Mystical ecstasy and hysterical dream-states.

Mystical states of consciousness: neurophysiological and clinical aspects.

Mystical Experience and Metaphysics

In Chapter 2 of Beyond Physicalism, I suggest that mystical experience, if a source of genuine metaphysical insight, can shed light on a variety of extraordinary phenomena, including psi and near-death experience, as well as the mystery that is ordinary consciousness. It is striking that mystics are often left with the conviction that they came into contact with deeper realities during their ex...

Mystical Experience

Mystical experiences represent a fundamental dimension of human existence. These experiences are commonly reported across all cultures. A mystical experience subjectively is characterized by encountering the divine in a way that disrupts the normal sense of self . The definitions of mystical experience used in research and clinical publications vary considerably, ranging from "upheaval of the t...

Hysterical paraplegia.

Between 1944 and 1984 20 patients were admitted to a spinal injuries centre with a diagnosis of traumatic paraplegia. They subsequently walked out and the diagnosis was revised to hysterical paraplegia. A further 23 patients with incomplete traumatic injuries, who also walked from the centre, have been compared with them as controls. The features that enabled a diagnosis of hysterical paraplegi...

Hysterical Belch