Etzel Cardeña holds the Thorsen Chair in psychology including parapsychology and hypnosis at Lund University, Sweden. He was elected Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Psychological Science (APS), among other organizations. His research, theoretical, historical, and pedagogical contributions have received 25 awards from various academic and professional organizations.

Cardeña and his collaborators conduct research on anomalous experiences,  the neurophenomenology of altered states, the relation between states of consciousness and performance in psi tasks, dissociative reactions to trauma, and related topics.

His more than 400 publications include the influential books, Varieties of Anomalous Experience (now in a second edition and translated into Portuguese), the 2 volumes of Altering Consciousness: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, Parapsychology: A Handbook for the 21st Century, and Acute Reactions to Trauma and Psychotherapy. He has published in many of the top journals of his field, including American Journal of Psychiatry, American Psychologist, Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, Cortex, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, and Psychological Bulletin, among others.

He teaches courses on Altered States of Consciousness and Parapsychology, and Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, and conducts and supervises research on his areas of interest.

Etzel has also been active as a professional theatre director, actor, and writer in México, the USA, and Sweden.