Physiologic correlates of culture-bound dissociation: A comparative study of Brazilian spiritist mediums and controls.
Transcultural psychiatry April 1, 2018 Marco Aurélio Vinhosa Bastos, Paulo Roberto Haidamus de Oliveira Bastos, Igraíne Helena Scholz Osório et al. 12 citations
Female spiritist mediums who regularly engage in spirit possession showed mild, short-lived physiological arousal during possession experiences, while nonmedium participants from the same religious context showed relaxation. Compared to controls, mediums had increased heart rate and higher plasma levels of noradrenaline, thyroid-stimulating hormone, prolactin, and creatine phosphokinase during possession. These changes returned to baseline within one hour, with no lasting difference in cardiac autonomic regulation. No group differences were found in melatonin levels. The findings suggest that nonpathological dissociation, unlike pathological dissociation, may involve cognitive control processes and produce only transient physiological changes.