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Altering Consciousness
Multidisciplinary Perspectives
Volume 2: Biological and Psychological Perspectives
Etzel Carden
˜a and Michael Winkelman, Editors
Copyright 2011 by ABC-CLIO, LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a
review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Altering consciousness : multidisciplinary perspectives / Etzel Carden
˜a and Michael
Winkelman, editors.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–313–38308–3 (hard copy : alk. paper) — ISBN 978–0–313–38309–0 (ebook)
1. Consciousness. I. Carden
˜a, Etzel. II. Winkelman, Michael.
BF311.C2773 2011
154.4—dc22 2010054086
ISBN: 978–0–313–38308–3
EISBN: 978–0–313–38309–0
15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5
This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook.
Visit www.abc-clio.com for details.
Praeger
An Imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC
ABC-CLIO, LLC
130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911
Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911
This book is printed on acid-free paper
Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Preface ix
Kenneth S. Pope
Introduction xiii
Etzel Carden
˜a
Part I: Biological Perspectives
Chapter 1 Sleep, Dreams, and Other Biological Cycles as Altered
States of Consciousness 3
Andrzej Kokoszka and Benjamin Wallace
Chapter 2 Neurochemistry and Altered Consciousness 21
David E. Presti
Chapter 3 Dopamine, Altered Consciousness, and Distant
Space with Special Reference to Shamanic Ecstasy 43
Fred Previc
Chapter 4 Transcendent Experiences and Brain Mechanisms 63
Mario Beauregard
Chapter 5 DMT and Human Consciousness 85
Zevic Mishor, Dennis J. McKenna, and J. C. Callaway
Chapter 6 LSD and the Serotonin System’s Effects on Human
Consciousness 121
David E. Nichols and Benjamin R. Chemel
Chapter 7 Peyote and Meaning 147
Stacy B. Schaefer
Chapter 8 Addiction and the Dynamics of Altered States of
Consciousness 167
Andrea E. Bla
¨
tter, Jo
¨
rg C. Fachner, and Michael Winkelman
Chapter 9 Altering Consciousness Through Sexual Activity 189
Michael Maliszewski, Barbara Vaughan, Stanley Krippner,
Gregory Holler, and Cheryl Fracasso
Chapter 10 Altered Consciousness and Human Development 211
Pehr Granqvist, Sophie Reijman, and Etzel Carden
˜
a
Part II: Psychological Perspectives
Chapter 11 Altered States of Bodily Consciousness 237
Sebastian Dieguez and Olaf Blanke
Chapter 12 Altering Consciousness and Neuropathology 263
Quentin Noirhomme and Steven Laureys
Chapter 13 Altered Consciousness in Emotion and
Psychopathology 279
Etzel Carden
˜
a
Chapter 14 Visionary Spirituality and Mental Disorders 301
David Lukoff
Chapter 15 Altered States of Consciousness as Paradoxically Healing:
An Embodied Social Neuroscience Perspective 327
Aaron L. Mishara and Michael A. Schwartz
Chapter 16 Anomalous Phenomena, Psi, and Altered
Consciousness 355
David Luke
About the Editors 375
Advisory Board 377
About the Contributors 379
Index 385
vi Contents
Acknowledgments
We want to acknowledge first the forebears of these books, the men and
women who across many thousands of years have descended into dark
caves, led community rituals, and explored consciousness-altering plants
in order to encounter anew the world and their selves. We recognize our
pioneers in Plato in the West, Pantanjali in the East, and other exemplars
of first-rate intellects who laid the groundwork for integrating the insights
of alterations of consciousness into our views of reality. Among the found-
ers of modern psychology and anthropology there were notables such as
William James and Andrew Lang who articulated and incorporated altera-
tions of consciousness into their theories of human mind and behavior.
Even during the decades-long exile of consciousness by behaviorism,
some brave souls dared to engage in research on altered states, among
them Stanley Krippner, Arnold Ludwig, Robert Ornstein, and Jerome
Singer in psychology, E. E. Evans-Wentz, Erika Bourguignon, Michael
Harner, Joseph Long, and Charles Laughlin in anthropology, and Albert
Hofmann in pharmacology. Among those who helped to point out the
importance of studying alterations of consciousness as a basic element of
human experience, the leading figure in establishing them as a legitimate
area of scientific inquiry was Charles T. Tart, an erstwhile engineering
student turned psychologist.
