Pivotal Mental States

Pivotal Mental States (PIMS) are states of mind created by profound psychological events which shift default thought patterns. PIMS are an evolved feature of human brains as they aid in overwriting outdated ways of thinking when novel, actual or perceived environmental pressures demand this¹.

PIMS exert their effect by inducing neuroplastic states, which, given the correct priming, setting and integration allow users to eliminate out-of-date thought patterns and strengthen healthier, more adapted ones. Below is a list of known PiM inducers, listed in order of ease of accessibility:

Psychedelics

Psychedelics are medicines that, when administered correctly, can safely and profoundly shift normal thought patterns. This is achieved by temporarily altering brain function to be less constrained than usual by modulating the presence or absence of underlying anatomical connections. There is now an overwhelming amount of evidence to suggest that psychedelics are highly effective in treating mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety⁵.

Electroconvulsive Therapy

Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) is a technique used in modern medicine to help treat patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Research has shown that 64% to 87% of patients with severe TRD respond to ECT, with response rates as high as 95% for patients who have accompanying psychotic features⁶. There is some evidence to suggest that ECT causes similar long and short-term effects to psychedelics in some in vivo case studies⁷⁸⁹.

Overview Effect

It has been documented that astronauts looking back at Earth from space with the naked eye often suddenly get an overwhelming responsibility to protect it. When they see only a fine blue line of atmosphere that shelters the planet from the hostile vacuum of space, national borders disappear, and the scene often evokes a feeling of cosmic connection.

Near Death Experience

A near-death experience (NDE) is an intense psychological experience characterised by an atypical state of consciousness typically experienced during life-threatening conditions[10]. NDEs in general are typically characterised by Out of Body Experiences and hallucinations¹¹ which are affected by set and setting much like psychedelics¹³. The after-effects of NDEs have been widely documented and have been shown to be powerfully life-altering.

Sensory Deprivation

Sensory deprivation has been shown to induce PIMS and restore critical-period-like plasticity in the brain¹⁴. For example, in the somatosensory cortex, deprivation can reactivate synaptic plasticity akin to that observed during developmental critical periods, highlighting the brain’s retained capacity for adaptation beyond early life stages. Moreover, sensory deprivation in one modality can lead to compensatory enhancements and reorganization in other sensory modalities. This phenomenon, known as cross-modal plasticity, demonstrates the brain’s ability to adapt to sensory loss by strengthening other senses, further underscoring its potential for functional reorganization during critical periods.

Fasting

Aldous Huxley observed that Medieval Christians often reported “visions” of Heaven and Hell during the winter, a time when their diets were deficient in essential nutrients like vitamin B and vitamin C. These nutritional deficiencies, such as those leading to scurvy, often triggered hallucinations, altering their perception of reality. Huxley further suggested that religious practices like fasting were deliberately designed to induce states of delirium, enabling individuals to access these extraordinary “antipodes of the mind”—a glimpse into altered realms of consciousness that could profoundly shape their beliefs and understanding of the world.

Stroboscopics

Stroboscopics is a technique that flashes a bright light into the eyes of patients, that in turn induces visual hallucinations. The process works as the speed at which the light is flashing is the same speed as the transmission rate of the optical nerve, this causes a temporary interference pattern which disorients optical transmission to the brain, leading to visual hallucinations similar to effects induced by psychedelic substances¹⁵.

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References

  1.  Pivotal mental states. Brouwer A, Carhart-Harris RL. Journal of Psychopharmacology. 2021;35(4):319-352. doi:10.1177/0269881120959637. Accessed on 24th September 2022 via https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269881120959637
  2. ↑ Ketamine psychedelic psychotherapy: Focus on its pharmacology, phenomenology, and clinical applications. Kolp, E., Friedman, H. L., Krupitsky, E., Jansen, K., Sylvester, M., Young, M. S., & Kolp, A. (2014). International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 33(2), 84–140. Accessed on 24th September 2022 via: https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol33/iss2/8/
  3. ↑ From Egoism to Ecoism: Psychedelics Increase Nature Relatedness in a State-Mediated and Context-Dependent Manner. Kettner H, Gandy S, Haijen ECHM, Carhart-Harris RL. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Dec 16;16(24):5147. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16245147. PMID: 31888300; PMCID: PMC6949937. Accessed on 24th September 2022 via https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/24/5147
  4. ↑ LSD alters dynamic integration and segregation in the human brain, NeuroImage, Volume 227, 2021, 117653, ISSN 1053-8119, Andrea I. Luppi, Robin L. Carhart-Harris, Leor Roseman, Ioannis Pappas, David K. Menon, Emmanuel A. Stamatakis,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117653. Accessed on 24th Sept 2022 via https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811920311381
  5. ↑ Adverse effects of psychedelics: From anecdotes and misinformation to systematic science. Anne K Schlag, Jacob Aday, Iram Salam. First Published February 2, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811211069100
  6. ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4193538/
  7. ↑ Psychotic symptoms as a complication of electroconvulsive therapy – a case report. Anna Antosik-Wójcińska, Magdalena Chojnacka, Łukasz Święcicki Affective Disorders Unit, Second Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw. Accessed on 3 Feb 2023 via: https://scholar.archive.org/work/weltz5hugrf7ncb6vixnu3ncly/access/wayback/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/84de/07ffae988b429f784faaafc32b293093ce51.pdf
  8. ↑ ECT associated musical hallucinations in an elderly patient: a case report. Ann Gen Psychiatry 5, 10 (2006). Janakiraman, R., Wildgoose, K. & Seelam, K. https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-859X-5-10
  9. ↑ LSD-Like Flashbacks Associated with ECT. Convuls Ther. Russ MJ, Gold JM. . 1987;3(4):296-301. PMID: 11940932. Accessed on 4th July 2022 via: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11940932/
  10. ↑ The phenomenology of near-death experiences. Am. J. Psychiatry 137, 1193–1196. Greyson, B., and Stevenson, I. (1980). Accessed on 24th September 2022 via https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7416264/
  11. ↑ Near-Death Experiences are Hallucinations. Keith Augustine. In Keith Augustine & Michael Martin (eds.), The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life After Death. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 529-569 (2015)
  12. ↑ Three cases of near death experience: Is it physiology, physics or philosophy? Purkayastha M, Mukherjee KK.  Ann Neurosci. 2012 Jul;19(3):104-6. doi: 10.5214/ans.0972.7531.190303. PMID: 25205979; PMCID: PMC4117086.
  13. ↑ Comparison of psychedelic and near-death or other non-ordinary experiences in changing attitudes about death and dying. Mary M. Sweeney ,Sandeep Nayak,Ethan S. Hurwitz, Lisa N. Mitchell,T. Cody Swift,Roland R. Griffiths. Published: August 24, 2022. Accessed on 26th August 2022 via https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271926
  14. ↑ The critical period. Sengpiel, F. (2007). Current Biology, 17, R742-R743. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2007.06.017.
  15. ↑ Altered states phenomena induced by visual flicker light stimulation. Marie Therese Bartossek, Johanna Kemmerer, Timo Torsten Schmidt. Published: July 1, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253779