Editing Altered state of consciousness (section)

=== History of scientific study ===
{{See also|Scholarly approaches to mysticism}}
Due to the [[Behaviorism|behaviourist]] paradigm in psychology altered states of consciousness were dismissed as a field of scientific inquiry during the early 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology (First ed.)|last1=Garcia-Romeu|first1=A.P.|last2=Tart|first2=Charles T.|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.|year=2013|page=127}}</ref> They were pathologized and merely seen as symptoms of intoxication or [[demonic possession]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology (First ed.)|last1=Garcia-Romeu|first1=A.P.|last2=Tart|first2=Charles T.|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.|year=2013|pages=126, 128}}</ref>

Their return into psychology began with [[William James|Wiliam James]]' interest into a variety of altered states, such as "mystical experiences and drug-induced states".<ref name="Garcia-Romeu-2013d"/> James' investigations into first-person-subjective-experience contributed to the reconsideration of introspection as a valuable research method in the academic community.<ref name="Garcia-Romeu-2013d"/>

The social change of the turbulent 1960s has decisively led to a change of the scientific perspective to the point that introspection as a scientific method and ASCs as valid realms of experience became more widely accepted.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology (First ed.)|last1=Garcia-Romeu|first1=A.P.|last2=Tart|first2=Charles T.|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.|year=2013|pages=121, 126, 128}}</ref> Foundations for the research have been laid out by various scientists such as [[Abraham Maslow]], [[Walter Pahnke|Walter N. Pahnke]], [[Stanislav Grof]] and Charles Tart.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology (First ed.)|last1=Garcia-Romeu|first1=A.P.|last2=Tart|first2=Charles T.|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.|year=2013|pages=127–130}}</ref> They focused on seemingly beneficial aspects of ASCs such as their potential to "promote creativity or treat addiction".<ref name="Garcia-Romeu-2013a"/> Rather oppressive states such as dissociation from trauma were neglected.

The findings of the famous [[Marsh Chapel Experiment|Good Friday Experiment]] by Pahnke suggest that [[mystical]] experiences can be triggered by [[psilocybin]]. Later investigations by [[Rick Doblin]] found that participants valued those experiences as "spiritual high points of their lives".<ref name="Garcia-Romeu-2013b"/>

In the midst of the rise of new-age subculture Stanislav Grof and others formed the new field of [[transpersonal psychology]], which emphasized "the importance of individual human experience, validity of mystical and [[spiritual experience]], interconnectedness of self with others and the world and potential of self-transformation".<ref name="Garcia-Romeu-2013e">{{Cite book|title=The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology (First ed.)|last1=Garcia-Romeu|first1=A.P.|last2=Tart|first2=Charles T.|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.|year=2013|page=128}}</ref>

Abraham Maslow's research on [[peak experience]]s, as moments of "highest happiness and fulfillment",<ref name="Garcia-Romeu-2013e"/> further contributed to the depathologization of altered states.

A first summary of the existing literature was carried out by Charles T. Tart in his book ''Altered States of Consciousness'', which led to a more common use of the term.<ref name="Garcia-Romeu-2013e"/> Tart coined the key terms ''discrete''{{refn|group=note|"a unique, dynamic pattern or configuration of psychological structures" (Tart,1969). Classic examples of discrete states of consciousness include waking, dreaming, deep sleep, intoxication, hypnosis, and successfully induced meditative states, to name just a few.}} and ''baseline'' states of consciousness, and thought about a general classification system for ASCs.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology (First ed.)|last1=Garcia-Romeu|first1=A.P.|last2=Tart|first2=Charles T.|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.|year=2013|pages=123, 128}}</ref> He also called for "state specific sciences"<ref name="Garcia-Romeu-2013b"/> in which researchers should do science on ASCs from within such states.