Imperial College London
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DrLeorRoseman

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Brain Sciences

Honorary Senior Lecturer
 
 
 
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Contact

 

leor.roseman13

 
 
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Location

 

Commonwealth BuildingHammersmith Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Millière:2018:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01475,
author = {Millière, R and Carhart-Harris, RL and Roseman, L and Trautwein, F-M and Berkovich-Ohana, A},
doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01475},
journal = {Frontiers in Psychology},
pages = {1--29},
title = {Psychedelics, meditation, and self-consciousness},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01475},
volume = {9},
year = {2018}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - In recent years, the scientific study of meditation and psychedelic drugs has seen remarkable developments. The increased focus on meditation in cognitive neuroscience has led to a cross-cultural classification of standard meditation styles validated by functional and structural neuroanatomical data. Meanwhile, the renaissance of psychedelic research has shed light on the neurophysiology of altered states of consciousness induced by classical psychedelics, such as psilocybin and LSD, whose effects are mainly mediated by agonism of serotonin receptors. Few attempts have been made at bridging these two domains of inquiry, despite intriguing evidence of overlap between the phenomenology and neurophysiology of meditation practice and psychedelic states. In particular, many contemplative traditions explicitly aim at dissolving the sense of self by eliciting altered states of consciousness through meditation, while classical psychedelics are known to produce significant disruptions of self-consciousness, a phenomenon known as drug-induced ego dissolution. In this article, we discuss available evidence regarding convergences and differences between phenomenological and neurophysiological data on meditation practice and psychedelic drug-induced states, with a particular emphasis on alterations of self-experience. While both meditation and psychedelics may disrupt self-consciousness and underlying neural processes, we emphasize that neither meditation nor psychedelic states can be conceived as simple, uniform categories. Moreover, we suggest that there are important phenomenological differences even between conscious states described as experiences of self-loss. As a result, we propose that self-consciousness may be best construed as a multidimensional construct, and that “self-loss,” far from being an unequivocal phenomenon, can take several forms. Indeed, various aspects of self-consciousness, including narrative aspects linked to autobiographical memory, self-
AU  - Millière,R
AU  - Carhart-Harris,RL
AU  - Roseman,L
AU  - Trautwein,F-M
AU  - Berkovich-Ohana,A
DO  - 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01475
EP  - 29
PY  - 2018///
SN  - 1664-1078
SP  - 1
TI  - Psychedelics, meditation, and self-consciousness
T2  - Frontiers in Psychology
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01475
UR  - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01475/full
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/76923
VL  - 9
ER  -
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