Our two volumes are dedicated to these and the many other pioneers
of inquiry into consciousness who provided the foundations for the per-
spectives developed here. We thank Debbie Carvalko, the senior acquisi-
tions editor who made Altering Consciousness possible, and our many
contributors, without whom these volumes would not have seen the light
of day. We especially would like to thank Julie Beischel, Cheryl Fracasso,
David E. Nichols, and Moshe Sluhovsky, who came to the rescue when it
looked as if we might not be able to include some important topics.
We are also very fortunate to have been the recipients of the generosity
of Anna Alexandra Gruen, who gave us permission to use the extraordi-
nary images of Remedios Varo in our covers, and of Judith Go
´mez del
Campo, who made it happen.
Dedications
Michael dedicates these volumes to the next generation of investigators
who will take the foundations of a multidisciplinary science of altered con-
sciousness described here and produce a more comprehensive
paradigm for understanding these inherent aspects and potentials
of human nature.
Etzel dedicates Altering Consciousness to:
My dear departed, Ma (May Buelna de Carden
˜a), Blueberry, and Ninni-
fer, whose living presence will accompany me to my dying breath.
And to my beloved princesa holandesa Sophie:
“...somos ma
´s que dos piezas de rompecabezas, le dijo la arena al
mar, somos algo nuevo y distinto.”
viii Acknowledgments
Preface
Kenneth S. Pope
This book is a remarkable achievement, bringing together what is known
in a field that has been fragmented, marked by fitful starts and stops,
and often misunderstood. The editors and authors demonstrate courage
and a unique intelligence in creating this resource. The volume moves us
forward in our understanding, expanding our vistas.
Why have we as scientists, clinicians, and scholars had such a difficult
time approaching the biological and psychological study of altering and
altered states of consciousness? This preface seemed a good opportunity
to suggest a few possibilities.
Science loves that which can be precisely measured. Scientific journals
pour forth numbers representing behaviors, doses, distances, durations,
weights, speeds, and other measurables. But consciousness challenges us
to define it in any precise, useful, noncircular way. The stream of con-
sciousness as it occurs in “real life” and is actually experienced has been
elusive for novelists as well as scientists. Virginia Woolf (2005) wrote that
“Life is not a series of gig lamps symmetrically arranged; life is a luminous
halo, a semi-transparent envelope surrounding us from the beginning of
consciousness to the end” (p. 899).
As if this were not hazy enough to evoke pity and fear—not to say a
prompt rejection from many editors of scientific journals—William James
acknowledged additional layers of complexity when he described his use
of nitrous oxide to push the “semi-transparent envelope” and alter his
consciousness:
One conclusion was forced upon my mind at that time, and my impression
of its truth has ever since remained unshaken. It is that our normal waking
consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of
consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens,
there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different. We may go
through life without suspecting their existence; but apply the requisite
stimulus, and at a touch they are there in all their completeness, definite
types of mentality which probably somewhere have their field of applica-
tion and adaptation. No account of the universe in its totality can be final
which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded. How
to regard them is the question—for they are so discontinuous with ordinary
consciousness. Yet they may determine attitudes though they cannot fur-
nish formulas, and open a region though they fail to give a map. (James,
2008, p. 283)
This lack of formulas and maps has often served as a Do Not Enter sign for
conventional scientific investigation. During one period, human con-
sciousness itself seemed to almost cease to exist as a research topic for
U.S. psychologists. As Roger Brown (1958) wrote: “In 1913 John Watson
mercifully closed the bloodshot inner eye of American psychology. With
great relief the profession trained its exteroceptors on the laboratory
animal” (p. 93).
Yet another problem in understanding altered states of consciousness
has been the struggle to answer the question: Altered from what? What
is “normal waking consciousness”? What may be normal for some may
be altered (from “normal”) for others. What has appeared in the popular
arts and other media as exotic “altered states” of consciousness may re-
present normative traits or enduring states for many.
The search for an objective, neutral definition and description of an
inherently subjective phenomenon is made even more daunting because
each attempt represents a specific point of view. In “Through the Looking
Glass: No Wonderland Yet! (The Reciprocal Relationship Between Meth-
odology and Models of Reality),” Rhoda Unger (1983) wrote, “Description
is always from someone’s point of view and hence is always evaluative.”
Athirdsourceofcomplexityandmisunderstandingscanbefoundinan
altered state of Unger’s statement quoted above: Description is always from
a cultural context and hence is always evaluative, drawing on that culture’s
evaluative assumptions and approaches. We tend to be aware of cultural con-
texts, influences, assumptions, and approaches when we read descriptions
from cultures not our own. We are far more apt to overlook cultural factors
when they spring from our own culture. In theory we all know that our
culture can profoundly influence how we view, understand, and describe a
phenomenon. But in practice, all of us trip up at least some of the time.
