Hallucinogens as medicine.
Sci Am December 1, 2010 Roland R. Griffiths, Charles S. Grob 46 citations
Hallucinogens as medicine.
Charles S. Grob
Harbor–UCLA Medical Center, UCLA Medical Center
52 papers in the library · 4,126 citations · publishing 1989-2026
Papers
Pilot Study of Psilocybin Treatment for Anxiety in Patients With Advanced-Stage Cancer
Archives of General Psychiatry September 7, 2010 Gurpreet S Chopra, Marycie Hagerty, Charles S. Grob et al. 1,220 citations
CONTEXT: Researchers conducted extensive investigations of hallucinogens in the 1950s and 1960s. By the early 1970s, however, political and cultural pressures forced the cessation of all projects. This investigation reexamines a potentially promising clinical application of hallucinogens in the treatment of anxiety reactive to advanced-stage cancer. OBJECTIVE: To explore the safety and efficacy...
PW01-222 - Adolescents Using Hallucinogens Within A Religious Context: A Neuropsychological Assessment
European Psychiatry 2010 Evelyn Doering-Silveira, Enrique Lopez, Charles S. Grob et al.
Introduction The use of psychoactive substances has been frequently associated with cognitive impairment. More and more people, including adolescents, use the plant hallucinogen beverage “ayahuasca” throughout the world. Long-term ayahuasca use by adolescents might eventually result in impaired cognitive performance. Objective The objective of this study is to assess neuropsychological...
Early Psychedelic Investigators Reflect on the Psychological and Social Implications of their Research
Journal of Humanistic Psychology October 1, 2006 Roger Walsh, Charles S. Grob 18 citations
In the brief period before it was legally terminated, considerable human subjects research was conducted on psychedelics. More than 1,000 clinical reports documented a wide array of psychological effects and therapeutic possibilities. The findings held major implications for disciplines as diverse as psychology, psychiatry, neuro-science, anthropology, sociology, and religious studies....
A demand for clarity regarding a case report on the ingestion of 5-methoxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) in an Ayahuasca preparation.
J Anal Toxicol July 1, 2006 James C. Callaway, Charles S. Grob, Dennis J. Mckenna et al. 33 citations
A demand for clarity regarding a case report on the ingestion of 5-methoxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) in an Ayahuasca preparation.
Report on psychoactive drug use among adolescents using ayahuasca within a religious context.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs June 1, 2005 Evelyn Doering-Silveira, Charles S. Grob, Marlene Dobkin De Rios et al. 122 citations
Ritual use of ayahuasca within the context of the Brazilian ayahuasca churches often starts during late childhood or early adolescence. Premature access to psychoactive drugs may represent a risk factor for drug misuse. Conversely, religious affiliation seems to play a protective role in terms of substance abuse. The objective of this study was to describe patterns of drug use in a sample of...
Ayahuasca in adolescence: a preliminary psychiatric assessment.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs June 1, 2005 Dartiu Xavier Da Silveira, Charles S. Grob, Marlene Dobkin De Rios et al. 111 citations
Ayahuasca is believed to be harmless for those (including adolescents) drinking it within a religious setting. Nevertheless controlled studies on the mental/ psychiatric status of ritual hallucinogenic ayahuasca concoction consumers are still lacking. In this study, 40 adolescents from a Brazilian ayahuasca sect were compared with 40 controls matched on sex, age, and educational background for...
Ayahuasca in adolescence: a neuropsychological assessment.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs June 1, 2005 Evelyn Doering-Silveira, Enrique Lopez, Charles S. Grob et al. 70 citations
The purpose of the study was to evaluate neuropsychologically adolescents who use ayahuasca in a religious context. A battery of neuropsychological tests was administered to adolescents who use ayahuasca. These subjects were compared to a matched control group of adolescents who did not use ayahuasca. The controls were matched with regards to sex, age, and education. The neuropsychological...
