Adoption of potentially consciousness-altering practices may be leading to a rise in emergent phenomena (EP): sudden unusual mental or somatic experiences often interpreted as spiritual, mystical, energetic, or magical in nature. It is unclear how frequently these altered states of consciousness occur and what the clinical implications may be. Anecdotal accounts and prior literature suggest...
Floatation-REST (Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy) minimizes stimulation of the nervous system by immersing subjects in an environment without sound or light while they effortlessly float in thermoneutral water supersaturated with Epsom salt. Here we investigated the relationship between altered states of consciousness (ASC) and its association with the affective changes induced by...
Introduction This review explores the benefits of incorporating personal experience(s) with non-ordinary states of consciousness as a core component of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy (PaT) training.The program incorporates an optional experiential training component. We collaborate with professionals affiliated with a Canadian non-profit organization specializing in PaT experiential training. As...
Medio Period (AD 1200 to 1450) Casas Grandes shamans used tobacco and possibly other entheogens to initiate trance states that allowed their spirits to travel across the cosmos. These trance experiences involved a sense of vertigo and soul flight that is cross-culturally common and occurs with tobacco-based nicotine intoxication. The Medio Period shamans also relied on and interacted with...
A set of interventions that can produce altered states of consciousness (ASC) have shown utility in the treatment of substance misuse. In this review, we examine addiction-related outcomes associated with three common interventions that produce ASCs: psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PP), Transcendental Meditation (TM) and hypnotherapy (HT). While procedurally distinct, all three...
Altered states of consciousness (ASCs) are surprisingly hard to define and to measure. Neither ‘subjective’ methods (like verbal reports) nor ‘objective’ measures (such as how the state is induced, or physiological and behavioural criteria) are entirely satisfactory. Attempts to map ASCs are reviewed, including two- or three-dimensional maps such as Tart&s;s and Laureys’, and Hobson&s;s AIM...
Abstract Altered states of consciousness (ASCs), induced e.g. by psychedelics, show great potential to treat widespread mental health disorders like depression and PTSD. However, access to such treatments is restricted by legal, medical, and financial barriers. Here, we explore the potential of circular breathwork to serve as an accessible, non-pharmacological alternative to engage similar...
In electronic music events, the driving four-on-the-floor music appears pivotal for inducing altered states of consciousness (ASCs). While various physiological mechanisms link repetitive auditory stimuli to ASCs, entrainment—a brainwave synchronization through periodic external stimuli— has garnered primary focus. However, there are no studies systematically exploring the relationship between...
Common mental health pathologies such as depression, anxiety, addiction, and PTSD have recently seen treatment inroads. These issues share a phenomenological core—a dissociative quality that involves the disintegration of self and other. Interestingly, some of the most effective treatments of these pathologies are themselvesacutely dissociative. For example, psychedelic therapy has been...
AbstractThis is a brief review of consciousness studies in ‘traditional psychology’. My discussion focuses on three specific problems in consciousness studies: first, a lack of agreement on a definition of consciousness; second, the so-called ‘hard problem’ of trying to connect neurological patterning in the brain with lived experience; third, in relation to my own research focus, traditional...