Psychoactive Substances and Paranormal Phenomena: A Comprehensive Review
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2012 DOI: 10.24972/ijts.2012.31.1.97 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractThis review examines the relationship between psychoactive substances and paranormal phenomena studied in parapsychology, focusing on extrasensory perception (telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance), out-of-body experiences, and near-death experiences. It draws from parapsychology, transpersonal studies, anthropology, ethnobotany, psychiatry, and neurobiology. The paper is organized into neurochemical models of paranormal experience, field reports of intentional and spontaneous phenomena, surveys of belief and experience, experimental research, and a methodological critique with recommendations. Psychokinesis, aura vision, encounter experiences, and sleep paralysis are minimally covered due to limited connections with psychoactive drugs in the literature.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Psilocybin |
| Keywords | Paranormal Parapsychology Extrasensory perception Sleep paralysis |
| Citations | 35 |
| Key finding | The review organizes evidence linking psychoactive substances to paranormal experiences across neurochemical models, field reports, surveys, and experimental research, while providing a methodological critique. |
Abstract
This paper investigates the relationship between psychoactive substances and so-called paranormal phenomena falling within the study of parapsychology. It is primarily concerned with extrasensory perception (ESP)—telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance—as well as out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs). Psychokinesis (PK), aura vision, encounter experiences, and sleep paralysis only make a very limited contribution to this review as they are seldom related to psychoactive drugs within the parapsychological literature. The paper borrows widely, but by no means exhaustively, from parapsychology as well as transpersonal studies, anthropology, ethnobotany, phytochemistry, psychiatry, psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, and neurobiology, particularly neurochemistry. It is organized into neurochemical models of paranormal experience (section 1), field reports of intentional and spontaneous phenomena incorporating anthropological, historical and clinical cases, and personal accounts (section 2), surveys of paranormal belief and experience (section 3), experimental research (section 4), and a methodological critique of the experimental research with recommendations for further work (section 5).