Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal
September 13, 2025
Ana Ferreira, Enrico Facco
1 citation
Growing scientific interest in spirituality and promising findings on psychedelic-induced spiritual experiences for treating psychiatric disorders are paralleled by risks. Indiscriminate use of psychedelics to induce spiritual experiences may foster psychospiritual pathology, notably spiritual bypassing. This risk arises because psychedelics can trigger transcendental phenomenology, the dominant mechanistic-reductionist paradigm inadequately addresses spirituality, and New Age beliefs promote psychedelics as growth tools. Given the frequency of transcendental phenomenology in psychedelic experiences, psychospiritual assessment and support are needed. Incorporating wisdom from Eastern and Western philosophical and spiritual traditions, from a secular, transcultural perspective, could guide informed practices in psychedelic research and therapy.
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal
May 26, 2026
Erik Gadotti, Edoardo Casiglia
This article presents a model explaining the phenomenology of hypnosis, particularly plastic monoideism, by integrating Karl Friston's free energy theory and other predictive-processing theories of consciousness (Anil Seth, Andy Clark, Chris Frith). Experimental studies show a close relationship between an individual's representational system and their neurophysiological, endocrine, and immune systems. In hypnosis, mental images immediately alter even primitive systems like vision and pain, but why and how this occurs is unknown. The authors argue that constructivist epistemological paradigms align with hypnosis's phenomenology. This line of research suggests a theoretical model implementable via algorithms to support clinical hypnosis applications, and that hypnosis can be used to study consciousness.
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal
March 25, 2026
Edoardo Casiglia, Erik Gadotti
Consciousness can be described as an internal representational reality that each individual experiences and creates. Hypnosis acts precisely on this representational reality, producing profound effects across all its dimensions because mental representations have a receptor basis. The consequence is that hypnosis can act on the receptor system, thereby affecting representations. Although strong correlations are known between the central nervous system, endocrine system, immune system, and a person's representational world, the precise nature of these correlations and how hypnosis works remain unknown. Similarly, while individual receptor systems are known, their mutual interrelationships are much less understood.
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal
June 24, 2024
Musaed A. Al-Mutairi
The forbidden fruit in the Adam and Eve narrative may have been cannabis rather than an apple, fig, grape, or wheat. The author argues that cannabis's psychoactive properties align with the altered states of consciousness Adam and Eve experienced after eating, explaining their sudden awareness and shame. This reinterpretation challenges traditional symbolic readings across Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, emphasizing themes of temptation, disobedience, and moral consequences. The article also examines cannabis's potential to impair judgment and behavior, as illustrated in the story of Cain and Abel, and suggests that shifting from symbolic to practical interpretation can inform public health strategies and responsible regulation to reduce societal harm.