Consciousness was the original focus of psychological research and is once more a central topic of inquiry.

The growth of interest and research over recent years has been explosive and to foster this development, a new Section of the British Psychological Society, the Consciousness and Experiential Psychology (CEP) Section was formed in 1997. Its purpose is to advance our understanding of consciousness, to bring scientific research on consciousness closer to other traditions of inquiry into the nature of mind and to explore how this research can be used to improve the quality of life.