A remarkable book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong
Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures (Fadiman,
1997), illustrates the potential costs of overlooking the influences of cul-
ture and context on everyone involved. The book describes the efforts of
a California hospital staff and a Laotian refugee family to help a Hmong
child whose American doctors had diagnosed her with epilepsy. Everyone
involved had the best of intentions and worked hard to help the girl, but a
xPreface
lack of awareness of cultural differences had tragic effects. The book
quotes medical anthropologist Arthur Kleinman:
As powerful an influence as the culture of the Hmong patient and her fam-
ily is on this case, the culture of biomedicine is equally powerful. If you
can’t see that your own culture has its own set of interests, emotions,
and biases, how can you expect to deal successfully with someone else’s
culture? (p. 261)
A fourth factor that may have led some to turn away from this area is anxi-
ety or fear evoked by the stereotype of perceived danger linked to various
methods of altering consciousness. Some of the substances—such as 3,4-
Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (also known as MDMA or ecstasy)—
used to alter consciousness can have significantly negative consequences
under some conditions and have been criminalized in some jurisdictions.
It is worth noting, however, that a randomized, controlled pilot study,
reported during the writing of this preface, “demonstrates that MDMA-
assisted psychotherapy with close follow-up monitoring and support can
be used with acceptable and short-lived side effects in a carefully screened
group of subjects with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD” (Mithoefer,
Wagner, Mithoefer, Ilsa, & Doblin, 2010).
The area may also frighten some as dangerous to a scientific or aca-
demic career. For them, the career trajectory of Harvard psychologists
Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert is not a fascinating journey of explora-
tion and discovery but a cautionary tale. Academic pioneers in exploring
various hallucinogens first hand, Leary and Alpert traveled to Cuernavaca
to take psilocybin and were among the members of the Harvard Psilocybin
Project. Leary said that a few hours of using psilocybin taught him more
about his brain and its potential than he had learned in a decade and a half
of studying psychology and conducting traditional psychological research
(Ram Das: Fierce Grace, 2003). Harvard fired both Leary and Alpert, who
later became Ram Dass, in 1963.
Finally, consciousness-altering substances may seem dangerous for
their perceived potential to control human behavior. Aldous Huxley
explored this theme in Brave New World (2006a; see also 2006b). The
novel presents a government that uses the hallucinogen soma to control
the citizens. The novel’s presentation of a consciousness-altering sub-
stance as dangerous gains force in light of Huxley’s own courageous explo-
ration of consciousness-altering substances to open “the doors of
perception” (see, e.g., Huxley, 2009).
Preface xi
These are only a few possible reasons that scientists, clinicians, and
scholars have avoided, discounted, neglected, or misunderstood this area.
My impulse to be more comprehensive in listing and exploring these bar-
riers to understanding is immediately doused by my belief that no one
ever bought a book to read the preface.
References
Brown, R. (1958). Words and things. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
Fadiman, A. (1997). The spirit catches you and you fall down: A Hmong child, her American
doctors, and the collision of two cultures.NewYork:Farrar,StrausandGiroux.
Huxley, A. (2006a). Brave new world.NewYork:HarperPerennialModern
Classics. (Originally published 1932).
Huxley, A. (2006b). Brave new world revisited. New York: Harper Perennial
Modern Classics. (Originally published 1958).
Huxley, A. (2009). Doors of perception. Heaven and hell. New York: Harper Perennial
Modern Classics. (Originally published 1954).
James, W. (2008). Varieties of religious experience: A study in human nature. Rockville,
MD: ARC Manor. (Originally published 1902).
Mithoefer, M. C., Wagner, M. T., Mithoefer, A. T., Ilsa, J., & Doblin, R. (2010). The
safety and efficacy of ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted psycho-
therapy in subjects with chronic, treatment-resistant posttraumatic stress
disorder: The first randomized controlled pilot study. Journal of Psychopharma-
cology. Retrieved August 15, 2010, from http://jop.sagepub.com/content/early/
2010/07/14/0269881110378371.full.pdf+html.
Ram Dass: Fierce grace. (2003). DVD directed by Mickey Lemle; produced by
Bobby Squires, Buddy Squires, Mickey Lemle, Jessica Brackman, & Linda K.
Moroney. New York: Zeitgeist Films.
Unger, R. K. (1983). Through the looking glass: No wonderland yet! (The recip-
rocal relationship between methodology and models of reality). Psychology of
Women Quarterly,8(1), 9–32.
