{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]],"date-time":"2026-02-17T06:06:52Z","timestamp":1771308412232,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":68,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]],"date-time":"2026-02-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771286400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Altered states of consciousness range from psychotic disintegration to mystical union, with oceanic affectivity - experiences of ego dissolution, boundlessness, and affective merging - constituting a central feature. While such states can be induced by psychedelics, they also occur through trauma, meditative practices, or within compulsive addictive cycles. In addition, oceanic states may offer temporary relief from psychic pain but often reinforce a regressive return to early undifferentiated states of self, bypassing affect and symbolic integration and adaptive regulation. From a neuropsychodynamic perspective, this dynamic reflects both a defense against and a longing for psychic wholeness. In that sense, addiction may function as a failed form of transcendence - an attempt to escape internal fragmentation through altered consciousness. Drawing on the myth of Prometheus, it is proposed that the repeated self-harming cycle of addiction resembles the eternal devouring of the liver: a neurobiological and symbolic site of both detoxification and self-destruction. Neuroscientifically, such states are associated with alterations in the default mode network, limbic dysregulation, reduced top-down control, and increased neural entropy. These changes may loosen rigid ego structures and facilitate the emergence of unconscious material, including early affective and relational imprints. This paper integrates psychodynamic theory with current neuroscientific findings to conceptualize addiction not merely as a maladaptive behavior but as a neuropsychodynamic attempt to restore lost internal cohesion. Understanding oceanic states as transitional phenomena at the boundary between breakdown and transformation offers a more nuanced approach to the addictive process and its therapeutic implications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1699816","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]],"date-time":"2026-02-17T05:17:52Z","timestamp":1771305472000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Prometheus unbound? Oceanic affectivity and the neuropsychodynamics of addiction"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Human-Friedrich","family":"Unterrainer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Psychotherapy Science, Sigmund Freud Private University","place":["Vienna, Austria"]},{"name":"Institute for Religious Studies, University of Vienna","place":["Vienna, Austria"]},{"name":"ARH - Addiction Research Hub, Gr\u00fcner Kreis Ltd.","place":["Vienna, Austria"]},{"name":"University Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine, Medical University of Graz","place":["Graz, Austria"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"9","DOI":"10.1177\/0003065117690352","article-title":"Exploring Freud\u2019s resistance to the oceanic feeling","volume":"65","author":"Ackerman","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Am. Psychoanal. Assoc."},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"635932","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2021.635932","article-title":"The SEEKING drive and its fixation: a neuro-psycho-evolutionary approach to the pathology of addiction","volume":"15","author":"Alcaro","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1424","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2017.01424","article-title":"The affective core of the self: a neuro-archetypical perspective on the foundations of human (and animal) subjectivity","volume":"8","author":"Alcaro","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1176\/appi.books.9781615370887","volume-title":"Mentalizing in clinical practice","author":"Allen","year":"2008"},{"key":"ref5","volume-title":"Handbook of mentalizing in mental health practice","author":"Bateman","year":"2012"},{"key":"ref6","volume-title":"Transformations","author":"Bion","year":"1965"},{"key":"ref7","volume-title":"Attachment and loss: volume 1. attachment","author":"Bowlby","year":"1982"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203834954","volume-title":"The shadow of the tsunami and the growth of the relational mind","author":"Bromberg","year":"2012"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1196\/annals.1440.011","article-title":"The brain\u2019s default network: anatomy, function, and relevance to disease","volume":"1124","author":"Buckner","year":"2008","journal-title":"Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci."},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"316","DOI":"10.1124\/pr.118.017160","article-title":"REBUS and the anarchic brain: toward a unified model of the brain action of psychedelics","volume":"71","author":"Carhart-Harris","year":"2019","journal-title":"Pharmacol. Rev."},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"20","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2014.00020","article-title":"The entropic brain: a theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs","volume":"8","author":"Carhart-Harris","year":"2014","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"621","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cpr.2010.04.005","article-title":"The role of affective dysregulation in drug addiction","volume":"30","author":"Cheetham","year":"2010","journal-title":"Clin. Psychol. Rev."