Baland Jalal is a neuroscientist at Harvard University whose work spans clinical neuroscience, cultural psychology, and the biology of altered state of consciousness. Originally from Denmark and of Kurdish-Iraqi descent, he has authored over 50 scientific publications in these and related fields.
In 2020, Jalal co-authored the book Transdiagnostic Multiplex CBT for Muslim Cultural Groups: Treating Emotional Disorders, published by Cambridge University Press, alongside Devon Hinton of Harvard Medical School.[1]
As of 2023, in addition to his research at Harvard, Jalal teaches neuroscience at Peterson Academy[2], an online education platform.
He has been ranked by Expertscape as the leading global expert on sleep paralysis.[3] His work has been featured in CNN, TIME Magazine, the BBC, The Guardian, and The Washington Post, and he has appeared on prominent podcasts including The Jordan Peterson Podcast, Science Vs, and The Ranveer Show, India’s most popular podcast.[4][5]
Sleep paralysis, is a condition in which individuals experience temporary paralysis upon waking or falling asleep, often accompanied by vivid hallucinations. Jalal has conducted studies exploring sleep paralysis in diverse populations, including samples from Egypt, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Turkey, the United States, and South Africa.[8] Jalal's findings have highlighted how cultural beliefs shape the experience, interpretation, and distress associated with sleep paralysis.[9][10][11]
In collaboration with V. S. Ramachandran, Jalal has proposed several hypotheses to explain why people experience hallucinations of ghosts and intruders during sleep paralysis.[12][13] Their theories explore the roles of the right superior parietal lobule, body image projection, mirror neurons, and the neuropharmacology of hallucinations.[14]
Jalal proposed a clinical intervention known as Meditation-Relaxation Therapy (MR Therapy) for managing recurrent sleep paralysis. In collaboration with researchers at the University of Bologna, Jalal co-authored the first published empirical pilot trial evaluating MR Therapy for sleep paralysis.[15][16]
Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD)
In 2015 Jalal, working with V. S. Ramachandran, conducted some of the first studies using the rubber hand illusion to examine body image in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). They found that when a rubber hand was "contaminated" with fake feces during the illusion, healthy participants reported experiencing OCD-like disgust.[17] In 2019, collaborating with Richard J. McNally and V. S. Ramachandran, Jalal showed that OCD patients were more susceptible to the illusion—even when visual and tactile cues were misaligned—suggesting a more flexible body image. This research also proposed the illusion as a form of indirect exposure therapy for OCD.[18][19][20]
In a 2017 study, Jalal and Ramachandran found that individuals with OCD symptoms experienced disgust simply by watching an experimenter contaminate themselves, and relief when watching them wash.[21][22] In 2020, the findings were extended to a clinical OCD group with similar results.[23] In later work with Barbara Sahakian and Ramachandran, Jalal tested a digital self-observation technique in which participants with subclinical OCD watched daily smartphone videos of themselves touching fake feces or washing their hands. After one week, participants showed measurable improvements in symptoms.[24][25]
Popularizing science and press
Jalal has been active in public science communication, appearing on podcasts such as The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast, Science Vs,[26] and others, where he discusses topics including sleep, dreams, nightmares, and related areas of neuroscience. He has delivered TEDx talks[27] and has lectured at public and academic institutions, including the University of Oxford and Harvard University.[28]
Jalal, B., McNally, R. J., Elias, J., & Ramachandran, V. S. (2020). "Vicarious exposure"—"spooky action" at a distance in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders. doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2020.100567
Jalal, B., & Hinton, D. E. (2013). Rates and characteristics of sleep paralysis in the general population of Denmark and Egypt. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, 37, 534–548. doi:10.1007/s11013-013-9327-0
Hinton, D. E., & Jalal, B. (2020). Transdiagnostic Multiplex CBT for Muslim Cultural Groups: Treating Emotional Disorders. Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781108772265
Jalal, B., Bruhl, A. B., O’Callaghan, C., Piercy, T., Cardinal, R. N., Ramachandran, V. S., & Sahakian, B. J. (2018). Novel smartphone interventions improve cognitive flexibility and obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms in individuals with contamination fears. Scientific Reports. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-29393-2
