Pivotal Mental States: Difference between revisions

PiMS achieve this by inducing [[Neuroplasticity|neuroplastic]] states which given the correct [[priming]], [[setting]] and integration allows the user to eliminate out of date thought patterns and the strengthen healthier, more adapted thought patterns.

[[Psychedelics]] are chemicals that when administered correctly can safely shift normal thought patterns<ref>'''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</ref> (see '''Figure 1'''). This is achieved by causing brain function to be less constrained than usual by modulating the presence or absence of underlying anatomical connections<ref>'''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 </ref>. There is a common misconception of psychedelics which exhibits medically as [[Psychedelic Anxiety Syndrome]]. Instead of psychedelics being detrimental to ones health there is a huge amount of evidence to suggest the opposite<ref>'''Adverse effects of psychedelics: From anecdotes and misinformation to systematic science.''' Anne K Schlag, Jacob Aday, Iram Salam. First Published February 2, 2022. [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02698811211069100 https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811211069100]</ref>.  

When people think of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) they often think of the process depicted in the film ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. A lone patient with electrodes attached to their head convulsing in pain... T''his was an over dramatisation, the modern process is far from what was depicted. Since its introduction in the 1930's, various changes to pulse width, dosing and duration, electrode placement and anesthesia have made the treatment almost unrecognisable<ref>'''Electroconvulsive therapy: a selected review'''. ''Am J Geriatr Psychiatry''. Greenberg RM, Kellner CH.  2005;13(4):268–81.</ref>. Research has shown that 64% to 87% of patients with severe MDD respond to ECT, with response rates as high as 95% for patients with MDD with psychotic features<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4193538/</ref>. Furthermore, in otherwise healthy patients with intellectual disability, a retrospective chart review performed at Cambridge university has shown that 79% showed a positive outcome following ECT<ref>https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-psychiatrist/article/use-of-ect-in-patients-with-an-intellectual-disability-review/B2CD9151E5A2B9462BD80175E63A9CB0</ref>. There is some evidence to suggest that ECT causes similar long and short term effects to psychedelics in some in vivo case studies<ref>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</ref><ref>'''ECT associated musical hallucinations in an elderly patient''': a case report. ''Ann Gen Psychiatry'' 5, 10 (2006). Janakiraman, R., Wildgoose, K. & Seelam, K.  <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-859X-5-10</nowiki></ref><ref>'''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/</ref>.

Astronauts looking back at Earth with the naked eye often suddenly get an overwhelming responsibility to protect it. When they see only a fine blue line of atmosphere shelters our only planet from the hostile vacuum of space, national borders disappear; and the scene often evokes a feeling of cosmic connection. This so-called “''overview effect''” has been turning astronauts into environmental advocates ever since the first person in space.

Yuri Gagarin, upon his return as the first human in space, marveled at the planet from orbit in 1961. “''People of the world, let us safeguard and enhance this beauty — not destroy it'',” . A half-century later, ex-NASA astronaut José Hernández said that the view aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2009 turned him into “''an instant treehugger''.” On Christmas Eve 1968, the NASA astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and William Anders were aboard Apollo 8, the first manned mission to orbit the Moon. They had spent most of the day photographing the Moon’s surface, when Borman turned the spaceship around, and Earth came into view. ‘Oh my God, look at that picture over there. Here’s the Earth coming up,’ shouted Anders. Like the astronauts themselves, the world was awestruck by the first images of the whole Earth from space, which are today widely credited with triggering the birth of the modern environmental movement.