Study Finds Evidence Of Higher Consciousness From Psychedelics
Scientists have found the first evidence of a higher state of consciousness by measuring the complexity of brain activity of people under the influence of psychedelics. The study measured magnetic fields generated by brain activity and used the data to create an index of varying levels of consciousness.
The study, conducted by a team at the University of Sussex in England, looked at the diversity of brain signals, a measure of the complexity of brain activity, in people under the influence of psilocybin, LSD, and ketamine, compared to the brain activity of people in lower levels of consciousness, such as sleep, anesthesia, and ‘vegetative’ states.
Participants under the influence of these drugs showed higher than baseline diversity, or higher levels than someone who is simply awake. This is the first time a measure of an elevated consciousness has been recorded in a study of its kind.
The researchers were quick to point out that their measure of higher consciousness doesn’t necessarily imply that the psychedelic state is better or higher functioning than our normal waking state. Instead the index they’ve used shows that the psychedelic state increases small magnetic fields produced by the brain and higher neural-signal diversity in all three types of drugs.
According to the study, “During the psychedelic state, the electrical activity of the brain is less predictable and less ‘integrated’ than during normal conscious wakefulness.”
One researcher involved in the study, Dr. Muthukumaraswamy, said he was surprised the results were consistent with each drug, despite their differing pharmacology. He and his colleagues believe that their research could lead to carefully-controlled use of the drug for therapeutic treatment in patients suffering from severe depression.
The group found correlation between participants’ reports of changes in intensity of the psychedelic experience and changes in brain signal diversity. They believe this shows there is a difference in aspects of brain activity in our everyday conscious experience.
This study comes after recent trials have shown psilocybin can flip a “reset” mechanism in the brains of people suffering from depression. Similar studies found benefits in the therapeutic use of ketamine and LSD for people suffering from a range of physical and psychiatric issues, including drug addiction and PTSD.
Similar studies have been conducted to test electroencephalography, or EEG, on participants in deep states of meditation, finding increased levels of alpha and theta wave activity. It’s unclear whether this recent study plans on testing participants levels of brain-signal diversity in non-intoxicated, altered states of consciousness.
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Are Supernatural Entities Encountered on DMT Healing People?
Could supernatural entities encountered during a psychedelic trip be responsible for the dramatic psychological healing that many reports? New research seeks to find out.
DMT or N, N-Dimethyltryptamine is widely considered the Earth’s most powerful hallucinogen. It is the latest psychedelic to be clinically studied for its potential to treat mental health issues like major depression and PTSD.
One frequently occurring phenomenon of the DMT trip researchers are particularly interested in is the appearance of entities whom experiencers often credit with the healing they receive.
Jay Waxenberg is the director of the DMTx program at the Center for Medicinal Mindfulness. Based in Boulder, CO, it was one of the first centers to offer legal psychedelic therapy in the U.S.
“The entities are really this unique aspect of DMT and they play different roles for different people in that space. What’s very common is, one, you’re going to encounter one of these things, and two, that you’re going to feel like they’re giving you some piece of information to take back to the regular consensus reality. Also, that they are benevolent — lots of love and kindness, these are very common elements for the entities — and we have linguistic models to kind of relate to those spaces, whether they’re elves or imps or fairies, they could be angels, bodhisattvas, aliens, interdimensional beings — these are kind of like the things that people will come back and say ‘[T]hat’s kind of what that felt like, that’s kind of what that thing is.’”
The groundwork for current research on the topic was laid by Dr. Rick Strassman- a psychiatrist and pioneering psychedelic researcher who first described these entities in his book ”DMT: the Spirit Molecule.”
“The beings were beneficent, they did healing, they gave advice, some predicted or showed volunteers the future, some were examining the volunteers. But one of the hallmarks of the interaction was the strength of those beings,” Strassman said.
A recent study surveyed 2,500 individuals who encountered entities after taking DMT. The researchers found that “[T]he experiences were rated as among the most meaningful, spiritual, and psychologically insightful lifetime experiences, with persisting positive changes in life satisfaction, purpose and meaning attributed to the experiences.”