},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1211","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2014.01211","article-title":"Creativity and psychopathology: are there similar mental processes involved in creativity and in psychosis-proneness?","volume":"5","author":"Fink","year":"2014","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"63","DOI":"10.1521\/ijgp.51.1.63.49730","article-title":"Addiction as an attachment disorder: implications for group therapy","volume":"51","author":"Flores","year":"2001","journal-title":"Int. J. Group Psychother."},{"key":"ref15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"761744","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2021.761744","article-title":"Affective neuroscience contributions to the treatment of addiction: the role of social instincts, pleasure and SEEKING","volume":"12","author":"Flores Mosri","year":"2021","journal-title":"Front. Psych."},{"key":"ref16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"307","DOI":"10.1080\/07351692209348990","article-title":"Early intervention and the development of self-regulation","volume":"22","author":"Fonagy","year":"2002","journal-title":"Psychoanal. Inq."},{"key":"ref17","volume-title":"Beyond the pleasure principle","author":"Freud","year":"1920"},{"key":"ref18","volume-title":"Civilization and its discontents","author":"Freud","year":"1930"},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e0318505","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0318505","article-title":"Effects of insecure attachment on fMRI resting state functional connectivity in poly drug use disorder","volume":"20","author":"Fuchshuber","year":"","journal-title":"PLoS One"},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1080\/10826084.2025.2592873","article-title":"The relationship between attachment types and drug of choice: a cluster analysis","author":"Fuchshuber","year":"","journal-title":"Subst. Use Misuse"},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"531","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2020.00531","article-title":"Childhood trauma, personality, and substance use disorder: the development of a neuropsychoanalytic addiction model","volume":"11","author":"Fuchshuber","year":"2020","journal-title":"Front. Psych."},{"key":"ref22","volume-title":"Psychodynamic psychiatry in clinical practice","author":"Gabbard","year":"2005"},{"key":"ref23","first-page":"1181","article-title":"The social biofeedback theory of parental affect-mirroring","volume":"77","author":"Gergely","year":"1996","journal-title":"Int. J. Psychoanal."},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1181","DOI":"10.1177\/0269881116675513","article-title":"Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer: a randomized double-blind trial","volume":"30","author":"Griffiths","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Psychopharmacol."},{"key":"ref25","volume-title":"Beyond the brain: birth, death, and transcendence in psychotherapy","author":"Grof","year":"1985"},{"key":"ref26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"77","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2013.00077","article-title":"Addiction: choice or compulsion?","volume":"4","author":"Henden","year":"2013","journal-title":"Front. Psych."},{"key":"ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"579","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2019.00579","article-title":"The role of attachment in poly-drug use disorder: an overview of the literature, recent findings and clinical implications","volume":"10","author":"Hiebler-Ragger","year":"2019","journal-title":"Front. Psych."},{"key":"ref28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203779996","volume-title":"The collapse of the self and its therapeutic restoration","author":"Kainer","year":"2013"},{"key":"ref29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4324\/9780429440397","volume-title":"Transcending addiction: An existential pathway to recovery","author":"Kemp","year":"2018"},{"key":"ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"231","DOI":"10.3109\/10673229709030550","article-title":"The self-medication hypothesis of substance use disorders: a reconsideration and recent applications","volume":"4","author":"Khantzian","year":"1997","journal-title":"Harv. Rev. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"941328","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2022.941328","article-title":"\u201cDeath drive\u201d scientifically reconsidered: not a drive but a collection of trauma-induced auto-addictive diseases","volume":"13","author":"Kirsch","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"760","DOI":"10.1016\/S2215-0366(16)00104-8","article-title":"Neurobiology of addiction: a neurocircuitry analysis","volume":"3","author":"Koob","year":"2016","journal-title":"Lancet Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref33","volume-title":"Black sun: Depression and melancholia","author":"Kristeva","year":"1989"},{"key":"ref34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1093\/nc\/nix016","article-title":"Self unbound: Ego dissolution in psychedelic experience","volume":"2017","author":"Letheby","year":"2017","journal-title":"Neurosci. Conscious."