A seminarium on the cognitive and neural mechanisms of hypnosis will be held on the 1st of October at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, with the participation of Etzel Cardeña, Devin Terhune, Lars-Eric Uneståhl, and various British researchers. More information on the program and the way to register (registration is free but required) is at http://kva.se/sv/Kalendariumlista/Event/?eventId=422

Imminent PA conference and a good paper

The 55th Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association is about to begin. You can get more information at http://www.parapsych.org/section/41/2012_convention.aspx
And a new paper authoritatively shows how so many of proposed biological explanations for NDEs are actually contradictory to the actual phenomenon or evidence-free, and scolds some authors for maintaining scientist dogma instead of a true scientific (i.e., neutal, critical, but open to evidence) attitude. Here is the info of the paper and the abstract from the online journal Frontiers of Human Neuroscience:

Near-death experiences between science and prejudice

Enrico Facco^1,2* and Christian Agrillo³

• ¹Department of Neurosciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
• ²Italian Center of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Torino, Italy
• ³Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

Science exists to refute dogmas; nevertheless, dogmas may be introduced when undemonstrated scientific axioms lead us to reject facts incompatible with them. Several studies have proposed psychobiological interpretations of near-death experiences (NDEs), claiming that NDEs are a mere byproduct of brain functions gone awry; however, relevant facts incompatible with the ruling physicalist and reductionist stance have been often neglected. The awkward transcendent look of NDEs has deep epistemological implications, which call for: (a) keeping a rigorously neutral position, neither accepting nor refusing anything a priori; and (b) distinguishing facts from speculations and fallacies. Most available psychobiological interpretations remain so far speculations to be demonstrated, while brain disorders and/or drug administration in critical patients yield a well-known delirium in intensive care and anesthesia, the phenomenology of which is different from NDEs. Facts can be only true or false, never paranormal. In this sense, they cannot be refused a priori even when they appear implausible with respect to our current knowledge: any other stance implies the risk of turning knowledge into dogma and the adopted paradigm into a sort of theology.

Forthcoming lecture on the status of the evidence for survival

The Evidence for Postmortem Survival: The State of the Debate

Stephen Braude
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy
University of Maryland Baltimore County

The evidence for survival of bodily death raises many interesting issues, both empirical and conceptual. Unfortunately, most people seem either to overestimate or underestimate the reliability and importance of the case material.

Stephen Braude will sort through some of the major issues and focus in particular on one crucial question: whether we can distinguish evidence for survival from evidence of exotic (including paranormal) things done solely by the living.

Tid: tisdagen den 8 maj, kl 15.00-17.00
Plats: Eden-118

Unique people have left us

Last blog I mentioned the passing away of Vaclav Havel and unfortunately I have to add the wonderful Nobel prize-winner poet Wislawa Szymborska and the parapsychology researcher Bill Roll, who got his Ph. D. with a dissertation on parapsychology here at Lund some years ago. I have published obituaries to him in the forthcoming issue of Mindfield, the Parapsychology Association bulletin.

I co-authored guidelines for the treatment of DID, commissioned by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. They can be found at http://isst-d.org/jtd/GUIDELINES_REVISED2011.pdf

The current issue of Discover magazine has a substantial article devoted to the precognition research of Daryl Bem, an important sign that psi research has percolated to popular sciences as well as academic publications.

A paper on hypnotizability, dissociation and alterations of consciousness by David Marcusson-Clavertz and I just got published. We got a strong correlation between reported alterations of consciousness and scores in a telepathy task. Here is the reference: Marcusson-Clavertz, D.  & Cardeña, E., (2011). Hypnotizability, alterations in consciousness, and other variables as predictors of performance in a ganzfeld psi task. Journal of Parapsychology, 75, 235-259.

A BIG prize for Devin Terhune

Devin just got the biggest prize in Sweden for a young psychologist for his dissertation work here at Lund, “Dissociation and heterogeneity in high hypnotic suggestibility”. The Royal Scientific Academy mentioned his theoretical rigor, originality and methodological savvy. Grattis, Devin!


I was also fortunate to receive the Erika Fromm Award for Excellence in Hypnosis Teaching from the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. I am especially glad to get an award after the grand dame of hypnosis and a dear, departed friend.


And although not a personal friend, I mourn the death of Vaclav Havel, world-class playwright, President of Czechoslovakia and, after the split, the Czech Republic, and a tireless and courageous fighter for human rights and democracy.

