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The Wisdom of Psychopaths
In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a...
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Have you ever heard a song when none was playing, clearly seen someone’s face when no one was there or felt the presence of a person, only to turn around to an empty room? If you’ve consumed a lot of caffeine—the equivalent to seven cups of coffee—you are three times more likely to hear voices than if you had kept your caffeine intake to less than a cup of coffee, according to psychologists at the University of Durham in England. Their recent study shows that overingesting the stimulant slightly increases your risk of experiencing other hallucinations as well.
Caffeine heightens the physiological effects of stress, lead author Simon Jones says. When someone feels anxiety, the body releases the hormone cortisol, and when people drink plenty of caffeine-infused tea, coffee or soda, their body produces more of the hormone when they encounter stressful events. Researchers have proposed that cortisol may trigger or exaggerate psychotic experiences by increasing the amount of the neurotransmitter dopamine flowing into the brain’s limbic areas, evolutionarily ancient regions involved in emotion, memory and behavior.
“The prevalence of hallucinations is probably greater than people would expect,” Jones says. Research shows that every year about 5 to 10 percent of people—many of whom do not suffer from mental illness—experience delusions such as hearing voices and seeing things that are not there. According to Jones, “a range of people have frequent hallucinations yet cope well with these experiences.”
More research needs to be done before we can directly attribute hallucinations to caffeine; it is possible that people who already see, hear or feel these illusions may be consuming more caffeine for some other, as yet unknown reason, such as self-medication. Jones and other scientists also plan to look at whether nutritional influences such as sugar and fat might play a role in triggering phantom sights and sounds.
Note: This article was originally printed with the title, "Coffee Breakdown."
This article was originally published with the title Coffee Breakdown.
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13 Comments
Add CommentThis tells me nothing -- it fails to identify the real occurrence of hallucination. They mention later in the article that 5 to 10 percent of the population experiences hallucinations, but they fail to mention if there are any other factors involved -- I am sure that 5 to 10 percent of the American population uses hallucinogenic drugs -- are they included? If your baseline chance of hallucinating is .001%, having a 3x greater chance (.003%) is beyond statistically insignificant. I am not saying that caffeine does not cause hallucinations at high doses, this is an extremely plausible hypothesis, but this article tells me exactly nothing of real use. The quality of this reporting is deplorable, I shudder that many consider themselves informed after reading this drivel.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSo then, I reckon Irving Berlin was a big coffee drinker.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You're_Just_in_Love
Your wrong this article tells me to do some research. don't be so lazy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHearing music when no one is playing it, also occurs in a rare form of epilepsy, "Musical Epilepsy'. These people have the characteristic EEG of epilepsy and rarely go on to a major seizure. Of course caffeine in excess provokes seizures in these people, as do numerous other drugs including tricyclic anti depressants.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with thisnameistoolong that this article should have cited its sources. It would also be nice if the name of the journal article were given and links provided to the university press release and the primary author's webpage.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'll do so here:
Jones, S.R., & Fernyhough, C. (in press). "Caffeine, stress, and proneness to psychosis-like experiences: A preliminary investigation. Personality and Individual Differences."
http://www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=7403
http://www.dur.ac.uk/s.r.jones/
On the positive side, at least the article mentioned the name of the researcher and institution, rather than making reference to "some researcher, somewhere". The article also makes references to the preliminary nature of the study and to alternative hypotheses.
So, while the Cosier's article could have done a better job citing sources, it could be worse.
of course, demonic spirits can provide a show at times...they appear as UFO's, ghosts, sounds & orbs to otherwise sane people (who probably have something related to spiritism in their possession).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have significant anxiety problems -- and from firsthand experience, I've noticed the difference if I have a little too much caffeine. Every mental health professional I've encountered tells me to lay off the coffee and don't do the dew, and at first, I didn't believe them. That's when I started to pay closer attention. I noticed if I consumed a lot of caffeine, things that might not normally evoke a lot of anxiousness from me end up sending me into a panic. Though this anecdotal bit is not necessarily empirical evidence, it is certainly relevant to the article, methinks.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthis just confirms what most coffee drinkers already knew. The right amount is beneficial and stimulating to the brain. Too much sends it into overdrive and can have a negative impact on function.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGood grief. Has the economy forced SciAm to fire all their good editors?:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.badscience.net/2009/01/drink-coffee-see-dead-people/
I wonder if those people who believe that God has spoken to them (for example, G.W. Bush) have just been drinking too much coffee?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYour point is well taken but I also take it as an important finding that more cortisol is released when encountering stressful events after caffeine is consumed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI can certainly confirm the finding that caffeine increases cortisol. I was recently hospitalized for an extremely stressful operation. When I returned home I discovered that, drinking my normal cup of green tea produced anxiety instead the usual feeling of pleasant well-being. This took about four weeks to gradually subside. As a result I have switched to lower caffeine varieties of green tea.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHearing voices in one's head and thinking voices in one's head are two separate experiences. No one doubts the latter. The former I've experienced twice in my life. I could swear that someone was playing a sound device but those words were as clear as someone speaking into my ear. They were also very relevant to the time I heard them. I don't drink much coffee and I am crazy (if i say i'm not then you'll think i am) so there is some research that should go into collective consciousness that tips over into voices heard in the mind.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think this is the next big step in the evolution of man: each individual lives in a sea of consciousness and what we think creates the world.