In conversation with Katherine Olivetti, Stanislav Grof and Richard Tarnas, who have collaborated for over four decades, speak candidly, exploring perinatal experience, non-ordinary states of consciousness, archetypal patterns, and astrology as a transpersonal phenomenon.
Olivetti, K. (2015). Dimensions of the Psyche: A Conversation with Stanislav Grof, MD, and Richard Tarnas, PhD. Jung Journal, 9(4), 98-124. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19342039.2015.1086937
Stimulation of serotonergic neurotransmission by psilocybin has been shown to shift emotional biases away from negative towards positive stimuli. We have recently shown that reduced amygdala activity during threat processing might underlie psilocybin’s effect on emotional processing. However, it is still not known whether psilocybin modulates bottom-up or top-down connectivity within the visual-limbic-prefrontal network underlying threat processing. We therefore analyzed our previous fMRI data using dynamic causal modeling and used Bayesian model selection to infer how psilocybin modulated effective connectivity within the visual–limbic–prefrontal network during threat processing. First, both placebo and psilocybin data were best explained by a model in which threat affect modulated bidirectional connections between the primary visual cortex, amygdala, and lateral prefrontal cortex. Second, psilocybin decreased the threat-induced modulation of top-down connectivity from the amygdala to primary visual cortex, speaking to a neural mechanism that might underlie putative shifts towards positive affect states after psilocybin administration. These findings may have important implications for the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders.
Kraehenmann, R., Schmidt, A., Friston, K., Preller, K. H., Seifritz, E., & Vollenweider, F. X. (2015). The mixed serotonin receptor agonist psilocybin reduces threat-induced modulation of amygdala connectivity. NeuroImage: Clinical. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2015.08.009
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Entheogens, Society & Law: Towards a Politics of Consciousness, Autonomy & Responsibility by Daniel Waterman, edited by Casey William Hardison, Melrose Books, 2013.
Psychoactive substances are strongly intertwined with society. They produce highly subjective effects, and are simultaneously highly politicized. Likewise, the cultural and societal context determines to a large extent the content and interpretation of the experience. Daniel Waterman’s ‘Entheogens, Society & Law’ is about this interplay. In his book, he discusses the interrelation of consciousness and ethics and argues that a reconsideration of regulatory choices is necessary for a more beneficial way of dealing with these substances. It is a broad-ranging book that addresses a large variety of subjects.
After a brief personal introduction, Waterman shows how the way we talk about psychoactive substances influences not just the experience, but also its interpretation and whether the outcome is beneficial. Similarly, he argues that law stratifies such beliefs we hold about psychoactive substances and that this in turn influences both the way we see them and the way we see ourselves.
The second chapter is an elaboration on the different ways in which psychoactives have been conceptualised throughout history, and the results of these conceptualisations. Drugs and drug users have many faces and Waterman gives a thorough analysis of all the different roles they play within society, both positive and negative. He shows the complexity of these concepts and how many different interpretations are possible. This analysis contributes to a fuller understanding of psychedelics and the psychedelic experience and has not been published elsewhere to such an extent.
In the third chapter we find a large section on the work of Professor Jan Bastiaans, a Dutch psychiatrist who treated people suffering from what was then called ‘concentration camp syndrome’ with LSD. Concentration camp syndrome would later be incorporated into the more recent category PTSD. Bastiaans was educated in classical psychoanalysis and went on to apply these techniques in psychedelic therapy. In the late eighties, Bastiaans would come into disregard for not maintaining proper archives, preventing anyone from evaluating the effectiveness of his treatment. Although largely based on the work of Stephen Snelders and the biography by Bram Enning, this book provides one of the first extensive reviews of Bastiaans’ work in English and it is a welcome addition to the historical study of psychedelic research.
The book continues with a section on the transpersonal psychology of Stanislav Grof. While a giant in the field, Grof is not often compared and contrasted to his predecessors, starting with Sigmund Freud and his heirs Carl Jung, Otto Rank and Wilhelm Reich, and with peers like Abraham Maslow. This comparison helps us understand Grof as part of a lineage of psychoanalysts. By placing Grof in this lineage, we can see how he both learned from his tradition and elaborated upon it by working intensively with LSD in the Czech Republic and the US.
In his final chapter, the author shows how the transpersonal experience is central to a variety of religions and argues that these experiences help people integrate on a personal and social level. In that sense, Waterman posits, they are the epitome of ethics itself, because they require us to take responsibility for our actions on a grander scale. Conversely, prohibiting (some ways to achieve) such experiences prevents people from becoming more conscious and, consequently, more compassionate and kind.
The book is not neutral and doesn’t claim to be. Both author and editor are outspoken proponents of cognitive liberty and the freedom to alter consciousness. However, their claims are supported by relevant research and their political stance is rooted in a strong tradition of scientific research and philosophical thought, although conservatives might label it as radical.