Woolf, V. (2005). Modern fiction. In L. Rainy (Ed.), Modernism: An anthology
(pp. 897–901). Carleton, Victoria, Australia: Blackwell Publishing. (Originally
published 1919).
xii Preface
Introduction
1
Etzel Carden
˜a
In the preface to this volume, Ken Pope, not only a foremost ethicist in
psychology but also a pioneer in the study of consciousness (e.g., Pope
& Singer, 1978) and a very compassionate person, offers his perspective
on various reasons why the study of such a central phenomenon as altered
states of consciousness (ASC) has been almost completely ignored by psy-
chology and related disciplines.
Setting some of the foundations for the biological processes underlying
ASC, Andrzej Kokoszka and Benjamin Wallace discuss the various bio-
logical rhythms that may affect consciousness, including a possible con-
tinuation of the sleep and dream cycle throughout the day. Also
foundational is David Presti’s chapter on neurochemistry and altered con-
sciousness in which, after giving their proper due to neurochemical
impulses, he calls for an expansion of what he calls the “standard model”
(following the terminology in physics) to understand the relationship
between consciousness and biological processes.
After these general introductions, Fred Previc focuses on the dopami-
nergic network of the nervous system and how it gives rise to experiences
of distant space and time that may underlie shamanic and other alterations
of consciousness characterized by a sense of being in a different plane of
reality. Mario Beauregard concentrates on transcendent experiences and
proposes a sophisticated model of their connection to brain sites and func-
tions. Calling for a neurophenomenological approach to the study of ASC
(see also Carden
˜a, 2009), he suggests that transcendence can be associated
with different mechanisms (e.g., hyper- or hypoactivation of the prefrontal
cortex) and networks of brain functions rather than just specific areas (e.g.,
the temporal lobe) or mechanisms (e.g., hypofrontality).
The next four chapters deal with powerful psychoactive drugs in some
way or other. Erudite and comprehensive overviews of biopharmacologi-
cal and psychological aspects of the ubiquitous psychedelic agent DMT
and of the culture-transforming substance LSD are authored by Zevic
1
The standard abbreviation in this volume for “altered states of consciousness” both in
singular and plural is ASC. Also note that to help cross-reference relevant chapters in the
two-volume set there are editorial square brackets [ ] throughout the volume.
Mishor, Dennis McKenna, and J. C. Callaway, and David Nichols and
Benjamin Chemel, respectively. In her chapter, Stacy B. Schaefer under-
lines the cultural and psychological aftereffects of the ingestion of peyote
among the Huicholes, a group she has studied for decades and that I was
fortunate to come across (particularly a most special shaman) while I still
lived in Me
´xico. Finally, the interdisciplinary team of Andrea Bla
¨tter, Jo
¨rg
Fachner, and Michael Winkelman tackles the biological, psychological,
and sociocultural aspects of addiction, especially as it relates to alterations
of consciousness. Various of the afore-mentioned authors also discuss
how the usual account that posits that brain mechanisms cause psycho-
logical processes belies a far more complicated picture.
Michael Maliszewski, Barbara Vaughan, Stanley Krippner, Gregory
Holler, and Cheryl Fracasso discuss East and West approaches to sexuality
and ASC, besides presenting the results of a study on the phenomenology
of sexual experience in a Western sample. Their chapter is a good transi-
tion to the following section of this volume, which focuses on psychologi-
cal and neurological aspects of ASC.
Pehr Granqvist, Sophie Reijman, and I describe how the various devel-
opmental stages across the lifespan are associated with typical and different
forms of “ordinary consciousness” and the propensity to experience ASC.
An incredible array of altered states of bodily consciousness, both spontane-
ous and induced by experimental or pathological processes, is the topic
covered by Sebastian Dieguez and Olaf Blanke. In the following chapter,
Quentin Noirhomme and StevenLaureys review the literature on neurologi-
cal conditions that can affect basic levels of wakefulness and arousal, includ-
ing sleep, comatose states, epilepsy, and locked-in syndrome, brought to
public awareness by the excellent French film, based on a first-person
account, Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly).
