A spontaneous dissociative episode during an EEG experiment.

A depersonalization episode occurred unexpectedly during an electroencephalogram (EEG) recording for a study. Experience reports tracked the time course of this event and, in conjunction, with EEG data, were analyzed. The source activity across canonical frequency bands was analyzed across four periods ended by retrospective experience reports (depersonalization was reported in the 2nd period). Delta and theta decreases occurred across all time periods with no relation to reported events. Theta and alpha increases occurred in right secondary visual areas following depersonalization, which also coincided with surges in beta and gamma. The largest increases occurred in bilateral fronto-polar and medial prefrontal cortex, followed by inferior left lateral fronto-insula-temporal cortices and right secondary visual cortex. A high frequency functional network with a principal hub in left insula closely overlapped inferior left cortical gamma band-power increases. Bilateral frontal increases in gamma are consistent with studies of dissociation. We interpret gamma and later beta, alpha, and theta band increases as arising from the generation of visual priors, in the absence of precise visual signals, which constrain interoceptive and proprioceptive predictions to reestablish a stable sense of physiological-self. Beta showed local increases following the pattern of gamma but showed no changes in functional connectivity.

Dissociative Experiences Among Transgender Women: A Phenomenological Study.

There is little published research on dissociative experiences among transgender people, and none from an in-depth qualitative perspective. In-depth, open-ended interviews (N = 7, 6 trans women, 1 trans man) were conducted to explore how dissociation is experienced (particularly among trans women) and its possible relation to negative emotions. There were several similarities across the dissociative experiences described by participants: six felt themselves disconnected from their body as a whole (in contrast to feeling disconnected to a specific body part), and from the world around them and/or themselves. Four acted out different personalities, and five felt emotionally numb when they were dissociating. Six participants described that their dissociation lessened after they started hormone therapy. Respondents tended to distinguish between dysphoric and dissociative experiences: dysphoric phenomena were more clearly distressful while dissociative ones were more emotionally numb.

A neurophenomenological fMRI study of a spontaneous automatic writer and a hypnotic cohort.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the neurophenomenology of automatic writing (AW) in a spontaneous automatic writer (NN) and four high hypnotizables (HH). METHODS: During fMRI, NN and the HH were cued to perform spontaneous (NN) or induced (HH) AW, and a comparison task of copying complex symbols, and to rate their experience of control and agency. RESULTS: Compared to copying, for all participants AW was associated with less sense of control and agency and decreased BOLD signal responses in brain regions implicated in the sense of agency (left premotor cortex and insula, right premotor cortex, and supplemental motor area), and increased BOLD signal responses in the left and right temporoparietal junctions and the occipital lobes. During AW, the HH differed from NN in widespread BOLD decreases across the brain and increases in frontal and parietal regions. CONCLUSIONS: Spontaneous and induced AW had similar effects on agency, but only partly overlapping effects on cortical activity.

Mind wandering and sleep in daily life: A combined actigraphy and experience sampling study.

Individuals who sleep poorly report spending more time mind wandering during the day. However, past research has relied on self-report measures of sleep or measured mind wandering during laboratory tasks, which prevents generalization to everyday contexts. We used ambulatory assessments to examine the relations between several features of sleep (duration, fragmentation, and disturbances) and mind wandering (task-unrelated, stimulus-independent, and unguided thoughts). Participants wore a wristband device that collected actigraphy and experience-sampling data across 7 days and 8 nights. Contrary to our expectations, task-unrelated and stimulus-independent thoughts were not associated with sleep either within- or between-persons (n = 164). Instead, individual differences in unguided thoughts were associated with sleep disturbances and duration, suggesting that individuals who more often experience unguided train-of-thoughts have greater sleep disturbances and sleep longer. These results highlight the need to consider the context and features of mind wandering when relating it to sleep.

Mayan & Swedish attitudes and practices toward death.

