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Journal of Psychedelic Studies

ISSN 2559-9283

232 papers in the library · 2,809 citations · publishing 2017-2026

Papers

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Philosophy and psychedelics: Frameworks for exceptional experience

Journal of Psychedelic Studies June 19, 2023 Tra-Ill Dowie, Julien Tempone-Wiltshire 24 citations

Abstract The intersection between philosophy and psychedelics is explored in the book “Philosophy and Psychedelics: Frameworks for Exceptional Experience”. The authors aim to develop a dialogue between the two disciplines and explore the various frameworks for understanding exceptional experiences that psychedelics have afforded human beings. The book delves into foundational, ontological, and...

In naturalistic psychedelic use, group use is common and acceptable

Journal of Psychedelic Studies June 19, 2023 Kevin Byrne, Spencer Lindsay, Nicholas Baker et al. 4 citations

Abstract Background and aims Most modern modalities of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) aim to minimize harm and maximize support by utilizing close, formalized supervision for a single participant per session. However, these substances are used naturalistically in a wide variety of settings. Our goal was to evaluate the perceived benefits and harms of naturalistic psychedelic use in...

The DEA report on ayahuasca risks: “Science” in service of prohibition?

Journal of Psychedelic Studies June 9, 2023 Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Anna O. Ermakova, Jordan Sloshower et al. 1 citation

Abstract On February 2023, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) released a document to the legal team representing the Church of the Eagle and the Condor (“CEC”). This disclosure came two years after the church, in conjunction with Chacruna Institute, submitted two FOIA requests to the DEA and the Department of Justice requesting all records pertaining to ayahuasca. This report, titled...

Lifetime classic psychedelic use is associated with greater psychological distress in unemployed job seekers

Journal of Psychedelic Studies May 16, 2023 Benjamin A. Korman 7 citations

Abstract Background Despite recent research linking lifetime classic psychedelic use to positive mental health outcomes, little work has explored the role played by classic psychedelics in healthy users' ability to cope with ordinary, yet stressful, life situations. Aims This study begins to fill this gap by exploring whether lifetime classic psychedelic use is associated with attenuated or...

Psychedelic therapy as reality transformation: A phenomenological approach

Journal of Psychedelic Studies April 27, 2023 Mateo Sánchez Petrement 10 citations

AbstractCoinciding with and responding to a growing crisis in the diagnostic, explanatory and treatment systems of psychiatry, the last couple of decades have seen a growing amount of evidence regarding the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs to treat a variety of mental health conditions. Broadly, this crisis can be construed as that of “indivi/dualist” approaches which aim to treat...

Entheogens and spiritual seeking: The quest for self-transcendence, psychological well-being, and psychospiritual growth

Journal of Psychedelic Studies April 27, 2023 Kevin O. St. Arnaud, Donald Sharpe 6 citations

AbstractBackground and aimsAlthough numerous cultures have used psychoactive substances for spiritual, or entheogenic, purposes, little is known about contemporary entheogenic spirituality, particularly outside of the few traditions that retain sacramental drug use practices.MethodTo better conceptualize contemporary patterns of entheogenic drug use, an international, online study of...

Willingness to participate in entheogen use research in naturalistic settings

Journal of Psychedelic Studies April 27, 2023 Riley D. Kirk, Olivia M. Uhley, Paloma Lehfeldt et al.

AbstractBackgroundEntheogen use is becoming increasingly popular and a potential option for treatment or adjuvant treatment for various medical conditions. Clinical studies are needed to determine the efficacy, safety, and possible role of these traditional medicines in the context of modern society and the Western medicine paradigm. The willingness of patients to participate in such studies is...

View, meditation, action: A Tibetan framework to inform psychedelic-assisted therapy

Journal of Psychedelic Studies March 28, 2023 Colin H. Simonds 6 citations

Abstract Whether occasioned through careful, consistent meditative practice or through quicker means like the ritual ingestion of psilocybin or ayahuasca, global contemplative practices have established effective systems of implementing, directing, and integrating the very kinds of non-ordinary experiences central to psychedelic use. However, contemplative traditions are largely absent from the...

Association between mystical-type experiences under psychedelics and improvements in well-being or mental health – A comprehensive review of the evidence

Journal of Psychedelic Studies March 3, 2023 Samuli Kangaslampi

Ingestion or administration of classic psychedelics is sometimes associated with improvements in well-being or mental health. Acute mystical-type experiences that psychedelics occasion have been suggested to be related to such improvements. Meanwhile, other features of the psychedelic experience, such as psychological insights and emotional breakthroughs, are also increasingly being studied....

