The bodily self from psychosis to psychedelics.
Scientific reports December 1, 2023 Amir Harduf, Gabriella Panishev, Eiran V Harel et al.
The sense of self is a core part of normal human consciousness, but it can be altered in psychiatric conditions like psychosis and in altered states induced by psychedelics. Using the Moving Rubber Hand Illusion with 75 participants—patients with psychosis, people with substantial psychedelic experience, and controls—the study tested how these experiences affect the bodily self. Psychosis patients showed reduced Body Ownership and Sense of Agency during voluntary movement. The psychedelic group reported long-lasting subjective changes to selfhood, but no differences from controls appeared on the bodily-self measures. Thus, while psychedelics alter the subjective sense of self, these changes do not manifest at the bodily level, whereas bodily self-processing linked to voluntary action is disrupted in psychosis.