This study explores how Mayan people from Guatemala and Swedes view and behave toward death. Using an interpretative phenomenological analysis, 10 participants from each culture were interviewed to elucidate the most relevant and important emerging themes. The Mayan approach to death is based on a collective perspective in which consultations with Elders, ancient traditions, and rituals help provide answer to most existential inquiries surrounding death. In contrast, the Swedish approach is based on an individualistic, rational analysis with a focus on life instead of death, but also showing openness to new perspectives on death.

A Network Analysis to Identify Associations between PTSD and Dissociation among Teenagers.

We conducted a network analysis of measures of dissociation and posttraumatic symptoms (PTS) with a varied sample of adolescents (N = 312), some of them previously exposed to war scenarios. The global measure of dissociation (A-DES) was uniquely linked to the arousal PTS symptom cluster (CRIES-13), in particular sleep problems, but not to the reexperiencing and avoidance clusters. Three of four (i.e., depersonalization/derealization, amnesia, mental partition/compartmentalization) dissociation clusters were uniquely linked to PTS severity, but not absorption. The results with the pooled groups were generally representative of both groups. The DP/DR relation to PTS was based on data from both samples, whereas the link between amnesia and partition/parts might have been driven by the normative group, although the refugee sample had significantly higher scores in those variables. The results replicate some previous findings with adult samples and suggest new paths for research and theory.

Reality shifting: psychological features of an emergent online daydreaming culture.

Reality shifting (RS) is a trendy mental activity that emerged abruptly following the flare-up of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and seems to be practiced mainly by members of the post-millennial generation. RS, described as the experience of being able to transcend one's physical confines and visit alternate, mostly fictional, universes, is discussed by many on Internet platforms. One RS forum boasts over 40,000 members and RS clips on some social media platforms have been viewed over 1.7 billion times. The experience of shifting is reportedly facilitated by specific induction methods involving relaxation, concentration of attention, and autosuggestion. Some practitioners report a strong sense of presence in their desired realities, reified by some who believe in the concrete reality of the alternate world they shift to. One of the most popular alternate universes involves environments adopted from the Harry Potter book and film series. We describe the phenomenology of RS as reported online and then compare it to related phenomena such as hypnosis, tulpamancy, dissociation, immersive and maladaptive daydreaming, and lucid dreaming. We propose a theoretical model of interactive factors giving rise to RS, and conclude that it is an important, uninvestigated emerging phenomenon and propose future research directions.

Differentiating psychogenic nonepileptic from epileptic seizures: A mixed-methods, content analysis study.

BACKGROUND: Identification of clinical features that might distinguish psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) from epileptic seizures (ES) is of value for diagnosis, management, and understanding of both conditions. Previous studies have shown that patients' descriptions of their seizures reflect differences in content and delivery. We aimed to compare verbal descriptions of PNES and ES using a mixed-methods approach. METHODS: We analyzed data from semi-structured interviews in which patients with video-electroencephalography (EEG)-confirmed ES (n = 30) or PNES (n = 10) described their seizures. Two masked raters independently coded the transcripts for relevant psychological categories and discrepancies that were noted and resolved. Additional analyses were conducted using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count system. The identified phenomena were descriptively compared, and inferential analyses assessed group differences in frequencies. A logistic regression analysis examined the predictive power of the most distinctive phenomena for diagnosis. RESULTS: As compared with ES, PNES reported longer seizures, more preseizure negative emotions (e.g., fear), anxiety symptoms (e.g., arousal, hyperventilation), altered vision/olfaction, and automatic behaviors. During seizures, PNES reported more fear, altered breathing, and dissociative phenomena (depersonalization, impaired time perception). Epileptic seizures reported more self-injurious behavior. Postseizure, PNES reported more fear and weeping and ES more amnesia and aches. The predictive power when including these variables was 97.5%. None of the single predictor variables was significant. The few but consistent linguistic differences related to the use of some pronouns and references to family. CONCLUSIONS: Although no single clinical feature definitively distinguishes PNES from ES, several features may be suggestive of a PNES diagnosis, including longer duration, negative emotion (i.e., fear) throughout the events, preseizure anxiety, ictal dissociation, and postseizure weeping. Fewer reports of ictal self-injury and postseizure amnesia and aches may also indicate the possibility of PNES.

