Altered state of consciousness
[13] Examples of early religious use of altered states of consciousness are the rites of Dionysos and the Eleusinian Mysteries,[14] as well as yoga and meditation.
"[14] Terence McKenna has suggested that the use of psychedelic mushrooms in prehistoric times has led to the "evolution of human language and symbol use".
[14][16] Meditation in its various forms is being rediscovered by modern psychology because of its therapeutic potential and its ability to "enable the activity of the mind to settle down".
[18] Due to the behaviourist paradigm in psychology altered states of consciousness were dismissed as a field of scientific inquiry during the early 20th century.
[21] Foundations for the research have been laid out by various scientists such as Abraham Maslow, Walter N. Pahnke, Stanislav Grof and Charles Tart.
[23] Abraham Maslow's research on peak experiences, as moments of "highest happiness and fulfillment",[23] further contributed to the depathologization of altered states.
A first summary of the existing literature was carried out by Charles T. Tart in his book Altered the States of Consciousness, which led to a more common use of the term.
[23] Tart coined the key terms discrete[note 2] and baseline states of consciousness and thought about a general classification system for ASCs.
Further, Ken Wilber[10] proposes a multidimensional system and adds that the individual experience of an ASC is shaped by a person's unique psychological development.
One who is under the influence of cannabis may experience degrees of paranoia, increased sensitivity, and delayed reactions not normal for their usual conscious state.
Opioid abuse may result in decreased production of endorphins in the brain, natural pain relievers whose effects may be heightened by drugs.
Cocaine inhibits the reuptake of norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine, and other neurotransmitters in the synapse, resulting in an altered state of consciousness or a "high" (Aldridge, D., & Fachner, J. ö.
Lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, activates serotonin receptors (the amine transmitter of nerve urges) in brain matter.
LSD acts on certain serotonin receptors, and its effects are most prominent in the cerebral cortex, an area involved in attitude, thought, and insight, which obtains sensory signs from all parts of the body.
Those with personal experience of conditions such as Depersonalisation often cite the opposite, that it is an increased awareness of the environment and the self that results in altered states of consciousness.
During the seizure, the patient will experience hallucinations and loss of mental control,[38] causing temporary dissociation from reality.
The Impairment becomes visible the moment seizures begin to occur, this is when the patient enters the altered state of consciousness.
An MRI study conducted at Harvard Medical School in 2007 found that a sleep-deprived brain was not capable of being in control of its sensorimotor functions,[41] leading to impaired self-awareness.
The theory proposes a general distinction between two fundamentally different modes of cognition, referred to as primary and secondary consciousness.
The entropic brain hypothesis emphasizes the great research potential of the psychedelic state of mind for gaining more insight into general human consciousness.
Extensive scientific investigation on altered states of consciousness and their relationship to drug interactions with receptors in the brain have been performed.
Particularly the study of the neurotransmitter serotonin and the effects of psychedelic drugs on the brain has been intensively researched over the past sixty years.
It has been hypothesized that hallucinogens act either as an antagonist or an agonist at 5-HT2A (serotonin-2A) receptors and will elicit a state that shares some common phenomenological features with early acute stages of the group of schizophrenia disorders.
To investigate the underlying causative neurotransmitter mechanisms of this phenomenon, the CSTC (cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical) loop model has been formulated based on empirical neurobiological work.
The CSTC feedback loop plays a major role in gating or filtering out external and internal information to the cortex.
Disruption of the CSTC loop system is proposed to significantly influence information processing, for instance the ability to screen out, inhibit, filter, or gate extraneous stimuli and to direct selective attention to salient features of the environment.
Despite strong evidence linking serotonin and psychosis, novel research indicates that some behavioral effects of drugs such as psilocybin appear to be independent of the classical 5-HT2A receptor-agonist actions, implying that the model described here is not the only underlying framework at play.
[48] Synthetic surprise is a theoretical concept explaining the altered states of consciousness induced by psychedelic substances like LSD and psilocybin.
Under the influence of psychedelics, the interplay between top-down expectations and bottom-up sensory information is altered, leading to the characteristic changes in consciousness.
The ability of psychedelics to induce surprise is proposed to be central to their therapeutic potential, especially in disrupting maladaptive cognitive and perceptual patterns.
