The trance state: myths and truths

The trance state has aroused interest and curiosity for centuries.. While in some areas and cultures it is considered an experience of sacred order, from other perspectives it is a reality that is closer to the pathological than the divine.

It should be noted that the trance state is present both in the practice of hypnosis, as well as in various modalities of meditation and also in ritual or mystical practices. Also, it must be said, it is typical of certain dissociative states. What is common in all these cases is the fact that It is an altered state of consciousness.

It’s important pointing that within the framework of psychiatry The trance state is not always associated with the pathological. If living these types of experiences is typical of a specific culture and responds to codes accepted by a community, it is addressed as adaptive behavior. From other areas, trance is something that goes beyond.

The trance state and knowledge

In many cultures the trance state is seen as an essential condition to access certain forms of knowledge.. Such a state is characterized by a disconnection from the environment, which in turn allows us to come into contact with information or content that is not accessible to consciousness in a normal state.

When the trance state occurs within the framework of hypnosis, What there is is an experience that allows us to immerse ourselves or enter the world of the unconscious. What is found there, fundamentally, are reminiscences or memory contents that, consciously, are not available. In short, repressed memories.

In the case of shamans, the most common thing is that they achieve this state of consciousness through the ingestion of some substance or collective rituals. What they find after entering that nebulous area is a series of symbols that are interpreted as explanations or premonitions referring to individual and collective realities.

Mystics experience the trance state as a means to communicate with divinity. The contents they access are revelations of faith or, as in the case of shamans, prophetic visions about the future. Both in this case, as in the previous one, the revealed material makes sense and is real, depending on the beliefs.

An experiment on the trance state

The University of Southampton (United Kingdom), Queen’s University (Canada) and the University of Potsdam (Germany) carried out joint research on the trance state. The results were published in the journal Cerebral Cortex edited by the University of Oxford.

In this study, the brains of 15 shamans were analyzed. All of them were induced into a trance state through a ritual. in which drums are used to provoke the altered state of consciousness. The objective of the research was to identify the changes in the brain networks involved.

The experiment lasted a total of 8 minutes. Not all participants were able to enter a trance state, but those who did show common patterns. Thus it was discovered that trance activated three brain functions in all participants:

Eigenvector centrality. This translates as greater neuronal connectivity.Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. This region is involved in some cognitive functions such as empathy and certain emotions.Left side insula. It has to do with sensory experience, emotional context and convergent information.

The conclusions of the study

The increase in brain activity in the three aforementioned aspects corroborates that trance is an altered state of consciousness. It was also found that this coactivation involves highly intense brain work.. At the same time, it was observed that there was a decoupling of perception and a notable reduction in hearing capacity.

From a physiological point of view, All of this would imply that during the trance state there is more integrated and comprehensive thinking.. This would give support to the possible “revelations” that occur in these states, which does not mean that they are true, but rather that they imply a more advanced form of lucidity about contents that are already in the brain.

This study also points out that The trance state causes hyperactivity in the structures of the limbic system, closely associated with basic emotions.. This is consistent with the brain activity of people who develop hyperreligiosity and epilepsy. However, trance continues to be a state that raises many questions.

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