The book does have flaws, the biggest of which is that it is often unclear where the argument is taking the reader. Because many subjects are dealt with extensively, it is easy to lose track of the line of reasoning. More elaboration on how digressions fit in with the general argument would have allowed for a more focused book. As it stands, the book’s topics, while interesting in themselves, often remain unconnected. The effect is that the reader has to piece the argument together himself, which makes for a sometimes challenging read, requiring a strong focus on the part of the reader.
Another flaw is that some ideas are explained in both footnotes and in the main text. This unnecessary repetition, along with some mistakes and sloppiness in the footnotes, stain an otherwise well annotated text. Both these issues should have been mended in the editorial process.
But there are enough diamonds in the rough. This book broadens one’s perspective well beyond the boundaries of what is normally found within the literature on psychedelics. The author discusses many questions that are usually left unanswered and still manages to fit everything together. It is a book for those interested in the interplay between how we think about altered states and the substances that induce them, how this influences the experience, and how these feedback loops influence the way we deal with them as a society.
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Psychedelics fell from medical grace nearly half a century ago, but recent activity suggests that some researchers have “high hopes” for their return. 1,2 Over 60 years ago, Albert Hofmann at Sandoz Pharmaceutical Laboratories in Switzerland first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and personally experienced its effects (later described as a voyage into madness or a chemically induced psychosis) in 1943. Hofmann’s drug opened up a new era of hallucinogenic research. Over the next 15 years, more than a thousand articles on the use of LSD appeared in medical and scientific publications. In 1957, that work gave rise to the term “psychedelic” to describe a mind-manifesting response, described by some as an experience that brought to light matters that had previously been part of the unconscious [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][…]
Dyck, E. (2015). LSD: a new treatment emerging from the past. CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association journal= journal de l’Association medicale canadienne. https://dx.doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.141358
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During the last years, considerable progress has been made toward understanding the neuronal basis of consciousness by using sophisticated behavioral tasks, brain-imaging techniques, and various psychoactive drugs. Nevertheless, the neuronal mechanisms underlying some of the most intriguing states of consciousness, including spiritual experiences, remain unknown.
To elucidate state of consciousness-related neuronal mechanisms, human subjects were given psilocybin, a naturally occurring serotonergic agonist and hallucinogen that has been used for centuries to induce spiritual experiences in religious and medical rituals.
In this double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 50 healthy human volunteers received a moderate dose of psilocybin, while high-density electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings were taken during eyes-open and eyes-closed resting states. The current source density and the lagged phase synchronization of neuronal oscillations across distributed brain regions were computed and correlated with psilocybin-induced altered states of consciousness.
Psilocybin decreased the current source density of neuronal oscillations at 1.5–20 Hz within a neural network comprising the anterior and posterior cingulate cortices and the parahippocampal regions. Most intriguingly, the intensity levels of psilocybin-induced spiritual experience and insightfulness correlated with the lagged phase synchronization of delta oscillations (1.5–4 Hz) between the retrosplenial cortex, the parahippocampus, and the lateral orbitofrontal area.
These results provide systematic evidence for the direct association of a specific spatiotemporal neuronal mechanism with spiritual experiences and enhanced insight into life and existence. The identified mechanism may constitute a pathway for modulating mental health, as spiritual experiences can promote sustained well-being and psychological resilience.
Kometer, M., Pokorny, T., Seifritz, E., & Vollenweider, F. X. (2015). Psilocybin-induced spiritual experiences and insightfulness are associated with synchronization of neuronal oscillations. Psychopharmacology, 1-14. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-015-4026-7
After a 40-year hiatus, the question of whether psychedelics can increase creativity is being asked with renewed vigor. This article critically reviews the conceptual issues of studying psychedelic-induced creativity by summarizing the limited evidence on the question and suggesting two broader frameworks. There are two important challenges to researchers on this topic. One is to separate creativity from other effects of the drug that may be mistaken for creativity. The second is to develop operational measures to quantify it. This article reviews the major studies assessing creativity (or related constructs) induced by psychedelics, including a reanalysis of raw data from one study. Results are modest and inconclusive but are consistent with reports that psychedelics give rise to unusual or novel thoughts. Given the lack of robust changes in creativity measures, I suggest creativity may be too specific of a construct to accurately and fully characterize the putatively beneficial cognitive changes that psychedelic users report. Feelings of creativity may be an inconsistent result of a more general effect of these drugs, such as alterations in availability of mental representations or changes in Bayesian inference. Ultimately, creativity may not be a sufficiently creative construct to capture the beneficial effects of psychedelics.
