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Altered states of consciousness: Implications for assessment and treatment of mental health problems
Sixteenth annual Jewish General Hospital Psychiatry Research Department's Research Day held virtually on April 1, 2022.
104 people attended
virtually the Jewish General Hospital's (JGH) Department of Psychiatry Research Day on Friday, April 1,
2022 from 9:00 AM to12:00 PM through Zoom.
The theme for this 16th annual research day
was “Altered states of consciousness: Implications for assessment and treatment
of mental health problems.” Distinguished researchers from the Lady Davis
Institute (LDI) at the JGH addressed the importance and therapeutic promise
of altered states of consciousness such as those induced by sleep, meditation,
hypnosis and psychedelics, for maintaining and restoring mental health.
Three speakers presented:
- Dr.
Eva Libman, Assistant Director of the JGH Department of
Psychiatry’s Behavioural Psychotherapy & Research Unit and Assistant
Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University, talked about sleep as an
important altered state of consciousness and about what happens when the sleep
system is not working perfectly.
View/download the presentation
- Dr.
Michael Lifshitz, Investigator in the Culture and Mental Health
Research Unit of the LDI and the JGH Department of Psychiatry, and Assistant
Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University, touched on the practice of
training the imagination to cultivate dialogues with invisible companions
called “tulpas” – illustrating how imagination-based techniques can open new
modes of subjectivity and pattern fundamental aspects of human experience.
View/download the presentation
- Dr.
Kyle Greenway, senior resident in the Department of Psychiatry at
McGill University, discussed the mounting evidence suggesting that
drug-induced altered states of consciousness hold psychotherapeutic potential,
under certain conditions, and the re-emergence of psychedelic-assisted
psychotherapy to treat a variety of psychiatric conditions.
View/download the presentation
“Entering an altered state of consciousness makes it
possible to disconnect from reality once in a while and is crucial to
maintaining our mental health, especially at times of great stress such as a
pandemic,” said Dr. David Dunkley of the Institute of Community and Family
Psychiatry at the JGH, who coordinated the Research Day. “Our speakers presented salient research on how altered states can help disrupt the
inflexible models that govern our thoughts and behaviour, opening a window of
opportunity for relearning and overcoming the thought patterns that underlie
many mental health problems such as anxiety, depression or addiction.”
Dr. Elizaveta
Solomonova, Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychiatry at McGill
University and Affiliated Research Scientist at YHouse in New York City, acted as the discussant. Presentations were in English and the session concluded with a question and answer period.
The complete program
is available at http://ladydavis.ca/en/psychiatryresearchday.
The conference was supported by a grant from the Gustav
Levinschi Foundation.
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