The Altered States Database: Psychometric data from a systematic literature review

Johanna Prugger; Ekin Derdiyok; Jannis Dinkelacker; Cyril Costines; Timo T Schmidt

doi:10.1038/s41597-022-01822-4

The Altered States Database: Psychometric data from a systematic literature review

Sci Data. 2022 Nov 23;9(1):720. doi: 10.1038/s41597-022-01822-4.

Authors

Johanna Prugger^{1

2}, Ekin Derdiyok³, Jannis Dinkelacker⁴, Cyril Costines⁵, Timo T Schmidt^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Psychedelic Substances Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Berlin Institute of Health, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany.
² International Graduate Program Medical Neurosciences, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
³ Master Program Cognitive Neuroscience, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
⁴ Independent researcher, Berlin, Germany.
⁵ Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
⁶ Psychedelic Substances Research Group, Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Berlin Institute of Health, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany. timo.t.schmidt@fu-berlin.de.
⁷ Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany. timo.t.schmidt@fu-berlin.de.

Abstract

In this paper, we present the development of the Altered States Database (ASDB), an open-science project based on a systematic literature review. The ASDB contains psychometric questionnaire data on subjective experiences of altered states of consciousness (ASC) induced by pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods. The systematic review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Scientific journal articles were identified through PubMed and Web of Science. We included studies that examined ASC using the following validated questionnaires: Altered States of Consciousness Rating Scale (APZ, 5D-ASC, 11-ASC), Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory (PCI), Hallucinogen Rating Scale (HRS), or Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30). The systematic review resulted in the inclusion of a total of 165 journal articles, whereof questionnaire data was extracted and is now available on the Open Science Framework (OSF) website ( https://osf.io/8mbru ) and on the ASDB website ( http://alteredstatesdb.org ), where questionnaire data can be easily retrieved and visualized. This data allows the calculation of comparable psychometric values of ASC experiences and of dose-response relationships of substances inducing ASC.

Publication types

Dataset

MeSH terms

Databases, Factual*
Psychometrics*
PubMed
Publications
Systematic Reviews as Topic