Dissociative Experience and Cultural Neuroscience: Narrative, Metaphor and Mechanism

Abstract

Approaches to trance and possession in anthropology have tended to use outmoded models drawn from psychodynamic theory or treated such dissociative phenomena as purely discursive processes of attributing action and experience to agencies other than the self. Within psychology and psychiatry, understanding of dissociative disorders has been hindered by polemical "either/or" arguments: either dissociative disorders are real, spontaneous alterations in brain states that reflect basic neurobiological phenomena, or they are imaginary, socially constructed role performances dictated by interpersonal expectations, power dynamics and cultural scripts. In this paper, we outline an approach to dissociative phenomena, including trance, possession and spiritual and healing practices, that integrates the neuropsychological notions of underlying mechanism with sociocultural processes of the narrative construction and social presentation of the self. This integrative model, grounded in a cultural neuroscience, can advance ethnographic studies of dissociation and inform clinical approaches to dissociation through careful consideration of the impact of social context.

The relationship between different types of dissociation and psychosis-like experiences in a non-clinical sample

“…It may be that psychosis-like experience subsequently raises the chance of experiencing dissociative episodes: individuals scoring high in subclinical psychotic symptoms could be more prone to absorption and detachment-type dissociation because such experiences are inherently attentionally salient and seem strange or unreal, or the reverse, or that both occur simultaneously. Although the sample used for this study included a wide range of ages, sources, and was balanced between sexes, the fact that dissociative experiences seem to be influenced by culturally acquired meanings, expectancies and attributions (Seligman and Kirmayer, 2008) suggests that the results presented here, and indeed other studies from Western samples, may not always fully translate to other cultural settings.…”

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

“…Absorption is the capacity to direct the focus of attention to externally or an internally (thoughts, emotions, memories) generated stimulus, and to allow that focus to increase while decreasing attention to the multitudinous distractions of daily life. In these circumstances, mental activities of reality monitoring, that is, basic decisions about whether the source of an experience is internal to the mind or external in the world, may be impaired and perceptual "breaks" may result 3,4 .…”

“…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] .…”

“…However, while some degree of dissociation may be considered adaptive in the short-term, prolonged and/or intense dissociative responses are deemed maladaptive (e.g., dissociative identity disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder). Nevertheless, in some contexts, dissociation is not related to trauma at all, and therefore it likely has very different functional implications 4 . The question of whether pathological and non-pathological dissociation share a common pattern of neural activation and of physiological responses remains open.…”

Caminar Entre Luchas Y Pruebas: Funciones Paradójicas De La Enacción Del Espíritu Santo en El Culto Pentecostal

“…El concepto de disociación designa a los estados de conciencia marcados por la escisión funcional, la focalización de la atención y la restricción del procesamiento y flujo de la información (Seligman y Kirmayer 2008). Entre sus manifestaciones se encuentran, por ejemplo, el desplazamiento del pensamiento intelectivo hacia una conciencia sensomotriz o bien, por el contrario, la disolución de la imagen corporal, que caracterizan a algunas manifestaciones carismáticas.…”