About Me

Etzel Cardeña holds the endowed Thorsen Chair in psychology at Lund University in Sweden, where he directs the Center for Research on Consciousness and Anomalous Psychology (CERCAP). He was born in México, where he became licensed as a clinical psychologist, has a Ph. D. from the University of California, Davis and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford. He has been faculty at Georgetown University and The University of Texas-Pan American (where he was Department Chair), and other institutions. Elected fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Psychological Studies, among other scientificsocieties, his empirical, theoretical, and pedagogical contributions have garnered more than 20 awards from variouis societies. He has been president of the Parapsychological Association, the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, and Division 30 (Psychological Hypnosis) of the APA), and a consultant on the dissociative disorders to the DSM-IV, DSM-5, and ICD. He is the editor of Mindfield, besides having been an associate editor or member of the editorial board of various mainstream journals. His areas of research include extraordinary anomalous experiences (including research on psi) and alterations of consciousness, dissociative processes and acute posttraumatic reactions, hypnosis (its neurophenomenology and potential applications for posttraumatic conditions), and the stream of consciousness. He has delivered keynote speeches and workshops in four continents and has more than 300 scientific publications, some of them in the top journals in psychology and psychiatry. Among his books are Varieties of Anomalous Experience published by the APA and now in its second edition, the two-volumes Altering Consciousness: A Multidisciplinary Perspective, and Parapsychology: A Handbook for the 21st Century, which provides a "state-of-the-art” account of the scientific evidence for parapsychology, as well as offering methodological and statistical know-how for beginner and advanced researchers. He is also the artistic director of the International Theatre of Malmö, and has directed, performed, and lectured on theatre internationally.

Selected Recent Publications

Refereed books and edited monographs

Cardeña, E., Palmer, J., & Marcusson-Clavertz, D. (2015). Parapsychology: A handbook for the 21st century. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

Cardeña, E., & Facco, E. (Eds.) (2015). Non-Ordinary Mental Expressions. E-book Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. Doi 10.3389/978-2-88919-485-8

Cardeña, E., Lynn, S. J., & Krippner, S. (Eds.) (2014). Varieties of anomalous experience: Examining the scientific evidence (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Cardeña, E., Lynn, S. J., & Krippner, S. (Eds.). (2013). Variedades da experiência anômala: Análise de evidências científicas (Varieties of anomalous experience: Examining the scientific evidence). São Paulo, Brazil: Atheneu.

Cardeña, E., & Winkelman, M. (2011). Altering consciousness. Multidisciplinary perspectives. Volume I. History, culture, and the humanities. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Cardeña, E., & Winkelman, M. (2011). Altering consciousness. Multidisciplinary perspectives. Volume II. Biological and psychological perspectives. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Journal articles and book chapters

Cardeña, E. (in press). Dissociation and the dissociative disorders. Reference Modules in Neuroscience.

Cardeña, E., & Marcusson-Clavertz, D. (in press). The relation of hypnotizability and dissociation to everyday mentation: An experience sampling study. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice.

Marcusson-Clavertz, D., Cardeña, E., & Terhune, D. B. (in press). Daydreaming style moderates the relationship between working memory and mind-wandering: Towards an integration of two hypotheses. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition.

Cardeña, E. (in press). Towards a comprehensive neurophenomenological research in hypnosis and meditation. In M. Lifshitz & A. Raz (Eds.), Hypnosis and meditation: Towards an integrative science of conscious planes. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Cardeña, E. (in press). Anomalous experience. In M. Velmans (Ed.), The Blackwell companion of consciousness, 2nd ed. London, UK: Blackwell.

Schaffler, Y., Cardeña, E., Reijman, S., & Haluza, D. (in press). Traumatic experiences and somatoform dissociation among spirit possession practitioners in the Dominican Republic. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry.

Cardeña, E. (2015). The unbearable fear of psi: On scientific censorship in the 21st century. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 29, 605-623.

Cardeña, E., Sjöstedt, J. O., & Marcusson-Clavertz, D. (2015). Sustained attention and motivation in Zen meditators and non-meditators. Mindfulness, 6, 1082-1087.

Cardeña, E., & Marcusson-Clavertz, D. (2015). States, traits, beliefs, and psi. In E. Cardeña, J. Palmer, & D. Marcusson-Clavertz (Eds.). Parapsychology: A handbook for the 21st century (pp. 110-124). Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

Cardeña, E. (2015). On negative capability and parapsychology: Personal reflections. In E.

Cardeña, J. Palmer, & D. Marcusson-Clavertz (Eds.). Parapsychology: A handbook for the 21st century (pp. 399-403). Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

Cardeña, E., Marcusson-Clavertz, D., & Palmer, J. (2015). Reintroducing parapsychology. In E.

