Discover Mental Health
March 19, 2026
Àlvar Farré-colomés, Olga Rublinetska, Óscar Soto-Angona
This review gathers all available fMRI evidence from psilocybin studies. Twenty unique datasets were identified, five of which included participants diagnosed with depression. Dropout rates were high, and most studies lacked follow-up scanning timepoints. Research has concentrated on the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex, and prefrontal cortex as key regions involved in psilocybin's effects. However, methods and designs across studies are inconsistent. More research is needed to clarify psilocybin's impact on the human brain and its potential to enhance psychotherapy outcomes.
Preprints.org
March 17, 2026
Yuki Ueda
preprint
Oxytocin, a hormone involved in social bonding, may help create the brain conditions for non-dual awareness—a state of consciousness without intentional content. The review proposes that oxytocin down-regulates the amygdala and modulates the Default Mode Network, reducing self-referential processing and supporting ego-dissolution. This neuro-chemical substrate could explain how contemplative traditions achieve pure consciousness. The authors discuss ethical concerns about using neuro-pharmacology to influence meditative states and suggest future clinical applications for psychiatric disorders involving rigid self-narratives.
Network Neuroscience
March 13, 2026
Yanli Lin, Marne White, Jihong Zhang et al.
1 citation
Alpha and theta brain rhythms have been linked to mindfulness, but connecting brain activity to subjective experience is difficult. This study used network analysis on data from 16 novices who completed up to 24 sessions of focused attention and open monitoring meditation, with EEG and self-reported mindfulness collected. Distinct network structures emerged for each practice, supporting their theoretical differences. Shared features included strong autoregressive effects for mindfulness—consistent with skill learning—and opposing influences of frontal versus posterior alpha power. The results challenge simple interpretations of meditation-related EEG, suggesting the functional meaning of neural activity depends on the specific practice and training stage.
Behavioral Sciences
March 9, 2026
Luis Miguel Gallardo, Saamdu Chetri
3 citations
Hypnosis, long seen as a clinical tool for reducing symptoms like pain and anxiety, actually works by reorganizing how the brain processes emotions and self-awareness. This review proposes that hypnotic induction reconfigures large-scale brain networks—the default mode network, executive control network, and salience network—to create heightened experiential plasticity, enabling adaptive emotion regulation and reducing dissociative fragmentation. The authors introduce 'Fundamental Peace' as a dynamic neuro-experiential state of flexible attention, emotional coherence, reduced self-referential rigidity, and compassionate self-awareness. Neuroimaging shows hypnotic states reduce DMN activity and enhance ECN-SaN coupling. Meta-analysis of 85 controlled trials confirms robust pain reduction, and clinical studies show improvements in trauma-related dissociation and emotional dysregulation.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
March 5, 2026
Venkatesh Subramani, Annalisa Pascarella, Jérémy Brunel et al.
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) loosens the brain's usual alignment between anatomical structure and neural activity in a frequency-dependent way. Low-frequency brain waves (theta, alpha, beta) become less constrained by the structural connectome, indicating a global relaxation of large-scale dynamics. High-frequency gamma activity shows selective reorganization rather than uniform disruption. Greater gamma-band decoupling within core default-mode network regions predicts the intensity of ego dissolution across individuals. LSD does not cause indiscriminate disintegration but drives system-specific rebalancing: visual and attentional systems decouple while auditory networks strengthen coupling. These findings suggest psychedelic states emerge from frequency-dependent relaxation of structural constraints, with default-mode reorganization as a neural correlate of ego dissolution.
Preprints.org
March 5, 2026
Kyrylo Somkin
preprint
Human consciousness can be understood as two functional brain states: the personal mode, which is motivationally and socially embedded, oriented toward adaptation, identity maintenance, and ego-relevant concerns, and the meta-reflective mode, where cognition turns upon itself, enabling abstraction, self-objectification, and existential evaluation. The model does not posit metaphysical dualism or strictly separable neural systems; both modes may recruit overlapping brain regions, differing in dominant functional orientation and hierarchical organization. Tensions between these modes may account for identity-based crises (emerging within the personal mode) and existential crises (from intensified meta-reflective activation). The development of civilization reflects the structural coexistence of adaptive engagement and reflective distancing. Empirical validation remains limited.