•British Journal of Psychiatry
Psychedelics and the science of self-experience
open
Carhart-Harris, R. L., Nour, M. R.
This short editorial (2017) describes the recent emergence of a neuroscience of self-experience and its relationship to psychoactive drugs and psychiatry.
Abstract
Altered self-experiences arise in certain psychiatric conditions, and may be induced by psychoactive drugs and spiritual/religious practices. Recently, a neuroscience of self-experience has begun to crystallise, drawing upon findings from functional neuroimaging and altered states of consciousness occasioned by psychedelic drugs. This advance may be of great importance for psychiatry.