Baggott, M. J. (2015). Psychedelics and creativity: a review of the quantitative literature. PeerJ PrePrints, 3, e1468. https://dx.doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1202v1
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The psychological state elicited by the classic psychedelics drugs, such as LSD and psilocybin, is one of the most fascinating and yet least understood states of consciousness. However, with the advent of modern functional neuroimaging techniques, the effect of these drugs on neural activity is now being revealed, although many of the varied phenomenological features of the psychedelic state remain challenging to explain. Integrated information theory (IIT) is one of the foremost contemporary theories of consciousness, providing a mathematical formalization of both the quantity and quality of conscious experience. This theory can be applied to all known states of consciousness, including the psychedelic state. Using the results of functional neuroimaging data on the psychedelic state, the effects of psychedelic drugs on both the level and structure of consciousness can be explained in terms of the conceptual framework of IIT. This new IIT-based model of the psychedelic state provides an explanation for many of its phenomenological features, including unconstrained cognition, alterations in the structure and meaning of concepts and a sense of expanded awareness. This model also suggests that whilst cognitive flexibility, creativity, and imagination are enhanced during the psychedelic state, this occurs at the expense of cause-effect information, as well as degrading the brain’s ability to organize, categorize, and differentiate the constituents of conscious experience. Furthermore, the model generates specific predictions that can be tested using a combination of functional imaging techniques, as has been applied to the study of levels of consciousness during anesthesia and following brain injury.
Gallimore, A. R. (2015). Restructuring Consciousness–the Psychedelic State in Light of Integrated Information Theory. Name: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9, 346. https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2015.00346
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Background: Salvinorin-A is a terpene with agonist properties at the kappa-opioid receptor, the binding site of endogenous dynorphins. Salvinorin-A is found in Salvia divinorum, a psychoactive plant traditionally used by the Mazatec people of Oaxaca, Mexico, for medicinal and spiritual purposes. Previous studies with the plant and salvinorin-A have reported psychedelic-like changes in perception but also unusual changes in body awareness and detachment from external reality. Here we comprehensively studied the profile of subjective effects of increasing doses of salvinorin-A in healthy volunteers with special emphasis on interoception.
Methods: A placebo and three increasing doses of vaporized salvinorin-A (0.25, 0.50, and 1 mg) were administered to eight healthy volunteers with previous experience in the use of psychedelics. Drug effects were assessed using a battery of questionnaires that included among others: the Hallucinogen Rating Scale (HRS), the Altered States of Consciousness (APZ), and a new instrument that evaluates different aspects of body awareness: the Multidimensional Assessment for Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA).
Results: Salvinorin-A led to a disconnection from external reality, induced elaborate visions and auditory phenomena, and modified interoception. The lower doses increased somatic sensations, but the high dose led to a sense of a complete loss of contact with the body.
Conclusions: Salvinorin-A induced intense psychotropic effects characterized by a dose-dependent gating of external audio-visual information and an inverted-U dose-response effect on body awareness. These results suggest a prominent role for the kappa opioid receptor in the regulation of sensory perception, interoception and the sense of body ownership in humans.
Maqueda, A. E., Valle, M., Addy, P. H., Antonijoan, R. M., Puntes, M., Coimbra, J., … & Riba, J. (2015). Salvinorin-A induces intense dissociative effects, blocking external sensory perception and modulating interoception and sense of body ownership in humans. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, pyv065. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijnp/pyv065
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Xenolinguistics – Psychedelics, Language, and the Evolution of Consciousness by Diana Reed Slattery, with a foreword by Allyson Grey. Evolver Editions, 2015.
Psychedelic research always in some way evokes what David Chalmers has called the “hard problem of consciousness”. How does experience arise from physical activity in the brain and, to apply this problem to psychedelics, how does the alteration of the chemistry of the brain alter this experience? Most published research into psychedelics does not address this question directly. Diana Reed Slattery, however, combines both her subjective experiences, those of several other people, with scientific insights from linguistics, biology and psychology. The result is a richly illustrated philosophical work rather than a scientific attempt at proof and explanation. Her work opens up new avenues for further scientific and philosophical inquiries.
The focus of the book is xenolinguistics, which is defined as the study of alien (i.e. strange) languages. Slattery further limits the scope to previously non-existing languages that have been “received” during psychedelic experiences. Although this is a fringe phenomenon even within , understanding it might shed light on other aspects of the psychedelic experience and consciousness in general. Slattery’s aim is twofold. On the one hand she wants to show how psychedelic practices, the use of psychedelics within a certain ritualistic (secular, spiritual or religious) context, can be a “powerful means of gathering knowledge about consciousness”. On the other hand, she examines the results of her own and others’ psychedelic practice in the light of theories of the evolutionfrom a variety of disciplines, with a continuous focus on languages learned during the psychedelic experience.
