Anomalous psychedelic experiences: at the neurochemical juncture of the humanistic and parapsychological

This essay reviews ten types of anomalous experiences—synaesthesia, extra-dimensional percepts, out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, entity encounters, alien abduction, sleep paralysis, interspecies communication, possession, and psi (telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, and psychokinesis)—that occur both spontaneously and with psychedelic substances. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, it explores what these phenomena reveal about the nature of 'expanded consciousness' and their implications for humanistic and transpersonal psychology, parapsychology, and the underlying neuroscience of such experiences.

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Abstract

This paper explores the nature of psychedelically-induced anomalous experiences for what they reveal regarding the nature of 'expanded consciousness' and its implications for humanistic and transpersonal psychology, parapsychology and the psychology and underlying neuroscience of such experiences. Taking a multidisciplinary approach this essay reviews the nature of ten transpersonal or parapsychological experiences that commonly occur spontaneously and in relation to the use of psychedelic substances, namely synaesthesia, extra-dimensional percepts, out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, entity encounters, alien abduction, sleep paralysis, interspecies communication, possession, and psi (telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance and psychokinesis)