Psychedelic medicines for existential distress associated with life-threatening illnesses

This presentation will review the history of scientific research into the use of psychedelic medicines for the treatment of existential distress due to life-threatening illnesses, it will then outline the current state of affairs in North America, and conclude with exploring the implications it will have on the future of palliative care. Despite the significant advances in the field of palliative care with regards to symptom management, and pain control in particular, we have yet to devise an effective treatment strategy for individuals facing the existential distress associated with the inevitable reality of facing death. Psychedelic-assisted therapy, which involves the use of various psychoactive substances in the right set and setting to experience an altered state of consciousness, could serve as a powerful tool to alleviate the anxiety that many face after receiving a life-threatening diagnosis.

PRIMARY CNS LYMPHOMA MIMICKING TUBERCULOSIS INFECTION - A CASE REPORT

Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is a rare variety of extra nodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma that reportedly involves leptomeninges, the brain, spinal cord, eyes, or may involve other organs systemically. We present a case of 46-yearold woman with complaints of headache and fever for three weeks, associated with right-sided weakness & altered state of consciousness for one week. The most common presentation of primary central nervous lymphoma is diffuse or multifocal supratentorial masses causing cognitive deterioration and involvement of vitreous, retina, and optic nerve. Most cases ofPCNSL are left undiagnosed due to uncommon

Divine Mania: Alteration of Consciousness in Ancient Greece by Yulia Ustinova

What role did altered states of consciousness play in the life of ancient Greek society? With consummate skill and scholarship, Yulia Ustinova answers this question in her book, Divine Mania: Alteration of Consciousness in Ancient Greece. It appears that the secret of the extraordinary creativity of the ancient Greeks was their receptivity to, and approval of, a particular altered state of consciousness they cultivated. Mania is the name for this but it must be qualified as “god-given.” Mania is a word that touches on a cluster of concepts: madness, ecstasy, and enthusiasm, engoddedness, to use Ustinova’s more vivid coinage. It seems a paradox that this special, strange and often quite frightening state of dissociation should be so closely linked to one of the most creative civilizations. Unlike the Roman and Egyptian, the Greek approved and recognized the value of god-inspired mania. Plato makes Socrates say in the Phaedrus that through mania we may obtain the “greatest blessings.” Whereas resistance to divine ecstasy can end in disaster, as Euripides illustrates in The Bacchants when Pentheus, a repressive authoritarian, tries to inhibit a posse of women from their ecstatic mountain dances. He is torn to shreds by his mother and her maniacal cohorts. This mindset of the ancient Greeks may have long ago petered out, but similar tendencies are constants, expressed in one form or another, throughout history.

Implications of Inflammatory States on Dysfunctional Immune Responses in Aging and Obesity

Aging and obesity are two conditions characterized by chronic, low-grade inflammation. While both conditions are also associated with dysfunctional immune responses, the shared and distinct underlying mechanisms are just starting to be uncovered. In fact, recent findings have suggested that the effects of obesity on the immune system can be thought of as a state of accelerated aging. Here we propose that chronic, low-grade inflammation seen in obesity and aging is complex, affects multiple cell types, and results in an altered basal immune state. In aging, part of this altered state is the emergence of regulatory immune populations that lead to further immune dysfunction in an attempt to reduce chronic inflammation. While in obesity, part of the altered state is the effect of expanding adipose tissue on immune cell function. Thus, in this review, we compare, and contrast altered immune states in aging and obesity and discuss their potential contribution to a shared clinical problem- decreased vaccine responsiveness.

ASSESSMENT OF THE RISK OF DECUBITUS ULCERS USING BRADEN SCALE

Purpose: Within the behavioral guidelines of hospitalized patients who need compensatory nursing care, an assessment of the risk of decubitus ulcers is recommended to be done at regular intervals, in schedule, and after each altered state. The goal of this research is to apply the BRADEN SCALE for assessment of the risk of decubitus ulcers occurring during a hygienic toilet in sick people who need compensatory nursing care. Material/Methods: An assessment of the risk of decubitus ulcers via using the Braden scale is applied in 120 hospitalized patients during a hygienic toilet. Treatment of decubitus ulcers I and II degree is being performed when the state of the skin and wounds that have already occurred are being established. For processing, analysis and graphic presentation of the results and data, the statistic program SPSS 20.0 is being used. Results: It's reported that 50, 83% of the respondents have got quite a risk of decubitus wounds occurring, 26,67% are at great risk, and 14,17% are at moderate risk. Only 8, 33% of all patients tested are at light risk. Conclusions: In all patients tested, a various degree of decubitus wounds occurrence, is reported. This defines the importance of the nurses' hygienic care and activities for the prevention of decubitus ulcers to occur. If the prevention measures of patients who have gotten in a risk group are not observed, every decubitus wound leads to a continuous stay in the hospital and also additional treatment and tests, which automatically prolong and raise the cost of hospital treatment.

