Research Group on Religious Experience and Altered States of Consciousness
OUR GOALS
The Research Group on Religious Experience and Altered States of Consciousness is an interdisciplinary team of students and researchers devoted to the study of the complex interrelationship between religious, spiritual or mystical experiences and diverse phenomena of alterations in consciousness, such as dissociation, trance and ecstatic states. Our research focuses on the cultural, psychosocial and cross-cultural aspects of these experiences, in different religious contexts, including their implications for the mental health area. We are also interested in how the study of the cognitive and neurophysiological bases of these experiences might contribute to the understanding of their cultural aspects.
Our Research
Our current projects and publications
(above) Picture of a ceremony at Olhar Divino Temple in São Paulo, Brazil
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ANOMALOUS AND DISSOCIATIVE EXPERIENCES IN RELIGIOUS RITUALS: AN AUTOETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACH
2019 - Phenomenological Studies (article in press)
Everton de Oliveira Maraldi, Adriano da Silva Costa, Alexandre Cunha, André Renato Rizzi, Douglas Flores de Oliveira, Edson Sigueyoshi Hamazaki, Fatima Regina Machado, Gabriel Teixeira de Medeiros, Gregório José Pereira de Queiroz, Mateus Donia Martinez, Percilio Araújo da Silva Filho, Rafisa Moscoso Lobato Mendonça Martins, Ricardo Assarice dos Santos, Silvana Paula da Silva Siqueira, Wellington Zangari
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ABSTRACT
The present study explored the phenomenological characteristics of anomalous experiences (AEs) reported during Umbanda rituals, a mediumistic Brazilian religion, with the aim of comparing AEs reported during rituals involving the use of Ayahuasca (an entheogen frequently used in some Umbanda contexts) and rituals without the use of this substance. In order to do so, we compared individuals with different levels of involvement with the mediumistic practices. The study was based on an auto-ethnographic approach. This methodological perspective allowed us to confront subjective data with the available knowledge in the scientific literature about AEs, dissociative phenomena, and altered states of consciousness and was of fundamental importance for a more sensitive understanding of the nuances and characteristics of these experiences. The results attest to a significant similarity between the experiences reported with and without the use of Ayahuasca in mediumistic rituals. In both groups, the experiencers were able to identify certain similarities in their experiences regarding a reduction of voluntary motor control, changes in memory and perception, communicability and accessibility of experiences, anomalous information reception and increases in interpersonal sensitivity. The results support the methodological feasibility of autoethnography as a research tool and point to its relevance to a deeper understanding of AEs and other subjective experiences usually of difficult investigation by other research methods.
(above) Picture of an Umbanda ceremony at Casa Pai Benedito in São Paulo, Brazil
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DISSOCIATION, CULTURE, AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY: PHENOMENOLOGICAL, CLINICAL, AND PSYCHOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVES ON DISSOCIATIVE EXPERIENCES
Research Program Underway
ABSTRACT
Since its earliest formulations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the concept of dissociation has been both influent and controversial, involving a wide-ranging debate among researchers from psychology, psychiatry, and anthropology. Of multifaceted nature, the concept of dissociation encompasses a host of different experiences, from trance and possession in religious rituals to the psychiatric categories of dissociative and conversion disorders, also including some of the so-called culture-bound syndromes. The study of dissociation has historically been marked by the clash between two perspectives, namely the biomedical model and the sociocultural model. Despite its contributions to elucidating the clinical and neurophysiological correlates of dissociative experiences, the biomedical model has been criticized for its emphasis on psychopathological aspects and the superficial consideration of cultural and psychosocial factors at the origin of these experiences, particularly those reported in non-clinical contexts, such as religious rituals. The cross-cultural validity of the psychiatric classifications of dissociation and the differential diagnosis between pathological and non-pathological dissociative experiences remain unresolved issues, mainly due to the scarcity of studies outside North America and Europe. In this sense, Brazil could occupy a prominent position, not only because it is the largest country in Latin America, but also because of its enormous cultural and religious diversity, including numerous cultural and ritualistic practices in which dissociative phenomena are said to be present. The study of the phenomenological, cultural and psychosocial characteristics of these experiences would be of relevance, given the role played by psychological theories in the development of diagnostic criteria and therapeutic practices. Following an integrative perspective, in which the psychosocial dimensions of dissociation are privileged but without disregarding its clinical and transcultural aspects, and using a variety of scientific (quantitative and qualitative) methodologies, this research program is divided into five interrelated studies, each one designed to help establish one of the main axis of the broader research area: (1) a psychosocial and phenomenological axis, (2) a diagnostic axis, (3) a clinical axis, (4) a psychometric axis, and (5) a historical axis. The present proposal seeks institutional visibility, aiming both to establish this research area in Brazil and to make the GEALTER a reference centre in research at the intersection of dissociation, culture, religion, and psychopathology / mental health.
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Keep following our page for more information about this project. If you wish, you can also contact our lab head for more details: everton.nom@gmail.com
Members
Everton Maraldi - Lab head
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Research Members
Adriano Costa, MSc
Alexandre Cunha, MSc
Edson Hamazaki, B.Sc
Douglas Flores, MSc
Gregório Pereira de Queiroz, MSc
Mateus Martinez, B.Sc
Silvana Siqueira, B.Sc
Jeverson Reichow, PhD
Ricardo Ribeiro, MSc
Rafisa Lobato, MSc
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Honorary Members
Bettina Schmidt, PhD
University of Wales Trinity Saint David
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David Luke, PhD
University of Greenwich
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Miguel Farias, PhD
Coventry University
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Tomas Lindgren, PhD
Umea University
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NUMINA
Study Group on the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality
NUMINA is a study group that welcomes people from all backgrounds sharing an interest in the study of the psychology of religion and spirituality. The group meets biweekly at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo to study classical authors and current research in the psychology of religion and related areas, such as parapsychology/anomalistic psychology.
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If you are in Brazil and speaks Portuguese, you can come to join us at NUMINA!
