Religion Brain & Behavior
March 31, 2026
Kurt Stocker, Matthias Hartmann, Frederick S. Barrett et al.
Mystical dynamics—the notion that mystical oneness may unfold involving ego disintegration, renewal, and luminous light—has been discussed anecdotally by psychedelic researchers and therapists but has not yet been empirically examined in controlled settings. This study investigated the occurrence and dose-dependency of mystical dynamics in healthy participants after administration of...
medRxiv
January 16, 2026
Kristian Larsen, Patrick M. Fisher, Drummond E. Mcculloch et al.
1 citation
Classical psychedelics have regained interest for their potential to treat psychiatric and neurological disorders, and explore neural mechanisms supporting perception, cognition, and mood. Acute psychedelic effects have been linked to increases in brain complexity and entropy, but it is unclear if these changes are specific to psychedelics or reflect more general psychoactive effects. Here, we...
Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich)
2026
Kurt Stocker, Matthias Hartmann, Frederick S. Barrett et al.
Mystical dynamics-the notion that mystical oneness may unfold involving ego disintegration, renewal, and luminous light-has been discussed anecdotally by psychedelic researchers and therapists but has not yet been empirically examined in controlled settings. This study investigated the occurrence and dose-dependency of mystical dynamics in healthy participants after administration of...
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
December 26, 2025
Kurt Stocker, Matthias Hartmann, Yasmin Schmid et al.
5 citations
The Altered States of Consciousness Scale (3/5D-ASC or 11-ASC) is widely used to assess non-ordinary states of consciousness, particularly for psychedelic research. However, its original dimensional model (3D-ASC within 5D-ASC) and later 11-subscale structure (11-ASC) have a hierarchically incompatible higher/lower-order structure. Although the 11-ASC offers superior model fit, the 3D-ASC...
Clinical Pharmacokinetics
July 14, 2025
Lorenz Mueller, Aaron Klaiber, Laura Ley et al.
4 citations
Mescaline is a classic serotonergic psychedelic with a long history of human use. The present study analyzed the pharmacokinetics, pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationship, and urinary recovery of oral mescaline hydrochloride. Data from 105 single-dose administrations (100-800 mg) in 49 participants from two phase I trials were analyzed with compartmental pharmacokinetics and...
JAMA Psychiatry
June 1, 2025
Lorenz Mueller, Joyce Santos de Jesus, Yasmin Schmid et al.
14 citations
Microdosing psychedelics, including lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), has gained attention for its potential benefits in several psychiatric disorders, including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, LSD's efficacy in reducing ADHD symptoms remains unknown. To determine the safety and efficacy of repeated low doses of LSD in reducing ADHD symptoms compared with placebo. This...
Psychopharmacology
March 26, 2025
Laura Ley, Matthias E. Liechti, Anna M Becker et al.
3 citations
Little is known about motives of healthy volunteers to participate in psychedelic trials and how they appraise their study experience retrospectively. This paper explored reasons why healthy people register for psychedelic trials, factors that they considered to contribute to either positive or negative study experiences, and under which circumstances they would seek a psychedelic experience...
Repository for Publications and Research Data
2025
Kurt Stocker, Matthias Hartmann, Yasmin Schmid et al.
Background: The Altered States of Consciousness Scale (3/5D-ASC or 11-ASC) is widely used to assess non-ordinary states of consciousness, particularly for psychedelic research. However, its original dimensional model (3D-ASC within 5D-ASC) and later 11-subscale structure (11-ASC) have a hierarchically incompatible higher/lower-order structure. Although the 11-ASC offers superior model fit, the...
Neuropsychopharmacology
December 19, 2024
Livio Erne, Severin B Vogt, Lorenz Müller et al.
14 citations
Abstract N,N -dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a serotonergic psychedelic that is known for its short-lasting effects when administered intravenously. Several studies have investigated the administration of intravenous boluses or combinations of a bolus and a subsequent continuous infusion. However, data on dose-dependent acute effects and pharmacokinetics of continuous DMT infusions are lacking. We...
