This study addresses altered states of consciousness through Holotropic breathwork. This technique can induce a state of deep trance, giving access to different levels of identity construction, particularly on the emotional, somatic and psychological level. This considerable piece of introspective work falls within the school of transpersonal psychology whose major contribution is the...
Background: The disruptions of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have placed added stress on health care practitioners' (HCPs) mental health. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been reported to increase the awareness of burnout and promote self-care practices that enhance mental well-being. Aim: To gain insight into the use of mindfulness through the lens of PhotoVoice...
Anxiety associated with life-threatening illness (LTI) is a pervasive mental health issue with a wide impact. A spectrum of traditional pharmacotherapies and psychotherapies are available, but offer varying success in reducing symptoms and improving quality of life. We explore a novel therapy for this condition by assessing prominent thematic elements from participant narrative accounts of a...
Abstract Research on psychedelic‐assisted psychotherapy has shown that music affects therapeutic outcomes at a fundamental level. The development of such therapies calls for research on the use of music with consciousness‐altering substances, especially in contexts informed by their traditional use. Informed by ethnographic reports, our project answers this call, investigating the phenomenology...
Shamanism is a primal shape that transcends ordinary consciousness as a cross-cultural phenomenon. From the universal analysis of Shamanism. During the process of religious rituals, shamans use visual elements, such as costumes and masks, to form a spatially based graphic narrative relationship that generates an experience of sacred perception. However, the study of shamanic rituals has focused...
The notion of complexity currently receives significant attention in neuroscience, mainly through the popularity of the Integrated Information Theory (IIT). It has proven successful in research centred on discriminating states of consciousness, while little theoretical and experimental effort was directed toward studying the content. In this paper, we argue that exploring the relationship...
The flocculus is a region of the vestibulocerebellum dedicated to the coordination of neck, head, and eye movements for optimal posture, balance, and orienting responses. Despite growing evidence of vestibular and oculomotor impairments in the aftermath of traumatic stress, little is known about the effects of chronic psychological trauma on vestibulocerebellar functioning. Here, we...
Existing pharmacological treatments for psychiatric disorders have demonstrated limited efficacy, delayed onset of action, and significant burden of side effects. Recent findings from human studies with psychedelics have shown promise, demonstrating rapid and sustained clinical benefits of these compounds for a variety of psychiatric disorders. Classical psychedelics have a rich history and...
The healing from any ailment entails the comprehensive management of the individual’s bio-psycho-socio-spiritual context. The effect of psychological domains on one’s physical health indicate the scope of study of consciousness. Scientific psychological research findings along with the prevailing ancient traditions (religion, philosophy, culture) of India, have given a green signal to the major...
This article introduces and defends the “pathological complexity thesis” as a hypothesis about the evolutionary origins of minimal consciousness, or sentience, that connects the study of animal consciousness closely with work in behavioral ecology and evolutionary biology. I argue that consciousness is an adaptive solution to a design problem that led to the extinction of complex multicellular...