Culture-Bound Dissociation: A Comparative Analysis

Somer, Eli

doi:10.1016/j.psc.2005.10.009

Cited by 22 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…However, one must notice that all but one study 25 took place in Brazil, so caution is necessary when trying to extrapolate these conclusions to other countries, since mediums have an established social role in Brazil 26 , which may not be the case in other societies. It is known that a society's dominant ideas about questions like the dualism, the soul and paranormality influences the way dissociative experiences are viewed and whether they are tolerated or not 17 .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The majority of culture-bound dissociation is considered normal, does not lead to distress or impairment, it often arises in willing individuals in appropriate (frequently religious) contexts, and is usually experienced as beneficial. In subjects with pathologic dissociation, the experiences occur in an unsolicited, unruly and socially nontolerated manner, causing considerable distress, with adverse effects on occupational activities and other impairments 17 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some scholars affirm that in many of these societies, the dissociative experiences are more common in women and they propose that dissociation would be a psychological mechanism with an emotion-regulatory role. This is seen as a socially sanctioned (and even valued) behavior that would allow cathartic expression of forbidden and disowned feelings by individuals living under characteristically oppressive conditions 14,17 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After carefully analyzing mediumship in the context of Candomblé, an Afro-Brazilian religion, Seligman (2005) 14 concluded that mediums would be individuals with a psychophysiological tendency to somatization and to dissociation that, submitted to emotional distress, find in the religion system (and in the assumption of a new social role as mediums) a way for a positive transformation of their identities, leading to a moderation of their somatic and emotional afflictions and to a global therapeutic effect 14,17 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mediumship: review of quantitatives studies published in the 21st century

Bastos¹,

Bastos²,

Gonçalves³

et al. 2015

Arch. Clin. Psychiatry (São Paulo)

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Background: Mediumship can be defined as the alleged ability to communicate with deceased persons. The last decade has been particularly productive for this field of research and the study of mediumship can help the understanding of the human mind-brain relationship and provide objective data to the scientific community and to the general population. Objective: The aim of this review is to summarize and discuss the results found on recent studies investigating mediumship. Furthermore, we aim to discuss the psychophysiology underlying mediumship and future perspectives for this study topic. Methods: A literature search for articles in English, Portuguese and Spanish published from January 2000 up to June 2015 was conducted using three electronic databases (PubMed, Lilacs and Web of Science). Review articles, qualitative studies and studies investigating altered states of consciousness caused by psychoactive substances were excluded. The original search returned 150 articles, but the application of exclusion criteria resulted in the inclusion of 19 articles for final analysis. Results: The general findings were: (1) an association of mediumship with good mental health, predominantly in experienced mediums, (2) heterogeneous findings regarding the ability of mediums to provide accurate information what may be due to different study methodologies and (3) incipient studies assessing physiological correlations during mediumistic communications (i.e. hypoactivation of brain regions responsible for cognitive processing and writing planning during psychography compared to a control task; electroencephalographic (EEG) changes and a slight predominance of the sympathetic nervous system). Discussion: There is a paucity of empirical data available in this controversial research field. New studies employing rigorous design (e.g. triple-blind protocols to test accuracy of mediumistic communications), and sensitive methods are required.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mediumship: review of quantitatives studies published in the 21st century

Bastos¹,

Bastos²,

Gonçalves³

et al. 2015

Arch. Clin. Psychiatry (São Paulo)

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“…In most Western societies, when a person has sensorial experiences and behaviors felt as the non-self, this is usually interpreted as a sign of mental disease, and the majority of mental health professionals interpret theexternal "agencies" and "communicating spirits" as fragments of the individual's own self and inner conflicts 4,5 . However, other scholars, in light of evidence stemming from controlled studies about the accuracy of mediumistic communications and about "near-death" experiences, consider plausible that some individuals, in altered mental states, could actually communicate through extra-sensorial perception with some form of non-local consciousness [6][7][8] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) activity and mediumship: a comparative study between spiritist mediums and controls

Bastos¹,

Bastos²,

Osório³

et al. 2016

Arch. Clin. Psychiatry (São Paulo)

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Mediumship and spirit possession are cultural phenomena found worldwide. The Spiritism, popular in Brazil, is a religious tradition that emphasizes mediumship. The "absorption hypothesis" (the association of marked increases in focused attention with concomitant decreases in self-awareness) is one of the neuropsychological explanatory theories for these experiences. We measured electroencephalographic (EEG) spectral power in frontal electrodes within theta, alpha and beta bandwidths, as well as cross-regional cortical coherences, in female Spiritist experienced mediums (n = 10) and in female non-medium control subjects from the same religious context (n = 10). Scalp EEG signals were captured simultaneously from participants in each of the two groups in three different moments: before, during and immediately after mediumistically speaking. Compared to non-medium controls, the mediums had greater beta power on some electrodes in all phases of the experiment, greater theta power on one electrode at the communication phase and greater alpha power on one electrode at the post-communication phase. No condition effects (within-group comparisons) were detected in any group. No group effects were noted for cross regional cortical coherences. No ictal EEG pattern was observed, except for one participant in the mediums group. These findings support the hypothesis that absorption could have a mechanistic role in anomalous sensorial experiences such as mediumship. The coherence pattern in mediums during the anomalous experience differed from prior studies on pathological dissociation and on hypnotic states. Cognitive control processes seem to be engaged during the anomalous sensorial experiences.Bastos Jr. MAV et al. / Arch Clin Psychiatry. 2016;43(2):20-6

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“Seat of the soul”? The structure and function of the pineal gland in women with alleged spirit possession—Results of two experimental studies

Bastos

Paez

et al. 2020

Brain and Behavior

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Background Cultural traditions attribute to pineal gland an important role for spiritual experiences. Mediumship and spirit possession are cultural phenomena found worldwide which have been described as having dissociative and psychotic‐like characteristics, but with nonpathological aspects. A sympathetic activation pattern in response to spirit possession has been reported in some studies, but empirical data on pineal gland is scarce in this context. Methods We aimed to investigate pineal gland and pituitary volumes, as well as urinary 6‐sulfatoxymelatonin levels in 16 alleged mediums (Medium Group‐MG) compared with 16 healthy nonmedium controls (Control Group) (Experiment 1). Furthermore, we aimed to evaluate urinary 6‐sulfatoxymelatonin and stress reactivity in GM ( n = 10) under different physiological conditions (Experiment 2). Results In Experiment 1, MG presented higher scores of anomalous experiences, but there were no between‐group differences regarding mental health or subjective sleep quality. Similar pineal gland and pituitary volumes were observed between groups. There were no between‐group differences in urinary 6‐sulfatoxymelatonin collected under equivalent baseline conditions. In Experiment 2, the rise of anxiety and heart rate in response to mediumistic experience was intermediate between a nonstressful control task (reading) and a stressful control task (Trier Social Stress Test—TSST). No significant differences were observed in 6‐sulfatoxymelatonin urinary levels between the three conditions. The pattern of stress reactivity during the TSST was normal, but with an attenuated salivary cortisol response. Conclusion The normal neuroimaging and stress reactivity findings in MG contrast with the abnormal results usually observed in subjects with psychotic and dissociative disorders.

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Culture-Bound Dissociation: A Comparative Analysis

Cited by 22 publications

References 48 publications

Mediumship: review of quantitatives studies published in the 21st century

Mediumship: review of quantitatives studies published in the 21st century

Frontal electroencephalographic (EEG) activity and mediumship: a comparative study between spiritist mediums and controls

“Seat of the soul”? The structure and function of the pineal gland in women with alleged spirit possession—Results of two experimental studies

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