Pharmacological Reports
November 6, 2023
Paweł Holas, Justyna Kamińska
39 citations
Psychedelic and meditation-based interventions show overlapping neurophysiological and phenomenological features and can enhance each other when combined. Both approaches have been validated as alternative treatments for depression, addictions, and anxiety disorders, producing moderate to large effects and long-term symptom reduction and well-being improvements in clinical and healthy populations. Shared mechanisms include altered self-consciousness, present-moment awareness, and antidepressant action via neuromodulation. Research indicates synergistic benefits when the two are used together, but more theoretical and methodologically rigorous studies are needed before clinical application. This review discusses the theoretical rationale for combining psychedelics with mindfulness training, including the predictive coding framework, and offers suggestions for integration.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
April 25, 2025
Przemysław Rupiński, Weronika Drabek, Paweł Holas
2 citations
A systematic review of seven studies found a generally positive association between psychedelic use and an enhanced sense of life purpose, particularly in structured clinical or ritual contexts. Recreational use produced mixed outcomes, though intentional use combined with mindfulness practices was linked to greater life meaning. The evidence supports moderate certainty regarding these effects, but further randomized controlled trials are needed to clarify the role of specific contextual and individual factors. These findings suggest potential applications in clinical settings for enhancing psychospiritual well-being.
Dialogues Clin Neurosci
March 6, 2025
Paweł Holas, Justyna Kamińska, Marcin Zajenkowski
2 citations
A new scale, the Concerns and Openness towards Psychedelic Scale (COPS), was developed to measure societal attitudes toward clinical psychedelic use. The scale captures two dimensions: concerns about risks and openness to therapeutic benefits. It was validated through surveys and shows good psychometric properties, enabling researchers to assess public perspectives as psychedelic therapy gains attention in mental health treatment.
Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii
January 1, 2025
Paweł Holas, Justyna Kamińska
1 citation
About 6% of Polish adults, predominantly young men in cities, have used classic psychedelics such as LSD and psilocybin mushrooms. More research and public education are needed to advance the scientific study of psychedelic-assisted therapy and to change how the public views its potential therapeutic benefits.
October 16, 2025
Minka Witke, Paweł Holas
preprint
Mindfulness practice and psychedelic experiences are both linked to self-transcendence and nondual awareness, with ego dissolution acting as a key mediator in these connections. Ecological awareness also relates to a self-transcendent orientation. The findings suggest that these practices may foster a sense of expanded self and connection to the world, though the phenomena remain complex and require diverse research methods.
Research Square
August 15, 2024
Paweł Holas, Justyna Kamińska
Around 4% to 8% of Polish adults, or about 2 million people, have tried classic psychedelics like psilocybin or LSD at least once. Men were more likely than women to use these substances, with the largest group of users aged 25–34 and living in urban areas. Curiosity was the most common reason for trying them, and users typically described the experience as a mix of pleasant and unpleasant sensations. Many participants held negative views of psychedelics and psychedelic-assisted therapy, but those with prior psychedelic experience had more positive attitudes.
Journal of Anxiety Disorders
July 1, 2026
Paweł Holas, Jan Wardęszkiewicz, Malgorzata Grochowska et al.
A randomized controlled trial with 301 adults diagnosed with Adjustment Disorder tested a brief, internet-delivered Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (iMBCT) against internet-delivered progressive muscle relaxation (iPMR) and a waitlist control over four weeks. iMBCT reduced Adjustment Disorder symptoms more than the waitlist control and produced higher remission rates. Compared with iPMR, iMBCT led to larger decreases in depression and anxiety. Cognitive defusion fully mediated iMBCT's effects on depression and anxiety. Some improvements persisted at one-month follow-up, but the authors caution that findings are mixed due to substantial attrition.
Acta Psychologica
June 1, 2026
Gabriela Górska, Paweł Holas
Empathy and compassion can be blocked when suffering is perceived in out-group members. A brief, 10-minute mindfulness intervention focused on breathing body sensations was tested against an active control in 83 participants who watched videos of suffering. The intervention did not significantly increase empathic distress or compassion overall, but participants reported significantly higher empathic distress and compassion toward out-group members. The ability to focus on breathing mediated the intervention's effects on ratings of compassion, relief, and distress. These preliminary findings suggest attentional processes may be a mechanism through which brief mindfulness practices influence social and affective responses.
Scientific Reports
August 22, 2025
Gabriela Górska, Paweł Holas
A brief, guided mindfulness meditation did not directly increase compassion or reduce personal distress in novice meditators watching videos of people in distress. However, the meditation did enhance compassionate responses indirectly through a chain of effects: it first increased mindfulness (focused attention on breathing and bodily sensations), which then improved decentration (the ability to observe thoughts and feelings without over-identifying with them), and this in turn boosted compassion. The study involved 80 meditation-naive adults randomly assigned to either a single mindfulness meditation or an active control condition. The authors conclude that even a short mindfulness practice can foster compassion by strengthening mindfulness precursors and decentration, but more research is needed to establish causality.
Mindfulness
June 1, 2020
Paweł Holas, Izabela Krejtz, Katarzyna Wisiecka et al.
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) reduces depression symptoms in people with current major depressive disorder and shifts how they attend to emotional facial expressions. After an 8-week MBCT program, participants' depression scores decreased, their attention to sad faces decreased, and their attention to happy faces increased compared to a wait-list control group. The results suggest that changes in attentional bias may cause clinical improvement, supporting the idea that MBCT works by modifying how depressed individuals process emotional information.
Jan Wardęszkiewicz, Paweł Holas, Gerhard Andersson
Both synchronous and asynchronous online Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (iMBCT) reduce depressive symptoms in people with mild to moderate depression. In a randomized trial, 170 participants were assigned to a 6-week synchronous iMBCT group, asynchronous iMBCT group, or waitlist control. Both iMBCT formats significantly lowered depression compared to the control, with gains sustained at 3-month follow-up. Mindfulness and cognitive defusion mediated the effect, explaining 52% of post-treatment depression severity. Participants also showed decreased rumination and anxiety, and increased self-compassion and resilience, maintained at follow-up.