The serotonin system and spiritual experiences
(2003) In American Journal of Psychiatry 160(11). p.1965-1969- Abstract
- OBJECTIVE: The serotonin system has long been of interest in biological models of human personality. The purpose of this positron emission tomography (PET) study was to search for relationships between serotonin 5-HT(1A) receptor density and personality traits. METHOD: Fifteen normal male subjects, ages 20-45 years, were examined with PET and the radioligand [(11)C]WAY100635. Personality traits were assessed with the Swedish version of the Temperament and Character Inventory self-report questionnaire. Binding potential, an index for the density of available 5-HT(1A) receptors, was calculated for the dorsal raphe nuclei, the hippocampal formation, and the neocortex. For each region, correlation coefficients between 5-HT(1A) receptor binding... (More)
- OBJECTIVE: The serotonin system has long been of interest in biological models of human personality. The purpose of this positron emission tomography (PET) study was to search for relationships between serotonin 5-HT(1A) receptor density and personality traits. METHOD: Fifteen normal male subjects, ages 20-45 years, were examined with PET and the radioligand [(11)C]WAY100635. Personality traits were assessed with the Swedish version of the Temperament and Character Inventory self-report questionnaire. Binding potential, an index for the density of available 5-HT(1A) receptors, was calculated for the dorsal raphe nuclei, the hippocampal formation, and the neocortex. For each region, correlation coefficients between 5-HT(1A) receptor binding potential and Temperament and Character Inventory personality dimensions were calculated and analyzed in two-tailed tests for significance. RESULTS: The authors found that the binding potential correlated inversely with scores for self-transcendence, a personality trait covering religious behavior and attitudes. No correlations were found for any of the other six Temperament and Character Inventory dimensions. The self-transcendence dimension consists of three distinct subscales, and further analysis showed that the subscale for spiritual acceptance correlated significantly with binding potential but not with the other two subscales. CONCLUSIONS: This finding in normal male subjects indicated that the serotonin system may serve as a biological basis for spiritual experiences. The authors speculated that the several-fold variability in 5-HT(1A) receptor density may explain why people vary greatly in spiritual zeal. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1126647
- author
- Borg, Jacqueline ; Andree, Bengt ; Anckarsäter, Henrik LU and Farde, Lars
- organization
- publishing date
- 2003
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- American Journal of Psychiatry
- volume
- 160
- issue
- 11
- pages
- 1965 - 1969
- publisher
- American Psychiatric Association
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:14594742
- scopus:1642436793
- pmid:14594742
- ISSN
- 1535-7228
- DOI
- 10.1176/appi.ajp.160.11.1965
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 784041d6-f8d9-4f30-85ae-2a3fee0e953b (old id 1126647)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 11:58:01
- date last changed
- 2022-03-13 03:17:34
@article{784041d6-f8d9-4f30-85ae-2a3fee0e953b,
abstract = {{OBJECTIVE: The serotonin system has long been of interest in biological models of human personality. The purpose of this positron emission tomography (PET) study was to search for relationships between serotonin 5-HT(1A) receptor density and personality traits. METHOD: Fifteen normal male subjects, ages 20-45 years, were examined with PET and the radioligand [(11)C]WAY100635. Personality traits were assessed with the Swedish version of the Temperament and Character Inventory self-report questionnaire. Binding potential, an index for the density of available 5-HT(1A) receptors, was calculated for the dorsal raphe nuclei, the hippocampal formation, and the neocortex. For each region, correlation coefficients between 5-HT(1A) receptor binding potential and Temperament and Character Inventory personality dimensions were calculated and analyzed in two-tailed tests for significance. RESULTS: The authors found that the binding potential correlated inversely with scores for self-transcendence, a personality trait covering religious behavior and attitudes. No correlations were found for any of the other six Temperament and Character Inventory dimensions. The self-transcendence dimension consists of three distinct subscales, and further analysis showed that the subscale for spiritual acceptance correlated significantly with binding potential but not with the other two subscales. CONCLUSIONS: This finding in normal male subjects indicated that the serotonin system may serve as a biological basis for spiritual experiences. The authors speculated that the several-fold variability in 5-HT(1A) receptor density may explain why people vary greatly in spiritual zeal.}},
author = {{Borg, Jacqueline and Andree, Bengt and Anckarsäter, Henrik and Farde, Lars}},
issn = {{1535-7228}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{11}},
pages = {{1965--1969}},
publisher = {{American Psychiatric Association}},
series = {{American Journal of Psychiatry}},
title = {{The serotonin system and spiritual experiences}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.160.11.1965}},
doi = {{10.1176/appi.ajp.160.11.1965}},
volume = {{160}},
year = {{2003}},
}