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Anthropology, Shamanism and Hallucinogens. In: Handbook of Medical Hallucinogens Edited by Charles S. Grob and Jim Grigsby. NY: Guilford Press. Pp. 46-67.
Abstract
Anthropology, Shamanism and Hallucinogens
Introduction
Psychedelics and Humans’ Evolved Ecopsychology
A Shamanic Ecopsychology
Shamanism: The Institutionalization of Hallucinogen Use
Shamanism as a Cross-cultural Complex
Cross-cultural Features of Shamanism
Entheogens in Shamanism
Entheogenic Nature: Animism and the Origins of Shamanic Ecopsychology
Animism and Self-Development
Shamanic Uses of Entheogens
Therapeutic Uses of Hallucinogens
Shamanic Ritual Procedures for Managing Consciousness
Food Restrictions
Sexual Abstinence
Drumming, Singing and Chanting
Over-Night Rituals and “Dreamtime”
Types of Shamanic ASC
Shamanic Flight and Visionary Experiences
The Shaman’s Initiatory Crisis: Death and Rebirth
Animal Transformation
A Psychedelic Neurophenomenology
Serotonergic regulation and psychedelic deregulation
Psychointegration and the Integrative Mode of Consciousness
Psychointegration as Liberation of the “Animal Brains”
Primary Process Thinking
Novel meaning and symbolic interpretation
Presentational symbolism: a visual epistemology
Conclusions
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Although the term "shamanic" is used to refer to a diverse range of phenomena, it nonetheless reflects something empirical. Cross-cultural research illustrates that the concept of the shaman reflects the existence of similar spiritual healing practices found in pre-modern foraging and simple horticultural and pastoral societies around the world (Winkelman, 1992; 2000). This cross-cultural concept of the shaman was initially proposed by the renowned scholar of comparative religion, Mircea Eliade (1964). However, his various characterizations of shamans were in part responsible for subsequent confusion regarding their exact nature and function. While offering very general characterizations of the shaman as someone who entered a state of "ecstasy" to interact with "spirits" on behalf of the community, Eliade also cited many additional specific concepts of the shaman which some subsequent researchers neglected in their applications of this term. This paper presents the findings of cross-cultural and crossspecies research that provides a basis for describing shamanism, its relationships to human nature, and its deep evolutionary origins. Shamanism has its bases in innate aspects of human cognition, engaging the use of altered states of consciousness to integrate information across several levels of the brain to produce visual symbolism exemplified in visionary experiences. The deeper evolutionary roots of shamanism are found in the capacities for ritual, which provide the most important communication and integrative processes in lower animal species. The evolution of shamanism can be deduced from these bases and the similarities of shamanic practices to the rituals of chimpanzees. Drumming, group vocalization, and other displays were the foundations from which the uniquely human mimetic capacity evolved and provided a basis for shamanism.
Sixteen articles by leading researchers document the evidence for the therapeutic applications of a wide range of psychedelics-- LSD, psilocybin, ayahuasca, ketamine, MDMA.
Preface: Extending Our Knowledge of Consciousness ix
Charles T. Tart
Chapter 1 Altering Consciousness: Setting Up the Stage 1
Etzel Cardeña
Chapter 2 A Paradigm for Understanding Altered Consciousness:
The Integrative Mode of Consciousness 23
Michael Winkelman
Part I: Historical Perspectives
Chapter 3 Consciousness Alteration Practices in the West from
Prehistory to Late Antiquity 45
Yulia Ustinova
Chapter 4 Spirit Possession and Other Alterations of Consciousness
in the Christian Western Tradition 73
Moshe Sluhovsky
Chapter 5 Altered Consciousness from the Age of Enlightenment
Through Mid–20th Century 89
Etzel Carden˜ a and Carlos S. Alvarado
Chapter 6 Reconceptualizing the Field of Altered Consciousness:
A 50-Year Retrospective 113
Julie Beischel, Adam J. Rock, and Stanley Krippner
Part II: Cultural Perspectives
Chapter 7 Eastern Approaches to Altered States of Consciousness 139
Jonathan Shear
Chapter 8 Shamanism and the Alteration of Consciousness 159
Michael Winkelman
Chapter 9 Altered Consciousness in Society 181
Charles Whitehead
Chapter 10 Spiritual Technologies and Altering Consciousness in
Contemporary Counterculture 203
Graham St John
Part III: The Humanities
Chapter 11 Altered Consciousness in Philosophy 229
Jennifer M. Windt
Chapter 12 Altered Consciousness in Religion 255
Antoon Geels
Chapter 13 Colored Inklings: Altered States of Consciousness
and Literature 277
Wendy E. Cousins
Chapter 14 Altered Consciousness in Performance: West and East 301
Phillip B. Zarrilli
Chapter 15 Altered Consciousness and Modern Art 327
Mark Levy
Chapter 16 Time Is the Key: Music and Altered States
of Consciousness 355
Jo¨rg C. Fachner
Objective
To explore whether psilocybin with psychological support modulates personality parameters in patients suffering from treatment‐resistant depression (TRD).