Anomalous experiences are more prevalent among highly suggestible individuals who are also highly dissociative.

Introduction: Predictive coding models propose that high hypnotic suggestibility confers a predisposition to hallucinate due to an elevated propensity to weight perceptual beliefs (priors) over sensory evidence. Multiple lines of research corroborate this prediction and demonstrate a link between hypnotic suggestibility and proneness to anomalous perceptual states. However, such effects might be moderated by dissociative tendencies, which seem to account for heterogeneity in high hypnotic suggestibility. We tested the prediction that the prevalence of anomalous experiences would be greater among highly suggestible individuals who are also highly dissociative.Methods: We compared high and low dissociative highly suggestible participants and low suggestible controls on multiple psychometric measures of anomalous experiences.Results: High dissociative highly suggestible participants reliably reported greater anomalous experiences than low dissociative highly suggestible participants and low suggestible controls, who did not significantly differ from each other.Conclusions: These results suggest a greater predisposition to experience anomalous perceptual states among high dissociative highly suggestible individuals.

Some needed psychological clarifications on the experience(s) of shamanism.

The target article's use of core concepts is confused and excessively broad. Two main types of experiences have been described in relation to shamanism: magical flight and mediumship/possession. The first refers to visual and remembered experiences of events in other realms, the second to embodied experiences of ceding mental control and personality to a preternatural entity. These experiences grossly correspond to two main experience modalities exhibited by highly hypnotizable individuals in a secular setting.

"He Who Has the Spirits Must Work a Lot": A Psycho-Anthropological Account of Spirit Possession in the Dominican Republic.

In this paper we present a multidisciplinary, developmental analysis of a Dominican Republic Vodou servidor ("Marcos"), from childhood to early adulthood, integrating ethnographic observation, field documentation, and anthropological analysis, with relevant constructs from developmental, personality, and clinical psychology. Marcos transitioned from a child with many problems to a young adult who has learnt how to control and adapt dissociative manifestations into a professional role as a Vodou priest. Most empirical studies on spirit possession (SP) have rarely taken a longitudinal, multidisciplinary approach, which may better account for such a complex phenomenon. Adopting such an approach helps make sense of both the continuity and changes in Marcos, as well as of his community's shifting attitudes towards him. We describe how specific psychological and cultural conditions help explain the change from originally dysfunctional expressions of SP to personally and socially beneficial ones. [anomalous experience, dissociation, gender, spirit possession, Vodou].

En este artículo presentamos un análisis multidisciplinario del desarrollo de un servidor del Vudú en la República Dominicana ("Marcos"), desde la niñez hasta la adultez temprana, integrando observación etnográfica, documentación de campo y análisis antropológico, con constructos relevantes de psicologías del desarrollo, personalidad, y clínica. Marcos se transformó de un niño con muchos problemas a un adulto joven que ha aprendido a controlar y adaptar las manifestaciones disociativas dentro de su rol profesional como sacerdote Vudú. Estudios empíricos sobre la posesión de espíritus (PE) han adoptado un enfoque longitudinal y multidisciplinario, que puede ayudar a entender mejor un fenómeno tan complejo. Tal enfoque ayuda a comprender tanto la continuidad como los cambios en Marcos, así como la transformación de las actitudes de su comunidad hacia él. Describimos cómo condiciones psicológicas y culturales específicas ayudan a explicar el cambio de manifestaciones originalmente disfuncionales de la PE a que proporcionan beneficios tanto personales como sociales.

The relation of dissociation and mind wandering to unresolved/disorganized attachment: an experience sampling study.