The book is divided into three parts. The first deals with the practices used for xenolinguistics. The discussion of rituals and the philosophical segments on what can be considered “self” and “other” are among the most interesting of the book, as they pose questions about the way psychedelic experiences are interpreted; is the thing one communicates with the Self, subconscious, Other or even alien? Slattery argues that psychedelic practice hinges upon the setting of a clear intent, controlling the set and setting and the focus that one brings to the experience. Her practice is simple in the sense that no elaborate ritual or belief system accompanies the exp
erience. The idea is to ingest the psychedelic (Slattery mostly uses psilocybin mushrooms, 2C-B, MDMA and cannabis) in solitude, experience and report as fully as possible. She got a “download” of the language she calls Glide quite early on in her practice and continued to explore the details in the years that followed. Glide is an aesthetically pleasing and purely visual language that meanders in all directions. It consists of glyphs, each comprising three rounded strokes. Combining these glyphs results in a ‘Maze’, where glyphs flow into each other. Meaning is multidimensional and reverberates throughout the field of meaning that is created. The result is non-linear and unbounded, much like the psychedelic experience. It is interesting to note that here, the focus on healing that we find in much research on psychedelics is largely absent, in order to focus on knowledge acquisition and creativity. This perspective is very welcome in a field that has become focused on one or just a few aspects of the psychedelic experience, namely the therapeutical applications and the neurobiological effects of psychedelics.
The second part of the book is more theoretical, as Slattery frames xenolinguistics within some scientific theories. This evaluation is far from complete and theories that do not support the possibility of xenolinguistics are not considered. The mere fact that people sometimes receive or develop strange languages under the influence of psychedelics disqualifies any theory that precludes this possibility. In this sense, a more dialectical approach would perhaps have been more beneficial. As it stands, however, it is a collection of fascinating scientific theories that all somehow fit in with the practice of xenolinguistics. Slattery refers to many key actors in psychedelic research; the extensive 16-page bibliography stands witness to this achievement and provides a wealth of information for those who want to dig further into the material. The theoretical ideas are interwoven with notes from her personal journal that support or illustrate the hypotheses about how perception, reality, language and consciousness are, to use one of the beautiful key concepts of the book, intertwingled.
The third part focuses on language, natural and unnatural, constructed and living. Slattery gives examples from a variety of xenolinguists of how meaning is put into language in the psychedelic experience. The role of language in society is also elaborated upon. Strange languages serve many purposes, according to Slattery: they help us express new ideas, new emotions; they enable us to convey these to others or alternatively to keep them private while still being expressed; and they allow us to experience reality in a different way, showing how the creative use of language can alter the way we see the world. Slattery refers to the idea put forth by Richard Doyle that the psychedelic experience is an ecodelic experience, which gives us the opportunity to see ourselves as part of nature and to see how things are interconnected.
Xenolinguistics is a book for those interested in the interplay between psychedelics, language and consciousness. The overall picture that emerges shows that psychedelics can shed light on the way in which language and consciousness interact and co-evolve, by providing us with new languages that stretch our awareness beyond that which we are accustomed to. While the scientific theories in the book are interesting and support the ideas put forth by the author, those looking for pure science will probably be disappointed. The strength of the book lies in its exploration of new ideas and their synthesis into an overarching worldview that invites the reader to think along. The role language plays in our ongoing search for meaning and connection needs further study. This book is an inspiring and inspired attempt to open up this new field.
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Background: Psychedelics induce intense modifications in the sensorium, the sense of “self,” and the experience of reality. Despite advances in our understanding of the molecular and cellular level mechanisms of these drugs, knowledge of their actions on global brain dynamics is still incomplete. Recent imaging studies have found changes in functional coupling between frontal and parietal brain structures, suggesting a modification in information flow between brain regions during acute effects.
Methods: here we assessed the psychedelic-induced changes in directionality of information flow during the acute effects of a psychedelic in humans. We measured modifications in connectivity of brain oscillations using transfer entropy (TE), a non-linear measure of directed functional connectivity based on information theory. Ten healthy male volunteers with prior experience with psychedelics participated in two experimental sessions. They received a placebo or a dose of ayahuasca, a psychedelic preparation containing the serotonergic 5-HT2A agonist N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT).
Results: the analysis showed significant changes in the coupling of brain oscillations between anterior and posterior recording sites. TE analysis showed that frontal sources decreased their influence over central, parietal and occipital sites. Conversely, sources in posterior locations increased their influence over signals measured at anterior locations. Exploratory correlations found that anterior-to-posterior TE decreases were correlated with the intensity of subjective effects, while the imbalance between anterior-to-posterior and posterior-to-anterior TE correlated with the degree of incapacitation experienced.
Conclusions: these results suggest that psychedelics induce a temporary disruption of neural hierarchies by reducing top-down control and increasing bottom-up information transfer in the human brain.
Alonso, J. F., Romero, S., Mañanas, M. À., & Riba, J. (2015). Serotonergic psychedelics temporarily modify information transfer in humans. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijnp/pyv039
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