Until now, these different facets have been studied separately with little attention for the emotional subjective experience. This...
Journal of medical & health sciences review.
March 11, 2025
Ahmad Daryani, Muhammad Ali, Usman Ul Haq
Psilocybin, MDMA, and LSD have recently emerged as popular psychedelic substances for use in psychopharmacology in managing various disorders including treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, and anxiety. These substances mainly affect the serotonergic receptors that involve the regulation of consciousness, perceptions, and cognition. These unique alterations in brain connectome show the...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
March 11, 2025
Devon Stoliker, Leonardo Novelli, Moein Khajehnejad et al.
8 citations
preprint
Abstract Psychedelics can profoundly alter consciousness by reorganising brain connectivity; however, their effects are contextsensitive. To understand how this reorganisation depends on the context, we collected and comprehensively analysed the largest psychedelic neuroimaging dataset to date. Sixty-two adults were scanned with functional MRI and EEG during rest and naturalistic stimuli...
2025 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops
March 8, 2025
Leon Lange, Jacob Yenney, Y. C. Wu
This study explores approaches to combining real-time electroencephalographic (EEG) with VR to generate synthetic psychedelic experiences. Using a passive brain-computer interface (BCI) that dynamically adjusts virtual content, we aim to elicit neurocognitive states similar to those that characterize psychedelic trips - including attenuation of self-referential thought and diminished engagement...
OBM Integrative and Complementary Medicine
March 5, 2025
Gaëtan Collignon, Aminata Bicego, Marie-Elisabeth Faymonville et al.
2 citations
Auto-induced cognitive trance (AICT) is a method for voluntarily entering modified state of consciousness. The therapeutic implications of AICT are still unknown. Since complementary approaches based on modified states of consciousness are recognized to be beneficial for patients suffering from chronic pain (e.g., hypnosis, meditation), we here present the first case report of a 68-year-old man...
BMC Medical Education
March 5, 2025
Helena Aicher, F Müller, Peter Gasser
11 citations
The growing interest in psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) for treating psychiatric disorders such as treatment-resistant depression, PTSD, and anxiety has led to an increasing demand for specialized training. In Switzerland, MDMA, psilocybin, and LSD are applied in the framework of limited medical use as exceptional treatment options since 2014. The Swiss Medical Association for Psychedelic...
International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction
March 4, 2025
Leon Lange, Jacob Yenney, Y. C. Wu
Virtual reality (VR) and psychedelic experiences share significant phenomenological and therapeutic parallels, both offering immersive environments capable of altering perception and evoking profound emotional responses. This study explores the integration of VR with simulated psychedelic experiences using brain-computer interface (BCI) systems to harness their combined therapeutic potential....
Anthropology of Consciousness
March 1, 2025
Robert A. King
AbstractThe term near‐death experience (NDE) generally refers to a state of altered consciousness that can occur during real or presumed near‐death circumstances and/or life‐threatening incidents. The NDE usually includes the impression of being conscious while out of and/or away from the physical body, often accompanied by other specific features. Furthermore, when the experient has the...
Personality disorders
March 1, 2025
Annette Löffler, Dieter Kleinböhl, Dorothee Maria Gescher et al.
Dissociation describes a state of altered consciousness in which self-related functions are no longer integrated. In its extreme form, the self is perceived as detached from the physical body, resulting in so-called out-of-body experiences (OBEs). It has been previously proposed that altered bottom-up sensory integration contributes to this kind of dissociative self-experience, which is...