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ESP and altered states of consciousness: an overview of conceptual and research trends
Journal of Parapsychology, The, March, 1998 by Carlos S. Alvarado
Parapsychological phenomena has a long tradition of being associated with alterations of consciousness. This tradition extends from the performances of ancient oracles and other diviners to the mesmeric and mediumistic trance, and to more recent claims in the context of laboratory work that used hypnotic suggestion, dreams, meditation, and partial sensory deprivation. Moreover, there has been a long tradition of spontaneous ESP experiences related to dreams and other states of consciousness that have reinforced such associations.
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In this paper, I will present an overview of the topic of ESP and altered states of consciousness (ASCs). I will not focus on methodological details or specific findings, but, rather, on trends in concepts and research. Other publications cited throughout this paper provide more detailed information (see, e.g Bem & Honorton, 1994; Hardy, 1989; Honorton, 1977; Krippner, 1991; Krippner & George, 1986; Parker, 1975b; Stanford, 1987, 1992; Stanford & Stein, 1994). For practical reasons, I do not discuss mesmerism nor spiritualism in detail, and I do not address other areas such as the psychoanalytic dream ESP literature (e.g., Devereux, 1953). The discussion here will be limited to developments which occurred between the nineteenth century and the 1990s, with an emphasis on twentieth century developments and those since the 1960s.
Although I am not suggesting that there are no differences between specific altered states, nor between the concept of dissociation and that of alteration of consciousness, I use the term ASCs in a general sense meaning "any state of mind that differs markedly enough from that which we associate with our normal waking selves" (Parker, 1975b, p. 8). Depending on definitions, such phenomena as alternating personalities may be considered a form of consciousness alteration, and body image changes during the ganzfeld experience may be seen as a dissociative process in which physical sensations have been separated from conscious awareness. My concern is not to get into these problems of definition, but to represent trends in the literature and general ideas of authors. I hope that what I present will be used by others to clarify our understanding of these concepts.
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
Several movements contributed significantly to interest in the relationship between ESP and ASCs. These were mesmerism, spiritualism, and dynamic psychiatry. (For overviews of these topics, see Ellenberger, 1970; Gauld, 1992; and Podmore, 1902). By the middle of the nineteenth century, mesmerism had accumulated a considerable literature, as seen in the writings of Mesmer (Bloch, 1980) and many other workers in the field (e.g., Braid, 1843; Elliotson, 1843; Petetin, 1808).(1)
Many observations also focused on clairvoyance and the like (Elliotson, 1845; Haddock, 1851). This period produced many other claims, such as transpositions of the senses, traveling clairvoyance, face-to-face or distant medical diagnosis, seeing the mesmeric fluid around the mesmerist or between the mesmerist and the mesmeree, induction of trance at a distance, and the so-called community of sensation reported between mesmerist and mesmeree (Dingwall, 1967-1968; Gauld, 1992). Some of these phenomena, especially the claim of mesmerized subjects to see the afterworld or to be in contact with deceased or other spirit individuals, provided a link with the later development of spiritualism. As Crabtree (1988) has argued:
In Germany, France, England and the United States, the association between
magnetic somnambulism and paranormal phenomena of the spiritualistic
type was very strong. Many of the books and articles that appeared wove their
way back and forth between the two areas, giving the impression that it was
impossible to discuss one without dealing with the other. (p. xv)
The development of spiritualism changed the focus from mesmerized individuals to those individuals who, in self-induced trances, claimed to communicate with the deceased, and thus reinforced the idea that ASCs were related to ESP (for a review, see Podmore, 1902). Trance communications, or messages about a variety of topics received during trance, were common in the philosophical and cosmological trance utterances of mediums or "inspired" lecturers like Andrew Jackson Davis (1851). As stated by the historian of spiritualism Ann Braude (1989), such communications convinced many that the mediumistic trance was "an elevated state, providing access to spirits and therefore to knowledge of the world beyond inaccessible to conscious human beings" (p. 87).
With the rise of dynamic psychiatry there was much interest among physicians and others in alterations of consciousness, especially in what some called the "doubling of personality" in relation to double and multiple personality, somnambulism, amnesia, and the phenomena of hypnosis. Pioneers such as Azam (1887), Binet (1892/1896), Braid (1843), Charcot (1882), Janet (1889), Richet (1883), and Sidis (1898) did much to explore alternative modes of consciousness, most of which would be classified today as dissociative.(2)
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