Ayahuasca in adolescence: Qaualitative results.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs June 1, 2005 Marlene Dobkin De Rios, Charles S. Grob, Enrique Lopez et al. 34 citations
Qualitative research was conducted in Brazil among 28 ayahuasca-consuming adolescents members of the União do Vegetal Church, and 28 adolescents who never used ayahuasca. They were compared on a number of qualitative variables, including vignettes measuring moral and ethical concerns. Psychocultural studies utilizing co-occurences of variables in the realm of qualitative studies are useful in...
Ayahuasca use in cross-cultural perspective.
J Psychoactive Drugs June 1, 2005 Marlene Dobkin De Rios, Charles S. Grob 22 citations
(2005). Editors' Introduction: Ayahuasca Use in Cross-Cultural Perspective. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs: Vol. 37, Ayahuasca Use In Cross-Cultural Perspective, pp. 119-121.
Interview with Jeffrey Bronfman, RepresentativeMestrefor the Uniâo do Vegetal Church in the United States
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs June 1, 2005 Marlene Dobkin De Rios, Charles S. Grob 5 citations
A telephone interview was held in November of 2004 with Mr. Jeffrey Bronfman, representative mestre for the União do Vegetal Church in the United States, which utilizes ayahuasca as a religious sacrament. At the time of this writing, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case in which a large quantity of the ayahuasca tea was seized in the U.S. destined for sacramental use in church...
Do Drugs Have Religious Import? A 40-Year Retrospective
Journal of Humanistic Psychology April 1, 2004 Huston Smith, Charles S. Grob, Robert L. Jesse et al. 29 citations
Four decades ago, Huston Smith published one of the mostinfluential articles ever written on psychedelics, titled “Do Drugs HaveReligious Import?” As part of “The Oral History of PsychedelicResearch Project,” he was interviewed and invited to revisit thistopic. The interview covers his personal experiences, as well as the influences of psychedelic experiences on religious traditions...
Neuropsychological effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) in recreational users.
The Clinical neuropsychologist November 1, 2003 Carla Back-Madruga, Kyle B. Boone, Linda Chang et al. 57 citations
While neuropsychological studies on 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) users have been emerging, results have been inconsistent, possibly due to methodological issues. The current study examined the performance of 22 recreational MDMA users compared to 28 age, education, and IQ comparable normal control subjects on a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests. Results...
Hallucinogens and redemption.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 2002 Marlene Dobkin De Rios, Charles S. Grob, John R. Baker 58 citations
This article examines drug substitution with regard to hallucinogens (ayahuasca, ibogaine, peyote and LSD) set within the concept of redemption. The model examines both religious and secular approaches to the contemporary use of hallucinogens in drug substitution, both by scientists and in religious settings worldwide. The redemptive model posits that the proper use of one psychoactive...
Deconstructing Ecstasy: The Politics Of Mdma Research
Addiction Research 2000 Charles S. Grob 79 citations
What is Ecstasy? Defined by the New Webster's Dictionary as a state of intense overpowering emotion, a condition of exultation or mental rapture induced by beauty, music, artistic creation or the contemplation of the divine, ecstasy derives etymologically from the ancient Greek ekstasis, which means flight of the soul from the body. The anthropologist, Mircea Eliade, who explored the roots of...
Cerebral1H MRS alterations in recreational 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ?ecstasy?) users
Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging October 1, 1999 L. Chang, Thomas Ernst, Charles S. Grob et al. 109 citations
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is an illicit drug that has been associated with serotonergic axonal degeneration in animals. This study evaluates neurochemical abnormalities in recreational MDMA users. Twenty-two MDMA users and 37 normal subjects were evaluated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H MRS) in the mid-frontal,...
Ayahuasca Preparations and Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors: A Potential Combination for Severe Adverse Interactions
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs December 1, 1998 James C. Callaway, Charles S. Grob 134 citations
The Amazonian psychoactive plant beverage ayahuasca has attracted increasing interest in recent years. Little attention has been given, however, to potentially dangerous interactions with other drugs. In particular, the interaction between the potent monoamine oxidase-inhibiting harmala alkaloids in ayahuasca and the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class of antidepressants may...