Group format psychedelic-assisted therapy interventions: Observations and impressions from the HOPE trial

Journal of Psychedelic Studies January 18, 2023 Benjamin R. Lewis, Kevin Byrne, John Hendrick et al. 22 citations

Abstract Background Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy has demonstrated significant promise as a treatment for depression, anxiety, and existential distress associated with serious medical illness and has generally been employed on an individual basis, which presents challenges for scaling and resource availability. There are also compelling theoretical reasons to suggest that group-based...

Microdosing psychedelics – Does it have an impact on emodiversity?

Journal of Psychedelic Studies January 17, 2023 Ioana Pop, Jannis Dinkelacker 4 citations

Abstract Background and aims Previous research has proposed that microdosing, i.e., the repeated use of sub-threshold doses of serotonergic hallucinogens, has an impact on mood by increasing emotional awareness. We propose that increased emotional awareness could translate into higher emodiversity, a balanced experience of emotions in which emotions are experienced with more similarity in...

Psychedelic integration challenges: Participant experiences after a psilocybin truffle retreat in the Netherlands

Journal of Psychedelic Studies January 16, 2023 Anna Lutkajtis, Jules Evans 58 citations

Abstract This article reports on integration challenges that were experienced by nine individuals who attended a three-day legal psilocybin truffle retreat in the Netherlands. The study employed a qualitative phenomenological approach, using semi-structured interviews to gain an understanding of participants' ( n = 30) psilocybin experiences and their after-effects. While the study did not...

Recruitment discrimination of lifetime classic psychedelic users is unjustified: Evidence from employees' motivation-based workplace absenteeism

Journal of Psychedelic Studies January 16, 2023 Benjamin A. Korman 7 citations

Abstract Background and aims Although large-scale population studies have linked the use of classic psychedelics (lysergic acid diethylamide, psilocybin, or mescaline) to reduced odds of physical health problems, mental health problems, and criminal behavior, the roughly 35 million adults in the United States who have used classic psychedelics are nonetheless stigmatized in the American job...

Registered clinical trials investigating ketamine and esketamine for treatment-resistant depression: A systematic review

Journal of Psychedelic Studies January 16, 2023 Madeline Brendle, Anya Ragnhildstveit, Matthew Slayton et al. 7 citations

Ketamine and esketamine have garnered interest in both psychiatric research and clinical practice for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). In this review, we examined registered trials investigating the therapeutic use of ketamine or esketamine for TRD, with the aim of characterizing emerging trends and knowledge gaps.The ClinicalTrials.gov electronic registry and results database was queried...

The content of complex psychedelic experiences resulting from inhalation of N,N-dimethyltryptamine

Journal of Psychedelic Studies January 16, 2023 Stephen Kagan 5 citations

AbstractAimThis study examines narratives describing complex psychedelic experiences after smoking N,N-dimethyltryptamine.MethodsThe narrative accounts examined here were gathered from a variety of online sites and analyzed in order to discover themes, categories and patterns in the phenomenon of the resulting psychedelic experiences.ResultsSubjects reported seeing complex and unusual visual...

Reasonable expectations for replications of psychedelic-assisted therapy: The case for prediction intervals rather than P-values

Journal of Psychedelic Studies January 16, 2023 Mitch Earleywine, Philip Kamilar-Britt

AbstractPsychedelic compounds hold promise for alleviating human suffering. Initial trials of psychedelic-assisted treatments have established feasibility and safety, generating calls for replications. Meanwhile, social and medical sciences have drawn criticism due to perceptions of replication failures and varying public trust in empiricism. Data suggest that researchers and the public...

Micro-dose, macro-impact: Leveraging psychedelics in frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Journal of Psychedelic Studies December 8, 2022 A. Atoian, Harry C. R. Bowles, Sarah Gerhke et al.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated pre-existing high-levels of physician stress and burnout1. In order to help treat frontline colleagues who were diagnosed with acute stress disorder, we chose a non-psychedelic, ketamine micro-dose treatment strategy for symptom management.We provided care virtually, and all patients were prescribed sublingual ketamine once daily. Each patient was evaluated...

