The Serotonin System and Spiritual Experiences

• Published in: The American journal of psychiatry Vol. 160; no. 11; pp. 1965 - 1969
• Main Authors: Borg, Jacqueline, Andrée, Bengt, Soderstrom, Henrik, Farde, Lars
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychiatric Publishing 01.11.2003; American Psychiatric Association
• Subjects: Adult; Assessment; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - diagnostic imaging; Brain - physiology; Character; Clinical Medicine; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hippocampus - diagnostic imaging; Hippocampus - physiology; Humans; Klinisk medicin; Male; Medical and Health Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Middle Aged; Neocortex - diagnostic imaging; Neocortex - physiology; Personality; Personality - classification; Personality - physiology; Personality Assessment - statistics & numerical data; Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data; Personality traits; Personality. Affectivity; Piperazines; Positron emission tomography; Psychiatry; Psychological tests; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psykiatri; Pyridines; Raphe Nuclei - diagnostic imaging; Raphe Nuclei - physiology; Receptors, Serotonin - metabolism; Receptors, Serotonin - physiology; Selftranscendence; Serotonin - physiology; Serotonin Antagonists; Serotonin receptors; Spirituality; Temperament - physiology; Tomography, Emission-Computed; Human; Religious attitude; Healthy subject; Attitude; Central nervous system; Religion; Male; Personality; Experimental study; Encephalon; Biological fixation; 5-HT1A Serotonine receptor; Young adult; Adult; Raphe nucleus; Positron emission tomography; Comparative study; Hippocampus
• ISSN: 0002-953X; 1535-7228; 1535-7228
• DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.160.11.1965

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-HT1A receptor density and personality traits. METHOD: Fifteen normal male subjects, ages 20-45 years, were examined with PET and the radioligand [11C]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-HT1A receptors, was calculated for the dorsal raphe nuclei, the hippocampal formation, and the neocortex. For each region, correlation coefficients between 5-HT1A 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-HT1A receptor density may explain why people vary greatly in spiritual zeal.