Individuals with unresolved/disorganized representations of childhood trauma (U/d attachment) report more psychological distress than others, but little is known about their everyday mentation. In the present study adults with childhood trauma (N = 45) completed the Berkeley-Leiden Adult Attachment Questionnaire-Unresolved (BLAAQ-U) and the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), and reported everyday mentation during 5 days of experience sampling. The BLAAQ-U and the AAI showed a medium association with each other, but only the former significantly predicted negative affect, dissociation, and low control/awareness of mentation. Contrary to our predictions, U/d attachment did not significantly predict mind wandering, but the BLAAQ-U predicted endorsements of a negative mind wandering style. U/d attachment, as assessed by both instruments, was associated with the Poor attentional control style and beliefs in anomalous mental phenomena. Experience sampling is a valuable way to investigate everyday experiences in individuals with U/d attachment.

Acute stress trajectories 1 year after a breast cancer diagnosis.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the longitudinal trajectories of acute stress reactions over the course of diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up assessments in a group of non-metastatic breast cancer patients during five different moments of the illness process, and to identify psychological predictors of the trajectories. METHODS: The sample was formed by 102 non-metastatic breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. Latent growth mixture models (LGMM) were used to identify latent classes, and we used multinomial logistic regression in a conditional model to examine predictors to differentiate between trajectories. RESULTS: We identified four different groups according to their trajectories: (1) a resilient group, (44.5 %); (2) a mild acute stress group, (40.6 %); (3) a delayed-recovery group (11.9 %); and (4) a chronic acute stress group (2.9 %). Moreover, anxious preoccupation showed the strongest significant effects in predicting each class, whereas cognitive avoidance and type C personality had moderate effects for participants in the mild acute stress group. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that the majority of breast cancer patients in our study were resilient, with only a small percentage showing chronic acute stress. Because coping strategies, specifically anxious preoccupation, and not more stable variables played a main role in the prediction of acute stress trajectories, future preventive interventions should center in promoting more adaptive coping strategies in breast cancer patients.

Traumatic Experience and Somatoform Dissociation Among Spirit Possession Practitioners in the Dominican Republic.

Recent studies in African contexts have revealed a strong association between spirit possession and severe trauma, with inclusion into a possession cult serving at times a therapeutic function. Research on spirit possession in the Dominican Republic has so far not included quantitative studies of trauma and dissociation. This study evaluated demographic variables, somatoform dissociative symptoms, and potentially traumatizing events in the Dominican Republic with a group of Vodou practitioners that either do or do not experience spirit possession. Inter-group comparisons revealed that in contrast to non-possessed participants (n = 38), those experiencing spirit possession (n = 47) reported greater somatoform dissociation, more problems with sleep, and previous exposure to mortal danger such as assaults, accidents, or diseases. The two groups did not differ significantly in other types of trauma. The best predictor variable for group classification was somatoform dissociation, although those items could also reflect the experience of followers during a possession episode. A factor analysis across variables resulted in three factors: having to take responsibility early on in life and taking on a professional spiritual role; traumatic events and pain; and distress/dissociation. In comparison with the non-possessed individuals, the possessed ones did not seem to overall have a remarkably more severe story of trauma and seemed to derive economic gains from possession practice.

Posttraumatic stress symptoms in breast cancer patients: temporal evolution, predictors, and mediation.

This study (N = 102 women) evaluated the time course of posttraumatic stress symptomatology (PTSS) at different stages of nonmetastastic cancer diagnosis and treatment: during treatment, at the end of treatment, and at a 6-12 months follow-up. We also assessed the contribution of demographic, trait, and state predictors to PTSS, and coping processes as proximal mediators of the relation between Type C personality and PTSS. Results indicated that PTSS remained constant across all phases. There were significant correlations (range = .28 to .81) between PTSS and psychosocial variables and age, but not with other sociodemographic or medical factors. A linear growth curve model showed that hopelessness/helplessness (B = 1.45) and Type C personality (B = 1.40) were the best predictors of PTSD symptomatology, followed by trait dissociation (B = 0.55), and the coping strategies of anxious preoccupation (B = 1.20), cognitive avoidance (B = 0.91), and symptoms of acute stress disorder (B = 0.19). A mediation model showed that the coping strategies of anxious preoccupation, cognitive avoidance, and helplessness/hopelessness mediated the relationship between Type C personality and PTSS during treatment, posttreatment, and follow-up. These results clarify the contribution of different predictors of PTSS and can help develop prevention programs.