Cardeña, J. Palmer, & D. Marcusson-Clavertz (Eds.). Parapsychology: A handbook for the 21st century (pp. 1-11). Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

Cardeña, E., Reijman, S., Wimmelmann, C. L., & Jensen, C. G.. (2015). Psychological health, trauma, dissociation, absorption, and fantasy proneness among Danish spiritual practitioners. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 2, 170-184.

Cardeña, E. & Terhune, D. B. (2014). Hypnotizability, personality traits, and the propensity to experience alterations of consciousness. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 1, 292-307.

Cardeña, E. (2014). Hypnos and psyche, or how hypnosis has contributed to the study of consciousness. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, 1, 123-138.

Cardeña, E. (2014). A call for an open, informed, study of all aspects of consciousness. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00017.

Cardeña, E., Lynn, S. J., & Krippner, S. (2014). Anomalous experiences in perspective. In E.

Cardeña, S. J., Lynn, & S. Krippner (Eds.), Varieties of anomalous experience: Examining the scientific evidence. 2nd ed, (pp. 3-20). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Cardeña, E., & Pekala, R. J. (2014). Methodological issues in the study of altering consciousness and anomalous experience. In E. Cardeña, S. J., Lynn, & S. Krippner (Eds.), Varieties of anomalous experience: Examining the scientific evidence. 2nd ed. (pp. 21-56). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Cardeña, E., & Alvarado, C. (2014). Anomalous self and identity experiences. In E. Cardeña, S. J., Lynn, & S. Krippner (Eds.), Varieties of anomalous experience: Examining the scientific evidence. 2nd ed. (pp. 175-212). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Cardeña, E., Krippner, S., & Lynn, S. J. (2014). Anomalous experiences: An integrative summary. In E. Cardeña, S. J., Lynn, & S. Krippner (Eds.), Varieties of anomalous experience: Examining the scientific evidence. 2nd ed. (pp. 409-426). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Cardeña, E., Jönsson, P., Terhune, D. B., & Marcusson-Clavertz, D. (2013). The neurophenomenology of neutral hypnosis. Cortex, 49, 375-385. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2012.04.001

Cardeña, E., Iribas, A., & Reijman, S. (2012). Art and psi. Journal of Parapsychology, 76, 3-25.

Dalenberg, C. J., Brand, B. L., Gleaves, D. H., Dorahy, M. J., Loewenstein, R. J., Cardeña, E., Carlson, E. B., Frewen, P. A., & Spiegel, D. (2012). Evaluation of the evidence for the trauma and fantasy models of dissociation. Psychological Bulletin, 138, 550-588.

Cardeña, E., Butler, L, Reijman, S. & Spiegel, D., & (2012). Disorders of extreme stress. In I. B. Weiner, G. Stricker, & T. A. Widiger (Eds.) Handbook of psychology. Clinical psychology (2nd ed., pp. 497-548). New York, NY: Wiley.

Marcusson-Clavertz, D., Terhune, D. B., & Cardeña, E., (2012). Individual differences and state effects on mind wandering: Hypnotizability, dissociation, and sensory homogenization. Consciousness and Cognition, 21, 1097-1108.

Cardeña, E., & Carlson, E. (2011). Acute Stress Disorder revisited. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 7, 245-267. doi: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-032210-104502

Marcusson-Clavertz, D. & Cardeña, E., (2011). Hypnotizability, alterations in consciousness, and other variables as predictors of performance in a ganzfeld psi task. Journal of Parapsychology, 75, 235-259.

Cardeña, E. (2011). On wolverines and epistemological totalitarianism. (Guest editorial). Journal of Scientific Exploration, 25, 539-551.

Moreira-Almeida, A., & Cardeña, E. (2011). Differential diagnosis between non-pathological psychotic and spiritual experiences and mental disorders: A contribution from Latin American studies to the ICD-11. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, 33 Suppl. 1, S29-S36.

Cardeña, E. & Alvarado, C. (2011). Altered consciousness from the Age of Enlightenment through mid 20th century. In E. Cardeña, & M. Winkelman (Eds.), Altering consciousness. Multidisciplinary perspectives. Volume I. History, culture, and the humanities (pp. 89-112). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Cardeña, E. (2011). Altering consciousness: Setting up the stage. In E. Cardeña, & M. Winkelman (Eds.), Altering consciousness. Multidisciplinary perspectives. Volume I. History, culture, and the humanities (pp. 1-21). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Cardeña, E. (2011). Altered consciousness in emotion and psychopathology. In E. Cardeña, & M. Winkelman (Eds.), Altering consciousness. Multidisciplinary perspectives. Volume II. Biological and psychological perspectives (pp. 279-299). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Granqvist, P., Reijman, S. & Cardeña E. (2011). Altered consciousness and human development. In E. Cardeña, & M. Winkelman. Altering consciousness. Multidisciplinary perspectives. Volume II. Biological and psychological perspectives (pp. 211-234). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Cardeña, E. (2011). Altered consciousness is a many splendored thing. Journal of Cosmology, 14, 4781-4791 (volume edited by Sir Roger Penrose & Stuart Hameroff).