},{"key":"ref35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"43","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1749-6632.2011.063001.x","article-title":"Meditation research, past, present, and future: perspectives from the Nalanda contemplative science tradition","volume":"1260","author":"Loizzo","year":"2012","journal-title":"Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci."},{"key":"ref36","volume-title":"The psychological birth of the human infant","author":"Mahler","year":"1968"},{"key":"ref37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"eaay8477","DOI":"10.1126\/science.aay8477","article-title":"Resilience after trauma: the role of memory suppression","volume":"367","author":"Mary","year":"2020","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"961","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2015.00961","article-title":"The integration of emotional and symbolic components in multimodal communication","volume":"6","author":"Mehu","year":"2015","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"483","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tics.2011.08.003","article-title":"Large-scale brain networks and psychopathology: a unifying triple network model","volume":"15","author":"Menon","year":"2011","journal-title":"Trends Cogn. Sci."},{"key":"ref40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"245","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2017.00245","article-title":"Looking for the self: phenomenology, neurophysiology and philosophical significance of drug-induced ego dissolution","volume":"11","author":"Milli\u00e8re","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"681","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bpsc.2024.04.001","article-title":"Dynamic functional hyperconnectivity after psilocybin intake is primarily associated with oceanic boundlessness","volume":"9","author":"Mortaheb","year":"2024","journal-title":"Biol. Psychiatry Cogn. Neurosci. Neuroimaging"},{"key":"ref42","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1080\/0075417X.2014.883125","article-title":"Top down and bottom up: trauma, executive functioning, emotional regulation, the brain and child psychotherapy","volume":"40","author":"Music","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Child Psychother."},{"key":"ref43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"720","DOI":"10.1038\/s41597-022-01822-4","article-title":"The altered states database: psychometric data from a systematic literature review","volume":"9","author":"Prugger","year":"2022","journal-title":"Sci. Data"},{"key":"ref44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"481","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2024.11.031","article-title":"Affects, dissociative symptoms and addictive behaviours: insights from clinical and non-clinical samples","volume":"370","author":"Renner","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Affect. Disord."},{"key":"ref45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"974","DOI":"10.3389\/fphar.2017.00974","article-title":"Quality of acute psychedelic experience predicts therapeutic efficacy of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression","volume":"8","author":"Roseman","year":"2018","journal-title":"Front. Pharmacol."},{"key":"ref46","first-page":"196","article-title":"The oceanic feeling: a case study in existential feeling","volume":"21","author":"Saarinen","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Conscious. Stud."},{"key":"ref47","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"697","DOI":"10.1080\/15299732.2025.2542127","article-title":"Attachment trauma, dissociation, and addictive behaviors: a psychodynamic perspective","volume":"26","author":"Schimmenti","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Trauma Dissociation"},{"key":"ref48","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"727","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2019.00727","article-title":"Attachment and substance use disorders\u2014theoretical models, empirical evidence, and implications for treatment","volume":"10","author":"Schindler","year":"2019","journal-title":"Front. Psych."},{"key":"ref49","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1329226","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2024.1329226","article-title":"Is there an affective neuroscience of spirituality? The development and validation of the OCEANic feelings scale","volume":"18","author":"Schmautz","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref50","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"178","DOI":"10.1080\/00377317.2014.923719","article-title":"Regulation theory and affect regulation psychotherapy: a clinical primer","volume":"84","author":"Schore","year":"2014","journal-title":"Smith Coll. Stud. Soc. Work"},{"key":"ref51","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"103474","DOI":"10.1016\/j.concog.2023.103474","article-title":"A novel ego dissolution scale: a construct validation study","volume":"109","author":"Sleight","year":"2023","journal-title":"Conscious. Cogn."},{"key":"ref52","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"656","DOI":"10.1080\/10503307.2012.700871","article-title":"Affect integration as a predictor of change: affect consciousness and treatment response in open-ended psychotherapy","volume":"22","author":"Solbakken","year":"2012","journal-title":"Psychother. Res."},{"key":"ref53","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1558537","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2025.1558537","article-title":"Oceanic feelings and their relationship to spirituality and personality organization","volume":"16","author":"Stra\u00dfnig","year":"2025","journal-title":"Front. Psychol."