Forthcoming panel and a radio discussion on a famous DID case

I will be in a panel on contemporary “supernatural” beliefs and experiences in the auditorium at SOL Centrum in Lund this Thursday, 17.15-19.00. I will comment in Swedish but the second part of the discussion, at 18.15, with Prof. Annette Hill among others, will be in English.

There has been a lot of media exposure on a forthcoming exposé  of a famous “multiple personality” (DID) case, Sybil. There is a radio program on this and a discussion by Prof. Brand a few minutes after the beginning of the recording stating how the media coverage of Sybil has no bearing on the actual research on the validity of this diagnosis. Check http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201110212
and start the recording at the the top left part of the page.

two new editorials

a couple of editorials that criticize dogmatic biases (both for and against parapsychology) have just been published. distinguished duke u. psychologist mark leary discusses in in his editorial in explore “why are (some) scientists so opposed to parapsychology?“ four common unscientific claims/attitudes about parapsychological research, that it is a pseudoscientific affront to real science, that it does not meet standards of scientific rigor, that our lack of understanding its mechanisms makes it unscientific, and that it is a form of uncritical , pseudoscientific belief. he concludes that fear of the challenge to received metaphysical positions underlies many of these responses.
on my editorial “on wolverines and epistemological totalitarianism“ in the journal for scientific exploration i also discuss the various ways in which false skeptics use unscientific standards including being averse to knowledge, oversimplistic, pejorative, and so on.

Upcoming lectures

Just back from the PA conference in Brazil. I will give a presentation on parapsychology in English next week at http://qday.se/ in an event that includes daryl hannah, the founder of cirkus cirkörs, and others.
On the 16th on November I will lecture on Dissociation at Uppsala.
And CERCAP has helped organize the following three lectures with world-class figures:

Hypnosis: An Evidence Based Approach

Professor Irving Kirsch, PhD
Associate Director, Program in Placebo Studies and Lecturer in Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Hypnosis is a useful tool that is capable of enhancing the effectiveness of psychotherapy. Hypnotic suggestions can produce dramatic reductions in pain and compelling hallucinations in all sensory modalities. The ability to respond to these suggestions is known to be a very stable trait. Less well known is the fact that people who are able to respond to them are able to do so even when hypnosis is not induced. The effect of the hypnotic induction is real, but relatively small. The effects of suggestion, whether in or out of hypnosis, can be very large. Indeed, the apparent effects of antidepressant drugs seem to due to suggestion, rather than the chemical composition of the drug.

Time: Friday 30 September, at 13.15
Place: Paradisgatan 5 P, Room P-124

Hjärtligt välkomna!
Professor Etzel Cardeña

Antidepressants: The Emperor's New Drugs

Professor Irving Kirsch, PhD
Associate Director, Program in Placebo Studies and Lecturer in Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Antidepressants are supposed to work by fixing a chemical imbalance, specifically, a lack of serotonin in the brain. But analyses of the published and the unpublished data that was hidden by the drug companies reveals that most (if not all) of the benefits are due to the placebo effect. Some antidepressants increase serotonin levels, some decrease serotonin, and some have no effect at all on serotonin. Nevertheless, they all show the same therapeutic benefit. Instead of curing depression, popular antidepressants may induce a biological vulnerability making people more likely to become depressed in the future.

Time: Monday 3 October, at 10.15
Place: Paradisgatan 5 P, Room P-124

Memory Illusions

Prof. Giuliana Mazzoni, University of Hull, UK

Autobiographical memory is a very powerful tool that is responsible for negotiating life successfully. People rely heavily on their memory for having a sense of self, a history and ultimately an identity. In spite of its strength, human memory is also fallible. The results of a number of studies are reported here that show how a major issue in memory refers to its malleability, and its amenability to social influence, including hypnosis and other forms of psychotherapy. The results of these studies have both theoretical and applied implications. While understanding the malleability of memory provides essential information on how human memory works, finding the variables that create false memories has important implications for psychotherapy and eyewitness memory.

Time: Monday 3 October, at 13.15
Place: Paradisgatan 5 P, Room P-124

Altering consciousness has been published

The two volumes of altering consciousness, edited by me and michael winkelman, have been published. A blog has info on its contents and probably the cheapest way to buy them: http://www.parapsych.org/blogs/carlos/entry/18/2011/5/altered_states_of_consciousness.aspx
charley tart has also given them 5 stars in their comments on amazon.com

hypnos som behandling

jag ska föreläsa om hypnos som behandling för trauma i stockholm. uppgifterna finns här
http://www.hypnosforeningen.se/krets-sthlm.htm