1. "Seat of the soul"? The structure and function of the pineal gland in women with alleged spirit possession-Results of two experimental studies.
- Author
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Bastos MAV Jr, Bastos PRHO, E Paez LEF, de Souza EO, Bogo D, Perdomo RT, Portella RB, Ozaki JGO, Iandoli D Jr, and Lucchetti G
- Subjects
- Anxiety, Dissociative Disorders, Female, Humans, Hydrocortisone, Pituitary-Adrenal System, Stress, Psychological, Pineal Gland anatomy & histology, Pineal Gland diagnostic imaging, Pineal Gland physiology, Spirit Possession
- Abstract
Background: Cultural traditions attribute to pineal gland an important role for spiritual experiences. Mediumship and spirit possession are cultural phenomena found worldwide which have been described as having dissociative and psychotic-like characteristics, but with nonpathological aspects. A sympathetic activation pattern in response to spirit possession has been reported in some studies, but empirical data on pineal gland is scarce in this context., Methods: We aimed to investigate pineal gland and pituitary volumes, as well as urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels in 16 alleged mediums (Medium Group-MG) compared with 16 healthy nonmedium controls (Control Group) (Experiment 1). Furthermore, we aimed to evaluate urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin and stress reactivity in GM (n = 10) under different physiological conditions (Experiment 2)., Results: In Experiment 1, MG presented higher scores of anomalous experiences, but there were no between-group differences regarding mental health or subjective sleep quality. Similar pineal gland and pituitary volumes were observed between groups. There were no between-group differences in urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin collected under equivalent baseline conditions. In Experiment 2, the rise of anxiety and heart rate in response to mediumistic experience was intermediate between a nonstressful control task (reading) and a stressful control task (Trier Social Stress Test-TSST). No significant differences were observed in 6-sulfatoxymelatonin urinary levels between the three conditions. The pattern of stress reactivity during the TSST was normal, but with an attenuated salivary cortisol response., Conclusion: The normal neuroimaging and stress reactivity findings in MG contrast with the abnormal results usually observed in subjects with psychotic and dissociative disorders., (© 2020 The Authors. Brain and Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)
- Published
- 2020
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