"I would love to be 'discredited' like this more often": An interview with Irving Kirsch.

This interview with Professor Irving Kirsch took place in late August, 2022. He recently turned 80 years old and agreed to focus his interview on topics and areas that illustrate his influence on the field of hypnosis. Professor Kirsch discusses the influences that shaped him as a person and scientist; what unites his theoretical and research work on hypnosis, placebo, and antidepressants. He also addresses the importance of response expectancies, why clinicians should learn hypnosis and what he considers the source of his greatest personal and professional fulfillments.

Irving Kirsch: a life beyond expectations.

This paper provides an overview of the life of the eminent psychologist and hypnosis researcher and theoretician Irving Kirsch. It describes the strenuous lives and legacy of his immigrant parents, his lesser know activities as a satirical editor of a tape that was nominated for a Grammy, and as a violin player. The trajectory of his professional life evidences his courage to question conventional ideas and psychotherapeutic and pharmaceutical practices. He has also been consistently a supportive and warm friend and colleague to many in the hypnosis and other fields.

Nonlinear brain correlates of trait self-boundarylessness.

Alterations of the sense of self induced by meditation include an increased sense of boundarylessness. In this study, we investigated behavioural and functional magnetic resonance imaging correlates of trait self-boundarylessness during resting state and the performance of two experimental tasks. We found that boundarylessness correlated with greater self-endorsement of words related to fluidity and with longer response times in a math task. Boundarylessness also correlated negatively with brain activity in the posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus during mind-wandering compared to a task targeting a minimal sense of self. Interestingly, boundarylessness showed quadratic relations to several measures. Participants reporting low or high boundarylessness, as compared to those in between, showed higher functional connectivity within the default mode network during rest, less brain activity in the medial prefrontal cortex during self-referential word processing, and less self-endorsement of words related to constancy. We relate these results to our previous findings of a quadratic relation between boundarylessness and the sense of perspectival ownership of experience. Additionally, an instruction to direct attention to the centre of experience elicited brain activation similar to that of meditation onset, including increases in anterior precentral gyrus and anterior insula and decreases in default mode network areas, for both non-meditators and experienced meditators.

Individual differences and state effects on mind-wandering: hypnotizability, dissociation, and sensory homogenization.

Consciousness alterations can be experienced during unstructured, monotonous stimuli. These effects have not been linked to particular cognitive operations; individual differences in response to such stimulation remain poorly understood. We examined the role of hypnotizability and dissociative tendencies in mind-wandering (MW) during a sensory homogenization procedure (ganzfeld). We expected that the influence of ganzfeld on MW would be more pronounced among highly hypnotizable individuals (highs), particularly those high in dissociative tendencies. High and low hypnotizables, also stratified by dissociation, completed the sustained attention to response task during ganzfeld and control conditions. High dissociative highs made more commission errors during ganzfeld, suggesting increased MW, whereas the other groups displayed the opposite pattern. Increases in commission errors from the control condition to ganzfeld were associated with more alterations in consciousness and negative affect, but only among highs. Sensory homogenization had opposite effects on MW depending on the interaction of hypnotizability and dissociation.

"Everything has been done at some time or another..." An Interview with Ernest Hilgard.

Ernest R. Hilgard is not only one of the most important hypnosis theoreticians and researchers in history, but one the most eminent psychologists of the 20th century. This paper starts with a brief summary of his contributions to hypnosis, emphasizing his dissociation theory, and placing it within previous and later dissociation theories of hypnosis. I then transcribe an interview with him circa 1989, which I recorded with his authorization for later use, emphasizing dissociation in hypnosis. He also reminisced about historical figures in psychology.