Effects of a single dose of psilocybin on cytokines, chemokines and leptin in rat serum

Journal of Psychedelic Studies December 7, 2022 Geoffrey M. Bove, David J. Mokler 8 citations

Abstract Background and Aims The hallucinogenic drug psilocybin is being widely tested in humans for the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Psilocybin and other psychedelics are proposed to work through serotonin 2a (5-HT2a) receptors, which are tightly linked to immune function. The purpose of the present study was to assess the effects of a single dose of psilocybin on a panel of cytokines,...

Psychedelic-supportive psychotherapy: A psychotherapeutic model for, before and beyond the medicine experience

Journal of Psychedelic Studies October 24, 2022 Elizabeth Wolfson 12 citations

Abstract A renaissance is underway as research studies are substantiating psychotherapeutic and physiological benefits of psychedelic medicines, along with advancements towards legalization, expansion of professional training programs and a renewed cultural recognition of the healing qualities of the medicines. Pending legislation, a cadre of trained psychotherapists are poised to apply their...

Use of snuff and its main constituents for religious purposes in an alternative community with shamanic practices in the south of Brazil

Journal of Psychedelic Studies September 21, 2022 Thais Guimarães Bourscheid, Leonardo Corrêa Cardoso, Marcelo Henrique Nascimento Santana et al. 3 citations

Abstract Snuff is a fine aromatic powder composed of dried and thin leaves combined with tobacco, roots, peels, and seeds. Its use for indigenous religious purposes has appeared since pre-Columbian period in various localities of American continent. Practice is considered sacred in indigenous culture and suffered from trivialization of consumption due to influence of colonizers, which triggered...

Being no one, being One: The role of ego-dissolution and connectedness in the therapeutic effects of psychedelic experience

Journal of Psychedelic Studies September 16, 2022 Ada Kałużna, Marco Schlosser, Emily Gulliksen Craste et al. 41 citations

Abstract Background and aims Despite promising findings indicating the therapeutic potential of psychedelic experience across a variety of domains, the mechanisms and factors affecting its efficacy remain unclear. The present paper explores this by focusing on two psychedelic states which have been suggested as therapeutically significant in past literature: ego-dissolution and connectedness....

Psychedelics and mindfulness: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Journal of Psychedelic Studies September 16, 2022 Chelsea Radakovic, Ratko Radaković, Guy Peryer et al. 23 citations

Abstract Background and aims The benefits of classic serotonergic psychedelics (e.g. psilocybin, LSD, DMT, ayahuasca) are becoming more widely known with the resurgence in research in the past decade. Furthermore, the benefits of mindfulness are well documented. However, no systematic reviews have examined linkage of mindfulness and psychedelics use. The aim of this systematic review is to...

Psychological effects and subjective experiences of ayahuasca rituals in participants of two neoshamanic centers of Uruguay

Journal of Psychedelic Studies September 2, 2022 Ismael Apud, Juan Scuro, Ignacio Carrera et al. 6 citations

Abstract Background Ayahuasca's psychological and subjective effects were compared in rituals of two neoshamanic groups in Uruguay. Aims Compare, describe and analyze psychological effects and subjective experiences of ayahuasca ceremonies in two different groups: a psychospiritual holistic center, and a center specialized in substance use disorder's treatment. Methods A mixed...

Changing attitudes to psychedelic drug assisted therapy: The induction of empathy to enhance community support for innovative interventions in mental health

Journal of Psychedelic Studies August 18, 2022 Corey Botansky, John Innes 2 citations

Abstract Empirical research supports the use of psychoactive drugs to augment psychotherapy for the treatment of mental illness. The use of such drugs, however, is still resisted by many in the medical community and this transfers to resistance in the wider community. The stigma of controversy surrounding the drugs, further enhanced by the stigma of mental illness, hinders community acceptance....

Apophenia, absorption and anxiety: Evidence for individual differences in positive and negative experiences of Hallucinogen Persisting Perceptual Disorder

Journal of Psychedelic Studies August 8, 2022 Alexander Irvine, David Luke 27 citations

Abstract Background and Aims Little is known about individual differences in Hallucinogen Persisting Perceptual Disorder (HPPD). This study investigated visual processing style and personality across two HPPD types (HPPD I and HPPD II) and a Non-HPPD group. Methods An online survey was delivered to participants sourced from online HPPD and psychedelic user groups and forums ( N = 117). Using...