},{"key":"ref54","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2281","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2012.01.117","article-title":"Resting state functional connectivity in addiction: lessons learned and a road ahead","volume":"62","author":"Sutherland","year":"2012","journal-title":"Neuroimage"},{"key":"ref55","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"94","DOI":"10.1080\/0803706X.2012.659284","article-title":"Black holes: some notes on time, symbolization, and perversion in the psychodynamics of addiction","volume":"21","author":"Sweet","year":"2012","journal-title":"Int. Forum Psychoanal."},{"key":"ref56","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1043","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cub.2016.02.010","article-title":"Increased global functional connectivity correlates with LSD-induced ego dissolution","volume":"26","author":"Tagliazucchi","year":"2016","journal-title":"Curr. Biol."},{"key":"ref57","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"620","DOI":"10.1111\/1468-5922.12125","article-title":"The paradox of narcissistic expansion in altered states: self-transcendence and self-inflation in compulsive practices","volume":"59","author":"Tzu","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Anal. Psychol."},{"key":"ref58","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1563871","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2025.1563871","article-title":"On the wings of Icarus \u2013 the need for transcendence in addictive diseases","volume":"16","author":"Unterrainer","year":"","journal-title":"Front. Psych."},{"key":"ref59","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1653801","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2025.1653801","article-title":"Oceanic states of consciousness - an existential-neuroscience perspective","volume":"19","author":"Unterrainer","year":"","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref60","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1625880","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2025.1625880","article-title":"Addiction, attachment, and the brain: a focused review of empirical findings and future directions","volume":"19","author":"Unterrainer","year":"","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref61","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"208","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2017.00208","article-title":"Addiction as an attachment disorder: white matter impairment is linked to increased negative affective states in poly-drug use","volume":"11","author":"Unterrainer","year":"2017","journal-title":"Front. Hum. Neurosci."},{"key":"ref63","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"204","DOI":"10.1080\/10508619.2012.714999","article-title":"Religious\/spiritual well-being, coping styles, and personality dimensions in people with substance use disorders","volume":"23","author":"Unterrainer","year":"2013","journal-title":"Int. J. Psychol. Relig."},{"key":"ref64","volume-title":"The maturational processes and the facilitating environment","author":"Winnicott","year":"1965"},{"key":"ref65","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1080\/02668739900700051","article-title":"Addiction, death, and the liver in mind: the Prometheus syndrome","volume":"13","author":"Winship","year":"1999","journal-title":"Psychoanal. Psychother."},{"key":"ref66","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1386321","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2024.1386321","article-title":"Alterations in brain network connectivity and subjective experience induced by psychedelics: a scoping review","volume":"15","author":"Yu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Front. Psych."},{"key":"ref67","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.1080\/01062301.2023.2296689","article-title":"Containment, affirmation and structural deficiency \u2013 revisiting an issue in psychoanalytic method","volume":"46","author":"Zachrisson","year":"2023","journal-title":"Scand. Psychoanal. Rev."},{"key":"ref68","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"189","DOI":"10.1016\/j.schres.2007.05.029","article-title":"Functional disintegration in paranoid schizophrenia using resting-state fMRI","volume":"212","author":"Zhou","year":"2007","journal-title":"Schizophr. Res."},{"key":"ref69","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"886","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuron.2018.03.048","article-title":"Neuroimaging impaired response inhibition and salience attribution in human drug addiction: a systematic review","volume":"98","author":"Zilverstand","year":"2018","journal-title":"Neuron"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Psychology"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1699816\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]],"date-time":"2026-02-17T05:17:56Z","timestamp":1771305476000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1699816\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]]},"references-count":68,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1699816"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1699816","relation":{},"ISSN":["1664-1078"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1664-1078","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,17]]},"article-number":"1699816"}}