Experiências Anômalas e Dissociativas em Contexto Religioso: Uma Abordagem Autoetnográfica

The present study explored the phenomenological characteristics of anomalous experiences (AEs) reported during Umbanda rituals, a mediumistic Brazilian religion, with the aim of comparing AEs reported during rituals involving the use of Ayahuasca (an entheogen frequently used in some Umbanda contexts) and rituals without the use of this substance. In order to do so, we compared individuals with different levels of involvement with the mediumistic practices. The study was based on an auto-ethnographic approach. This methodological perspective allowed us to confront subjective data with the available knowledge in the scientific literature about AEs, dissociative phenomena and altered states of consciousness and was of fundamental importance for a more sensitive understanding of the nuances and characteristics of these experiences. The results attest to a significant similarity between the experiences reported with and without the use of Ayahuasca in mediumistic contexts. In both groups, the experiencers were able to identify certain similarities in their experiences regarding a reduction of voluntary motor control, changes in memory and perception, communicability and accessibility of experiences, anomalous information reception and increases in interpersonal sensitivity. The results support the methodological feasibility of autoethnography as a research tool and point to its relevance to a deeper understanding of AEs and other subjective experiences usually of difficult investigation by other research methods.

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An experience with Holotropic Breathwork is associated with improvement in non-judgement and satisfaction with life while reducing symptoms of stress in a Czech-speaking population

Journal of Psychedelic Studies ◽

10.1556/2054.2021.00193 ◽

2021 ◽

Keyword(s):

Satisfaction With Life ◽

Scientific Literature ◽

Altered States Of Consciousness ◽

Altered States ◽

Long Term Effects ◽

States Of Consciousness ◽

Holotropic Breathwork ◽

Observational Design ◽

Mental Health Effects

Abstract Background Holotropic breathwork (Grof ® Breathwork), was developed by Stanislav Grof and Christina Grof as a ‘non-drug’ alternative technique to evoke altered states of consciousness (ASC). Interestingly, although HBW has been anecdotally reported to evoke experiences and mental health effects corresponding to those of psychedelic substances, the scientific literature on the matter is scarce. Aims The objective of this study was to assess the (sub)acute and long-term effects of HBW on satisfaction with life, and whether these depend on the depth of the experience evoked by the HBW session. Methods A naturalistic observational design was employed in the present study. Between January 2019 and July 2020, 58 Czech-speaking participants who had an experience with HBW were assessed using three separate anonymous online-surveys created and hosted on Qualtrics. Assessments of mindfulness, satisfaction with life, depression, anxiety, and stress were made once prior to (baseline), and two times following (sub-acutely and 4-weeks) the participants’ experience with HBW. The ego dissolution inventory and the 5-dimensional altered states of consciousness scale was used to quantify the HBW experience. Results Despite low ratings of the psychedelic experience (mean range of 0–34% out of 100%), ratings of non-judgement significantly increased sub-acutely following the HBW session and persisted for 4-weeks. Stress-related symptoms significantly decreased while satisfaction with life significantly increased at 4-weeks after HBW. Conclusion An experience with HBW may be associated with improvement in non-judgement, satisfaction with life, and reductions of stress-related symptoms.

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Inner Worlds

10.1093/oso/9780190671181.003.0002 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Jonathan Weinel

Keyword(s):

Sensory Deprivation ◽

Altered States Of Consciousness ◽

Altered States ◽

Subjective Experiences ◽

States Of Consciousness ◽

Discrete States ◽

Dimensional Models ◽

Hypnagogic Hallucinations

This chapter provides an introduction to consciousness, and explores how our subjective experiences change during a variety of altered states of consciousness. An overview of cognition is given, outlining the processes involved in the construction of our experiences within the ‘stream’ or ‘theatre of consciousness’. Next, the main varieties of altered states of consciousness are discussed: psychosis, psychedelic experience, dreaming, hypnagogic hallucinations, sensory deprivation, meditation, trance, and hypnosis. Using existing dimensional models, these can be understood not as discrete states, but as points on a continuum, which significantly diverge from ‘normal waking consciousness’. For the purposes of Inner Sound, these altered states of consciousness can be represented or induced with the aid of sound and music; here an initial outline of how this may occur is given.

