Reconceptualizing Altered States of Consciousness Using Network-Based Tools
The Oxford Handbook of Psychedelic, Religious, Spiritual, and Mystical Experiences November 19, 2024 Géraldine Carranante, Michiel van Elk
Scientific study of altered states of consciousness (ASCs) has been hampered by disagreements over measurement tools and by conceptual problems with existing typologies—trigger-based, phenomenology-based, attribution-based, neurobiological, and psychopathological—which struggle to clearly demarcate different states. The authors propose a network-based classification method that treats ASCs as a network of nodes, where clusters of states can be identified. This approach offers flexibility: nodes can include experiential, contextual, social, and biological features. Network models allow calculation of properties like centrality and outperform current conceptual frameworks for organizing research, enabling more precise results and better interdisciplinary communication.