Postgraduate Program in Health and Development, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Brazil.
School of Medicine, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo Grande, Brazil.
Brain Behav. 2020 Jul;10(7):e01693. doi: 10.1002/brb3.1693. Epub 2020 Jun 7.
Cultural traditions attribute to pineal gland an important role for spiritual experiences. Mediumship and spirit possession are cultural phenomena found worldwide which have been described as having dissociative and psychotic-like characteristics, but with nonpathological aspects. A sympathetic activation pattern in response to spirit possession has been reported in some studies, but empirical data on pineal gland is scarce in this context.
We aimed to investigate pineal gland and pituitary volumes, as well as urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels in 16 alleged mediums (Medium Group-MG) compared with 16 healthy nonmedium controls (Control Group) (Experiment 1). Furthermore, we aimed to evaluate urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin and stress reactivity in GM (n = 10) under different physiological conditions (Experiment 2).
In Experiment 1, MG presented higher scores of anomalous experiences, but there were no between-group differences regarding mental health or subjective sleep quality. Similar pineal gland and pituitary volumes were observed between groups. There were no between-group differences in urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin collected under equivalent baseline conditions. In Experiment 2, the rise of anxiety and heart rate in response to mediumistic experience was intermediate between a nonstressful control task (reading) and a stressful control task (Trier Social Stress Test-TSST). No significant differences were observed in 6-sulfatoxymelatonin urinary levels between the three conditions. The pattern of stress reactivity during the TSST was normal, but with an attenuated salivary cortisol response.
The normal neuroimaging and stress reactivity findings in MG contrast with the abnormal results usually observed in subjects with psychotic and dissociative disorders.
文化传统赋予松果体在精神体验中重要作用。媒介现象和神灵附体是在世界各地发现的文化现象，这些现象被描述为具有分离和精神病样的特征，但也有非病理性的方面。一些研究报告称，在神灵附体时会出现交感神经激活模式，但在这种情况下，松果体的实证数据很少。
我们旨在调查 16 名自称媒介的人（媒介组-MG）的松果体和垂体体积，以及尿 6-硫酸褪黑素水平，并将其与 16 名健康非媒介对照者（对照组）进行比较（实验 1）。此外，我们旨在评估 GM（n=10）在不同生理条件下的尿 6-硫酸褪黑素和应激反应（实验 2）。
在实验 1 中，MG 表现出更高的异常体验得分，但在心理健康或主观睡眠质量方面，两组之间没有差异。两组的松果体和垂体体积相似。在等效的基线条件下收集的尿 6-硫酸褪黑素在两组之间没有差异。在实验 2 中，与非应激控制任务（阅读）和应激控制任务（特里尔社会应激测试-TSST）相比，媒介体验引起的焦虑和心率升高处于中间水平。在这三种情况下，尿 6-硫酸褪黑素水平没有差异。在 TSST 期间的应激反应模式正常，但唾液皮质醇反应减弱。
MG 的正常神经影像学和应激反应结果与通常在精神病和分离障碍患者中观察到的异常结果形成对比。
