Placebo response shares phenomenology and likely overlaps with substrates of cognition and person... more Placebo response shares phenomenology and likely overlaps with substrates of cognition and personality. However, inconsistent findings abound regarding the potential link between suggestibility and responding to placebos. Here we directly probe whether suggestibility of the hypnotic type influences placebo response. Fifty healthy undergraduates underwent a standard measure of hypnotic suggestibility — the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility. These participants later ingested a placebo capsule in one of two similar conditions: (a) relaxation, wherein we identified the capsule as a strong dose of an herbal sedative, or (b) control, wherein we identified the capsule as inert. We indexed placebo response via changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and self-report measures of relaxation and drowsiness. We hypothesized that placebo response and hypnotic suggestibility would correlate positively in the relaxation condition. Hypnotic suggestibility correlated with subjective but not physiological response to ingesting the placebo sedative capsule. Here we report preliminary findings demonstrating a correlation between hypnotic suggestibility and subjective placebo response.
This book investigates how certain alternative global religious groups, shamanic tourism industri... more This book investigates how certain alternative global religious groups, shamanic tourism industries, and recreational drug milieus grounded in the consumption of the traditionally Amazonian psychoactive drink ayahuasca embody various challenges associated with modern societies. During its expansion from the Amazon jungle to Western societies, ayahuasca use has encountered different legal and cultural responses in the destination countries. This encounter is discussed in the book in terms of how it discloses contemporary controversies regarding religious ambivalence in modern societies, and how disparate and competing ontological and epistemological discourse on ayahuasca use has emerged among ayahuasca drinkers and between them and the state. The role of science in the confrontations between ayahuasca drinkers and the law is also contemplated. The chapters include ethnographic investigations of ritual practice, transnational religious ideology, the politics of healing, and the invention of tradition. Authors explore symbolic effects of a “bureaucratization of enchantment” in religious practice, and the “sanitizing” of indigenous rituals for tourist markets. Larger questions on the global economics of ayahuasca in terms of notions of commodification and the categories of sacred and profane are also addressed. This unique book explores classic and contemporary issues in social science and the humanities, providing rich material on the bourgeoning expansion of ayahuasca use around the globe.
Placebo response shares phenomenology and likely overlaps with substrates of cognition and person... more Placebo response shares phenomenology and likely overlaps with substrates of cognition and personality. However, inconsistent findings abound regarding the potential link between suggestibility and responding to placebos. Here we directly probe whether suggestibility of the hypnotic type influences placebo response. Fifty healthy undergraduates underwent a standard measure of hypnotic suggestibility — the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility. These participants later ingested a placebo capsule in one of two similar conditions: (a) relaxation, wherein we identified the capsule as a strong dose of an herbal sedative, or (b) control, wherein we identified the capsule as inert. We indexed placebo response via changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and self-report measures of relaxation and drowsiness. We hypothesized that placebo response and hypnotic suggestibility would correlate positively in the relaxation condition. Hypnotic suggestibility correlated with subjective but not physiological response to ingesting the placebo sedative capsule. Here we report preliminary findings demonstrating a correlation between hypnotic suggestibility and subjective placebo response.
This book investigates how certain alternative global religious groups, shamanic tourism industri... more This book investigates how certain alternative global religious groups, shamanic tourism industries, and recreational drug milieus grounded in the consumption of the traditionally Amazonian psychoactive drink ayahuasca embody various challenges associated with modern societies. During its expansion from the Amazon jungle to Western societies, ayahuasca use has encountered different legal and cultural responses in the destination countries. This encounter is discussed in the book in terms of how it discloses contemporary controversies regarding religious ambivalence in modern societies, and how disparate and competing ontological and epistemological discourse on ayahuasca use has emerged among ayahuasca drinkers and between them and the state. The role of science in the confrontations between ayahuasca drinkers and the law is also contemplated. The chapters include ethnographic investigations of ritual practice, transnational religious ideology, the politics of healing, and the invention of tradition. Authors explore symbolic effects of a “bureaucratization of enchantment” in religious practice, and the “sanitizing” of indigenous rituals for tourist markets. Larger questions on the global economics of ayahuasca in terms of notions of commodification and the categories of sacred and profane are also addressed. This unique book explores classic and contemporary issues in social science and the humanities, providing rich material on the bourgeoning expansion of ayahuasca use around the globe.
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