Virtual Reality
August 25, 2026
Liat Abouhav, Keren Nitzan, Ravid Doron
Abstract As mental health challenges continue to rise, there is increasing interest in interventions that promote psychological change through emotionally and experientially rich states. One well-studied example involves mystical-type experiences, typically reported in psychedelic-assisted interventions. Virtual reality (VR), with its immersive and embodied qualities, has emerged as a promising...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
August 23, 2026
Benjamin Pham
preprint
This paper examines dimethyltryptamine (DMT) as one of the most unusual and scientifically provocative psychoactive substances ever studied. It traces DMT’s history from Indigenous Amazonian ayahuasca traditions and Richard Spruce’s nineteenth-century observations to twentieth-century psychedelic science, countercultural fascination, prohibition, and the modern revival of clinical research. The...
August 21, 2026
Ashanti J Brown
Black adults in the United States navigate profound and often invisible stressors at the intersection of racism and trauma. The burden of chronic racial stress functions as an embodied form of oppression that may increase the risk and intensity of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and undermine psychological strengths such as mindfulness and self-compassion for healing, recovery,...
Arts
August 20, 2026
Zhilong Yan, Manyi Pei
This study examines the mediumistic paintings of Guo Fengyi (郭鳳怡 1942–2010) through the lens of Daoist inner contemplation (neiguan 內觀) and traditional Chinese medicine. Guo developed distinctive self-cultivation techniques, including Ziran Chaoneng Gong (自然超能功 Natural Superpower Qigong), Qi’e Gong (企鵝功 Penguin Qigong 氣功), and Liu Ling Shuzi Gong (劉陵數字功 Liu Ling Numerology Qigong), which...
bioRxiv
August 20, 2026
Ilknur Kayikcioglu Bozkir, Ryan Lashin, Tiecheng Liu et al.
preprint
Psilocybin is a psychedelic which has been shown to induce neural plasticity through activation of intracellular serotonergic 5-HT2A receptors. It also produces brain-wide changes in structural and functional connectivity and holds promise as a therapeutic compound for treating anxiety and depression. Despite links between psilocybin-induced plasticity, the psychedelic experience, and reduction...
bioRxiv
August 19, 2026
D. Momi, Yasmeen Nahas, D. Wyrick et al.
preprint
Psilocybin produces rapid and lasting therapeutic effects, yet how 5-HT2A receptor activation reshapes brain-wide circuit dynamics during acute drug administration remains poorly understood. Using simultaneous multi-region Neuropixels recordings of 46,360 single units from 35 mice, together with scalp electroencephalography (EEG), pupillometry, and locomotion monitoring, we provide a...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
August 18, 2026
Touraj Banirostam
preprint
This preprint constitutes Phase III of the Rethinking Mind research project, a historical and conceptual investigation of changing approaches to mind, cognition, and intelligence. The paper reconstructs the development of phenomenology from Edmund Husserl through Martin Heidegger to Maurice Merleau-Ponty. It argues that phenomenology expanded the appropriate unit of analysis for understanding...
Research Square
August 18, 2026
Shenghuan Yang, Yan Lou, Tingting Chen et al.
preprint
Abstract Background: Patients with advanced cancer frequently experience multidimensional suffering,including psychological distress,existential distress,and concerns related to death and dying.Mindfulness-based interventions and existential healing interventions have increasingly been applied in palliative care;however,the current evidence regarding their integration,intervention...
Religions
August 18, 2026
Serhat Gültaş
One of the most fundamental and debated issues in the history of Sufism concerns not only the nature of mystical experience but also its epistemic value, its authority-generating capacity, and its normative legitimacy. Experiences expressed through kashf (unveiling), ilhām (inspiration), presence, witnessing, and annihilation have never been entirely rejected within Islamic thought, yet they...
Sociology of Islam
August 14, 2026
Anurag Awasthi
This paper is an ethnographic and a critical philosophical cosmology on the Islamic healing practices which is intertwined with medical theodicies, ritualization of healing practices and mystical authority of the spiritual healer. It also discloses the therapeutic modalities, generalized precariousness of the life, convalescence of soul and constituting temporal structure of experience in the...