Method
Twenty patients with moderate or severe, unipolar, TRD received oral psilocybin (10 and 25 mg, one week apart) in a supportive setting. Personality was assessed at baseline and at 3‐month follow‐up using the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO‐PI‐R), the subjective psilocybin experience with Altered State of Consciousness (ASC) scale, and depressive symptoms with QIDS‐SR16.
Results
Neuroticism scores significantly decreased while Extraversion increased following psilocybin therapy. These changes were in the direction of the normative NEO‐PI‐R data and were both predicted, in an exploratory analysis, by the degree of insightfulness experienced during the psilocybin session. Openness scores also significantly increased following psilocybin, whereas Conscientiousness showed trend‐level increases, and Agreeableness did not change.
Conclusion
Our observation of changes in personality measures after psilocybin therapy was mostly consistent with reports of personality change in relation to conventional antidepressant treatment, although the pronounced increases in Extraversion and Openness might constitute an effect more specific to psychedelic therapy. This needs further exploration in future controlled studies, as do the brain mechanisms of postpsychedelic personality change.
Article provides an introduction to Sacred Plants, Consciousness and Healing Cross-Cultural and Interdisciplinary Perspectives Yearbook of Cross-cultural Medicine and Psychotherapy Volume 6. It reviews the cross-cultural patterns of use of psychedelics and provides a general model of their physiological effects involving the concept of psychointegration.
Background and aims
Psychedelic entity experiences are examined from perspectives of evolutionary psychology and neurophenomenology. Their similarities with other entity experiences illustrate the need for a general biological explanation of entity experiences. Mechanisms are proposed to involve innate modules, operators, and intelligences that underlie ordinary cognitive inferences and provide the basis for supernatural thought.
Methods
Comparisons of ayahuasca and dimethyltryptamine (DMT) entity experiences with other types of entity experiences show their fundamental similarities to conceptions of spirit guides, mythological beings, divinities, extraterrestrials, angels, celestial beings, demons, gnomes, dwarfs, elves, and others. Entities exemplify the properties of anthropomorphism, exhibiting qualities of humans. Comparative methods are proposed to identify common features and differences in psychedelic and other entity experiences.
Results
Features of psychedelic entities reflect the functions of principal innate operators and modules (i.e., animacy detection, social role inferences, and mind reading) that have central roles in the explanation of the genesis of spirit experiences and beliefs. Humans’ innate psychology includes diverse forms of self and alien self-phenomena, providing mechanisms for explaining psychedelic entity experiences. Neurophenomenological approaches illustrate that the physiological effects of psychedelics can account for release of innate modules and mental organs. The concept of the phantasy mode of consciousness provides a mechanism through which our unconscious causal and explanatory mechanisms produce accounts of encounters with non-human beings. The extensive interaction of DMT with the receptorome explains why these experiences give such a powerful sense of ontological certainty.
Conclusion
Psychedelic entity experiences share central features with a robust innate human tendency to attribute agency, intentionality, causality, and personhood and to create accounts involving human-like qualities and entities.
This book examines shamanism from evolutionary and biological perspectives to identify the origins of shamanic healing in rituals that enhance individual and group function.
What does the brain do during "soul journeys"? How do shamans alter consciousness and why is this important for healing? Are shamans different from other kinds of healers? Is there a connection between the rituals performed by chimpanzees and traditional shamanistic practices?
All of these questions and many more are answered in Shamanism, Second Edition: A Biopsychosocial Paradigm of Consciousness and Healing. This text contains crosscultural examinations of the nature of shamanism, biological perspectives on alterations of consciousness, mechanisms of shamanistic healing, as well as the evolutionary origins of shamanism. It presents the shamanic paradigm within a biopsychosocial framework for explaining successful human evolution through group rituals. In the final chapter,"the author compares shamanistic rituals with chimpanzee displays to identify homologies that point to the ritual dynamics of our ancient hominid ancestors.
Serotonergic psychedelics act as agonists at cortical 5-HT2Areceptors and seem to induce personality changes. We conducted a systematic review of studies assessing the effects of these drugs on personality. Papers published from 1985 to 2016 were included from PubMed, LILACS, and SciELO databases. Three hundred and sixty-nine studies were identified, and 18 were included. Specific personality traits, such as Absorption and Self-Transcendence, seem to influence the effects of psychedelics, and psychedelic drug users and nonusers appear to differ in some personality traits. Psychedelics administered in controlled settings may induce personality changes, such as increased Openness and Self-Transcendence. Increases in global brain entropy induced by acute psychedelic administration predicted changes in Openness, and Self-Transcendence was negatively correlated with cortical thinning of the posterior cingulate cortex in long-term religious ayahuasca users. Acute and long-term use of psychedelics is associated with personality changes that appear to be modulated by 5-HT2Areceptors. These changes seem to induce therapeutic effects that should be further explored in randomized controlled studies.