Case Report: Trance in Mental Retardation

BACKGROUND: Mental retardation (MR) is a developmental condition that is associated with significant intellectual and adaptive behavioral limitations, whereas dissociative trance disorder (DTD) is a dissociative condition characterized by a temporary altered state of consciousness formed by one’s culture. Comorbidity between these two disorders has rarely been reported. CASE REPORT: We found a case of MR in a 32-year-old woman, Mrs. S, with a DTD who killed her five children during her trance. CONCLUSION: It was found that there is a relationship between psychosocial stressor factors, trauma, underlying psychiatric conditions, culture, and communication that influence trance conditions. Further research is needed to study and understand more about these disorders and comorbidities.

Active Imagination as an Alternative to Lucid Dreaming: Theory and Experimental Results

Lucid dreaming (LD) is a fun and interesting activity, but most participants have difficulties in attaining lucidity, retaining it during the dream, concentrating on the needed task and remembering the results. This motivates to search for a new way to enhance lucid dreaming via different induction techniques, including chemicals and electric brain stimulation. However, results are still unstable. An alternative approach is to reach the lucid dreaming-like states via altered state of consciousness not related to dreaming. Several methods such as guided visualization, internal dialog, creative writing, hypnosis, hypnagogia, daydreaming, DMT trips, voice dialog, shamanic journey, rebirthing, and “forcing” tulpas can help in attaining such states. One of the most promising of them is Jungian “active imagination” (AIM) technique, which allows unconscious content to build up inside some mental frames. This article explores the hypothesis of replacing lucid dreaming research with active imagination, and the conditions and ways to accomplish it. Method: An open label pilot experiment was performed in 2004-2005 in Moscow, Russia with 100 participants. Results: The results show that there are two groups of people: ones with “visual imagination screen” and others have “mental imagination screen”. AIM works perfectly as a replacement for lucid dreams only for the first group of people. For the second group, it created interesting content, but not visual or emotional intensity equal to enter lucid dreaming like state. No known instruments helped to move the person from one group to another. The first group consisted of young females, while the second mostly contained males with rational and mathematical type of personality. Conclusion: AIM partly works as a replacement for LD, as it works great only for half of people, and it requires a sitter. However, AIM outperforms LD in reliability and availability in any circumstance: it could be performed even by text chat or in a crowd. It is also better than LD in retaining concentration on topic and the easiness of memorizing the results (which could be recorded). Self-performed AIM is less effective. AIM can be improved by intelligent chat bots as sitters and weak brain stimulation that can increase the probability of attaining something like hypnogogic state.

MIOCARDITIS SECUNDARIA A INFLUENZA

Influenza viruses induce uncomplicated infections in most cases, in individuals without known predisposing factors, acute febrile illness is usually limited to upper respiratory symptoms and constitutional symptoms. However, some patients are at risk of serious and fatal complications, myocardial involvement is mentioned in the literature, but clinical myocarditis due to influenza is apparently rare. There are few reports of fulminant influenza myocarditis. In the present case report, a patient who experienced myocarditis associated with H3N2 influenza infection, with recent Left Branch Blockage, acute pulmonary edema, and altered state of consciousness in the Vozandes Hospital in Quito during 2019 is reported; his clinical condition at discharge was favorable.

Moving beyond the concept of altered state of consciousness: the Non-Ordinary Mental Expressions (NOMEs)

Aim of this paper is to review the state of the art of so-called altered states of consciousness, anomalous experiences, and exceptional human experiences, showing the need for reappraising the whole topic and gather them under one roof. The term Non-Ordinary Mental Expressions (NOMEs) and a new classification of non-pathological ostensibly odd phenomena is introduced, emphasizing their epistemological, transcultural and interdisciplinary implications with their huge implications in medical and psychotherapeutical clinical practice.