Moving from mostly neurological to mostly psychological processes, in
my chapter on ASC in emotion and psychopathology, I review how alter-
ations in consciousness can affect emotions and vice versa and then dis-
cuss the plethora of alterations of consciousness found in
psychopathology. In their chapter on healing, Aaron Mishara and Michael
Schwartz provide an overview of the research on ASC associated with dif-
ferent types of healing and propose a model for how the self mediates this
connection. David Lukoff describes the area of what has been called spiri-
tual emergencies, the juncture of psychopathological phenomena that may
be part of a spiritual process, and reviews the literature showing that by
and large, unusual (anomalous) experiences, including potentially psi or
parapsychological phenomena, are not necessarily associated with
xiv Introduction
psychopathology. A potential explanation for this is controlled research
that provides evidence that psi phenomena may in some cases be accurate
perceptions of events, and that they are often experienced during ASC, as
David Luke discusses in the final chapter. A couple of recent major studies
published in two of the best and most demanding psychological journals
reinforce his points (cf. Bem, 2011; Storm, Tressoldi, & Di Risio, 2010).
Finally, some words about a chapter you will not find in Volume 2. We
had commissioned a contribution on physical activity and ASC, but the
assignee did not honor his commitment so at least I want to suggest some
readings that may partly fill that lacuna. Vaitl et al. (2005) show that relax-
ation, which is a common but not necessary component of most meditation
and hypnotic practices, is predominantly associated with reductions in
cortical activity (particularly beta brain waves) in the prefrontal region,
enhanced left cingulated activity, and decreased sympatho-adrenergic
tone. On the other extreme is vigorous physical activity, related to spirit
possession, various rituals, and performance, and which may differ in
subtle or not-so-subtle ways from ASC induced by quiescence (see
Carden
˜a, 2005, Zarrilli, Volume 1). In fact, my first taste of an intense wak-
ing ASC occurred in the midst of very conscious and demanding physical
activity in experimental theatre groups [see Zarrilli, Volume 1], experien-
ces that at that point my psychological studies failed almost completely to
illuminate. Also, besides the “runners’ high,” some marathon runners men-
tion out-of-body and other dissociative experiences (Morgan, 1993), and
those who run even longer (sometimes much longer) distances than a mar-
athon, the “ultrarunners,” have reported alterations of a sense of time,
boundless energy, unitive experiences, and related phenomena (Jones,
2004). Although endorphins have been postulated as correlates of these
physical activity-related changes, endocannabinoids (internally produced
compounds chemically similar to cannabis) may have a stronger link (Die-
trich & McDaniel, 2004).
At the end of this comprehensive tour on the domain of ASC, it should
be evident that we cannot understand the transcendent joys or the terrify-
ing nightmares of the human experience without taking stock of the vari-
eties of human consciousness. With that wave to William James’s always
inspiring phrase, I give the last word to the eminent American poet Theo-
dore Roethke (1961), who experienced ASC related to both his encounters
with psychological disintegration and his sense of unity with the world. In
his poem A Dark Time, he talks of madness as “nobility of the soul/At odds
with circumstance” and of a final insight in which “The mind enters itself
...And one is One, free in the tearing wind.”
Introduction xv
References
Bem, D. J. (2011). Feeling the future: Experimental evidence for anomalous
retroactive influences on cognition and affect. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 100, 407–425.
Carden
˜a, E. (2005). The phenomenology of deep hypnosis: Quiescent and physi-
cally active. International Journal of Clinical & Experimental Hypnosis, 53, 37–59.
Carden
˜a, E. (2009). Beyond Plato? Toward a science of alterations of conscious-
ness. In C. A. Roe, W. Kramer, & L. Coly (Eds.), Utrecht II: Charting the future
of parapsychology (pp. 305–322). New York: Parapsychology Foundation.
Dietrich, A., & McDaniel, W. (2004). Endocannabinoids and exercise. British
Journal of Sports Medicine, 38, 536–541.
Jones, P. (2004). Ultrarunners and chance encounters with “absolute unitary
being.” Anthropology of Consciousness, 15, 39–50.
Morgan, W. P. (1993). Hypnosis and sport psychology. In J. W. Rhue, S. J. Lynn, &
I. Kirsch (Eds.), Handbook of clinical hypnosis (pp. 649–670). Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association.
Pope, K. S., & Singer, J. L. (Eds.). (1978) The stream of consciousness. New York:
Plenum.
Roethke, T. (1961). The collected poems of Theodor Roethke. New York: Doubleday.
Storm, L., Tressoldi, P. E., & Di Risio, L. (2010). Meta-analysis of free-response
studies, 1992–2008: Assessing the noise reduction model in parapsychology.
Psychological Bulletin, 136, 471–485.
Vaitl, D., Birbaumer, N., Gruzelier, J., Jamieson, G., Kotchoubey, B., Ku
¨bler,
A., Lehmann, D., Miltner, W. H. R., Ott, U., Pu
¨tz, P., Sammer, G., Strauch,
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xvi Introduction