Editors' Introduction: Hallucinogens at the Turn of the Century
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs December 1, 1998 Charles S. Grob, George Greer, Mariavittoria Mangini 15 citations
(1998). Editors' Introduction: Hallucinogens at the Turn of the Century. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs: Vol. 30, Therapeutic Ue of Hallucinogens, pp. 315-319.
Quantitation of N,N-Dimethyltryptamine and Harmala Alkaloids in Human Plasma after Oral Dosing with Ayahuasca
Journal of Analytical Toxicology October 1, 1996 James C. Callaway, Lionel P. Raymon, William Lee Hearn et al. 158 citations
Harmine, harmaline, tetrahydroharmine (THH), and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) were quantitated in plasma from 15 healthy male volunteers after the ingestion of ayahuasca, a beverage that has been used for religious purposes in Brazil since pre-Columbian times. A growing awareness of the interest in this ancient shamanistic practice in modern urban cultures and the widespread popular...
Human Psychopharmacology of Hoasca, A Plant Hallucinogen Used in Ritual Context in Brazil
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease February 1, 1996 Charles S. Grob, Dennis J. Mckenna, James C. Callaway et al. 333 citations
A multinational, collaborative, biomedical investigation of the effects of hoasca (ayahuasca), a potent concoction of plant hallucinogens, was conducted in the Brazilian Amazon during the summer of 1993. This report describes the psychological assessment of 15 long-term members of a syncretic church that utilizes hoasca as a legal, psychoactive sacrament as well as 15 matched controls with no...
Platelet serotonin uptake sites increased in drinkers ofayahuasca
Psychopharmacology November 1, 1994 James C. Callaway, Mauno M. Airaksinen, Dennis J. Mckenna et al. 79 citations
The binding of [3H]citalopram to the platelet 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) transporter was measured in a group of healthy male drinkers of ayahuasca, a psychoactive sacrament indigenous to Amazonia, and a group healthy male controls. An increased number of binding sites (Bmax) in the platelets of ayahuasca drinkers was found, while the dissociation constant (Kd) remained the same for both groups....
Vine of the Soul: Medicine Men, Their Plants and Rituals in the Colombian Amazonia
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs April 1, 1993 Marlene Dobkin De Rios, Charles S. Grob
" Vine of the Soul: Medicine Men, Their Plants and Rituals in the Colombian Amazonia ." Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 25(2), pp. 177–178
Phenomenology and Sequelae of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine Use
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease June 1, 1992 Mitchell B. Liester, Charles S. Grob, Gary Bravo et al. 130 citations
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has been at the center of a debate over its potential benefits as an adjunct to psychotherapy versus its capability for neurotoxic effects and is currently classified as a Schedule 1 drug by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). However, as yet, there is very little methodological data on the subjective experience of the MDMA-induced state or its...
The MDMA-Neurotoxicity Controversy: Implications for Clinical Research with Novel Psychoactive Drugs
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease June 1, 1992 Charles S. Grob, Gary Bravo, Roger Walsh et al. 21 citations
GROB, CHARLES S. M.D.; BRAVO, GARY L. M.D.; WALSH, ROGER N. M.D., Ph.D.; LIESTER, MITCHELL B. M.D. Author Information
Adolescent Drug Use in Cross-Cultural Perspective
Journal of Drug Issues 1992 Charles S. Grob, Marlene Dobkin De Rios 49 citations
An analysis is made of adolescent hallucinogenic plant ingestion during initiation rituals among Australian Aboriginal males, Tshogana Tsonga females and among Chumash youth of Southern California. This use pattern contrasts with abusive patterns of drug abuse found among American adolescents. Findings indicate the existence of managed altered states of consciousness in the tribal societies...