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How does it feel to be on psilocybin? Dose-response relationships of subjective experiences in humans

10.1101/2020.06.09.142802 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tim Hirschfeld ◽

Timo Torsten Schmidt

Keyword(s):

Dose Response ◽

Variance Estimation ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Mystical Experience ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Altered States Of Consciousness ◽

Altered States ◽

Subjective Experiences ◽

States Of Consciousness ◽

Study Participants

AbstractPsilocybin is the active component of magic mushrooms and is well known for its psychoactive properties. Different questionnaires have been developed to systematically quantify altered states of consciousness induced by psychoactive drugs. The aim of this study was to obtain the dose-response relationships of the subjective experiences induced by psilocybin in healthy study participants. For this purpose, we applied a linear meta-regression approach on questionnaire ratings after oral administration of psilocybin in a controlled setting. Data was obtained from The Altered States Database, which contains psychometric data extracted from peer-reviewed articles published in MEDLINE-listed journals that used standardized and validated questionnaires. Our meta-analysis included data of the Altered States of Consciousness Rating Scale, the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30), and the Hallucinogen Rating Scale (HRS). We used the Robust Variance Estimation Framework to obtain linear dose-response relationship estimates for each dimension of the given questionnaires. Ratings on most dimensions and subscales of the included questionnaires correlated positively with dose. Since subjective experiences are not only determined by dose, but also by individual differences and environmental factors, our results do not necessarily generalize to recreational use, as our analyses are based on data from controlled laboratory experiments. The paper at hand could serve as a general literature citation for the use of psilocybin in experimental and clinical research, especially for the comparison of expected and observed subjective drug experiences.

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Increased spontaneous EEG signal diversity during stroboscopically-induced altered states of consciousness

10.1101/511766 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

David J. Schwartzman ◽

Michael Schartner ◽

Benjamin B. Ador ◽

Francesca Simonelli ◽

Acer Y.-C. Chang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Subjective Experience ◽

Altered States Of Consciousness ◽

Altered States ◽

Eeg Signal ◽

Visual Hallucinations ◽

Subjective Experiences ◽

Eeg Signals ◽

Neural Signal ◽

States Of Consciousness ◽

Signal Diversity

AbstractWhat are the global neuronal signatures of altered states of consciousness (ASC)? Recently, increases in neural signal diversity, compared to those found in wakeful rest, have been reported during psychedelic states. Neural signal diversity has previously been identified as a robust signature of the state of consciousness, showing lower scores during sleep or anaesthesia compared to wakeful rest. The increased neural signal diversity during psychedelic states raises the additional possibility that it may also reflect the increased diversity of subjective experiences associated with these states. However, psychedelic states involve widespread neuropsychopharmacological changes, only some of which may be associated with altered phenomenology. Therefore, we used stroboscopic stimulation to induce non-pharmacological altered states of consciousness while measuring the diversity of EEG signals. Stroboscopic stimulation caused substantial increases in the intensity and range of subjective experiences, with reports of both simple and complex visual hallucinations. These experiences were accompanied by increases in EEG signal diversity scores (measured using Lempel-Ziv complexity) exceeding those associated with wakeful rest, in line with studies of the psychedelic state. Our findings support the proposal that EEG signal diversity reflects the diversity of subjective experience that is associated with different states of consciousness.

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Dose–response relationships of psilocybin-induced subjective experiences in humans

Journal of Psychopharmacology ◽

10.1177/0269881121992676 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 026988112199267

Author(s):

Tim Hirschfeld ◽

Timo T Schmidt

Keyword(s):

Dose Response ◽

Variance Estimation ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Mystical Experience ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Altered States Of Consciousness ◽

Altered States ◽

Subjective Experiences ◽

States Of Consciousness ◽

Almost All

Background: Psilocybin is the psychoactive component in Psilocybe mushrooms (‘magic mushrooms’). Whether and how the quality of the psilocybin-induced experience might mediate beneficial health outcomes is currently under investigation, for example, in therapeutic applications. However, to date, no meta-analysis has investigated the dose-dependency of subjective experiences across available studies. Aim: Establishing dose–response relationships of the subjective experiences induced by psilocybin in healthy study participants and a comparison of patient groups. Method: We applied a linear meta-regression approach, based on the robust variance estimation framework, to obtain linear dose–response relationship estimates on questionnaire ratings after oral psilocybin administration. Data were obtained from the Altered States Database, which contains data extracted from MEDLINE-listed journal articles that used standardized and validated questionnaires: the Altered States of Consciousness Rating Scale, the Mystical Experience Questionnaire and the Hallucinogen Rating Scale. Results: Psilocybin dose positively correlated with ratings on most factors and scales, mainly those referring to perceptual alterations and positively experienced ego dissolution. Measures referring to challenging experiences exhibited small effects and were barely modulated by dose. Conclusion: Psilocybin intensified almost all characteristics of altered states of consciousness assessed with the given questionnaires. Because subjective experiences are not only determined by dose, but also by individual and environmental factors, the results may only apply to controlled laboratory experiments and not to recreational use. This paper may serve as a general literature citation for the use of psilocybin in experimental and clinical research, to compare expected and observed subjective experiences.

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