Navigating intensive altered states of consciousness
How can the set and setting key parameters promote the science of human birth
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 15525367 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Orli Dahan (0000-0002-7649-3361, Tel Hai Academic College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Pages | 1072047-1072047 |
| Publication date | 2023-02-09 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Frontiers in Psychiatry (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1664-0640 • E-ISSN: 1664-0640 |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1072047 |
| PMID | 36846223 |
| OpenAlex | W4319765870 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 117 |
The subjective childbirth experience is crucial from a public health standpoint. There is a correlation between a negative childbirth experience and a poor mental state after birth, with effects that go far beyond the postpartum (PP) period. This paper offers a new approach as to how birthing experiences, and birth in general, can be navigated. The theory of set and setting proves that psychedelic experiences are shaped, first and foremost, by the mindset of an individual entering a psychedelic experience (set) and by the surroundings in which the experience happens (setting). In research on altered states of consciousness during psychedelic experiences, this theory explains how the same substance can lead to a positive and life-changing experience or to a traumatic and frightening experience. Because recent studies suggest that birthing women enter an altered state of consciousness during physiological birth ("birthing consciousness"), I suggest analyzing the typical modern birthing experience in terms of set and setting theory. I argue that the set and setting key parameters can help design, navigate, and explain many psychological and physiological elements of the human birth process. Thus, an operative conclusion that emerges from the theoretical analysis presented in this paper is that framing and characterizing the birth environment and birth preparations in terms of set and setting is a central tool that could be used to promote physiological births as well as subjective positive birthing experiences, which is currently a primary, yet unreached goal, in modern obstetrics and public health
Altered state · Childbirth · Consciousness · Developmental psychology · Epistemology · Framing (construction · Mental health · Mindset · Pregnancy · Psychotherapist · Set (abstract data type · Computer Science · Medicine · Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior · Paranormal Experiences and Beliefs · Psychedelics and Drug Studies · Psychology
Global causes of maternal death
Predicting Responses to Psychedelics
Midwifery and quality care
Constructing drug effects
Of Woman Born
The woman in the body
Birthing Consciousness as a Case of Adaptive Altered State of Consciousness Associated With Transient Hypofrontality
The riddle of the extreme ends of the birth experience
A change laboratory for maternity care in Brazil
The Future of Homo
Not just mechanical birthing bodies
Middle Range Theory of Traumatic Childbirth
Making Loud Bodies “Feminine”
A Metaethnography of Traumatic Childbirth and its Aftermath
The meaning of "control" for childbearing women in the US
Modalities of the psychedelic experience
Reinscribing the Birthing Body
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |