Frontiers in Psychology
2020
Joseph Glicksohn, Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan
19 citations
Many traditions have utilized silent environments to induce altered states of consciousness and spiritual experiences. Neurocognitive explorations of spiritual experience can aid in understanding the underlying mechanism, but these are surprisingly rare. We present the verbal report and the electroencephalographic (EEG) alpha profile of a female participant scoring a maximal 34 on the...
Psychopharmacology
November 1, 2019
Suzanne L. Russ, R L Carhart-Harris, Geoffrey Maruyama et al.
75 citations
Recent research demonstrated the potential of psychedelic drugs as treatment for depression and death-related anxiety and as an enhancement for well-being. While generally positive, responses to psychedelic drugs can vary according to traits, setting, and mental state (set) before and during ingestion. Most earlier models explain minimal response variation, primarily related to dosage and...
Voices
August 19, 2019
Lisa Jackert
The author tells her experience at performing at the memorial services of a man who shot and killed two others before killing himself. She describes how her many years of working as music therapist with psychiatric patients, using clinical improvisation and through her study of the Bonny Method of Guided and Imagery prepared both professionally and personally for this experience. She also...
Neuropharmacology
November 1, 2018
Elias Dakwar, Edward V. Nunes, Carl L. Hart et al.
83 citations
Efforts to translate sub-anesthetic ketamine infusions into widespread clinical use have centered around developing medications with comparable neurobiological activity, but with attenuated psychoactive effects so as to minimize the risk of behavioral toxicity and abuse liability. Converging lines of research, however, suggest that some of the psychoactive effects of sub-anesthetic ketamine may...
Psychopharmacology
February 1, 2018
Theresa M. Carbonaro, Matthew W Johnson, Ethan Hurwitz et al.
139 citations
Although psilocybin and dextromethorphan (DXM) are hallucinogens, they have different receptor mechanisms of action and have not been directly compared. This study compared subjective, behavioral, and physiological effects of psilocybin and dextromethorphan under conditions that minimized expectancy effects. Single, acute oral doses of psilocybin (10, 20, 30 mg/70 kg), DXM (400 mg/70 kg), and...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
November 30, 2016
Stephen Ross, Anthony P. Bossis, Jeffrey Guss et al.
1,699 citations
Background: Clinically significant anxiety and depression are common in patients with cancer, and are associated with poor psychiatric and medical outcomes. Historical and recent research suggests a role for psilocybin to treat cancer-related anxiety and depression. Methods: In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial, 29 patients with cancer-related anxiety and depression were...
Consciousness and Cognition
2016
Chris Letheby
68 citations
One recent development in epistemology, the philosophical study of knowledge, is the notion of 'epistemic innocence' introduced by Bortolotti and colleagues. This concept expresses the idea that certain suboptimal cognitive processes may nonetheless have epistemic (knowledge-related) benefits. The idea that delusion or confabulation may have psychological benefits is familiar enough. What is...
Religion and Spirituality Across Cultures
2014
Ralph W. Hood
1 citation
Positive psychology and the psychology of religion share an interest in understanding positive emotions and their contribution to human flourishing. The focus of this chapter is upon ecstatic and mystical states framed within Fisher’s model of ergotropic and trophotropic arousal allowing for a neurophysiological correlate of two states of consciousness widely recognized in the psychology of...
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
May 1, 2011
Matthew W Johnson, Katherine A Maclean, Chad J Reissig et al.
134 citations
Salvinorin A is a potent, selective nonnitrogenous kappa opioid agonist and the known psychoactive constituent of Salvia divinorum, a member of the mint family that has been used for centuries by Mazatec shamans of Mexico for divination and spiritual healing. S. divinorum has over the last several years gained increased popularity as a recreational drug. This is a double-blind, placebo...
Origins of Altruism and Cooperation
2011
David Hay
The concept of relational consciousness emerged during an investigation of the plausibility of the hypothesis that Darwinian natural selection underlies the cultural phenomenon of religion. This conjecture originated with Sir Alister Hardy FRS, who was the Head of the Zoology Department in Oxford University between 1946 and 1961 and founder in 1969 of the Religious Experience Research Unit,...