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
December 1, 2024
Isabelle Straumann, Isidora Avedisian, Aaron Klaiber et al.
20 citations
Racemic 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) acutely increases mood, feelings of empathy, trust, and closeness to others and is investigated to assist psychotherapy. Preclinical research indicates that S-MDMA releases monoamines and oxytocin more potently than R-MDMA, whereas R-MDMA more potently stimulates serotonin 5-hydroxytryptamine-2A receptors. S-MDMA may have more stimulant...
British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology
November 25, 2024
Aaron Klaiber, Mélusine Humbert‐droz, Laura Ley et al.
6 citations
Psychedelics, including mescaline, may serve as novel treatments for depression and anxiety. However, data is scarce on the safety of mescaline. The present pooled analysis included two double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled studies with a total of 48 participants and 96 mescaline administrations. Single oral-dose administrations (n = 16/dose) of mescaline at doses of 100-800 mg were...
Translational Psychiatry
September 30, 2024
Aaron Klaiber, Yasmin Schmid, Anna M Becker et al.
27 citations
Classic psychedelics have regained interest in research and therapy. Despite the long tradition of the human use of mescaline, modern data on its dose-dependent acute effects and pharmacokinetics are lacking. Additionally, its mechanism of action has not been investigated in humans. We used a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design in 16 healthy subjects (8 women) who...
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
December 1, 2023
Isabelle Straumann, Laura Ley, Friederike Holze et al.
41 citations
There is renewed interest in the use of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in psychiatric research and practice. Although acute subjective effects of LSD are mostly positive, negative subjective effects, including anxiety, may occur. The induction of overall positive acute subjective effects is desired in psychedelic-assisted therapy because positive acute experiences are associated with greater...
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
October 1, 2023
Laura Ley, Friederike Holze, Denis Arikci et al.
127 citations
Mescaline, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and psilocybin are classic serotonergic psychedelics. A valid, direct comparison of the effects of these substances is lacking. The main goal of the present study was to investigate potential pharmacological, physiological and phenomenological differences at psychoactive-equivalent doses of mescaline, LSD, and psilocybin. The present study used a...
Translational Psychiatry
May 23, 2023
Severin B Vogt, Laura Ley, Livio Erne et al.
85 citations
N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is distinct among classic serotonergic psychedelics because of its short-lasting effects when administered intravenously. Despite growing interest in the experimental and therapeutic use of intravenous DMT, data are lacking on its clinical pharmacology. We conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial in 27 healthy participants to test...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
November 4, 2022
Aaron Klaiber, Friederike Holze, Ioanna Istampoulouoglou et al.
100 citations
Abstract Background Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is currently being investigated in psychedelic-assisted therapy. LSD has a long duration of acute action of 8–11 hours. It produces its acute psychedelic effects via stimulation of the serotonin 5-hydroxytryptamine-2A (HT2A) receptor. Administration of the 5-HT2A antagonist ketanserin before LSD almost fully blocks the acute subjective...
Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis
August 1, 2022
Jan Thomann, Laura Ley, Aaron Klaiber et al.
23 citations
Mescaline is a psychedelic phenethylamine found in different species of cacti. Currently, mescaline's acute subjective effects and pharmacokinetics are investigated in several modern clinical studies. Therefore, we developed a bioanalytical method for the rapid quantification of mescaline and its metabolites in human plasma. Mescaline and its metabolites 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenylacetic acid...
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics
November 7, 2021
Anna M Becker, Friederike Holze, Tanja Grandinetti et al.
177 citations
The psychedelic psilocybin is being investigated for the treatment of depression and anxiety. Unclear is whether antidepressant treatments interact with psilocybin. The present study used a double‐blind, placebo‐controlled, crossover design with two experimental test sessions to investigate the response to psilocybin (25 mg) in healthy subjects after pretreatment with escitalopram or placebo....