BMJ Case ReportsAugust 14, 2024Morven Rosemary Baker, Christopher Iain O'Shea1 citation
Ayahuasca is a plant-based psychoactive decoction, traditionally used by indigenous Amazonian peoples, which commonly contains the hallucinogen N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). There is now growing interest across the Western world in psychedelics including Ayahuasca.This case describes a previously well male with no risk factors for adverse psychiatric outcomes or forensic history. Following...
An increasing number of US states and localities are implementing or considering alternatives to prohibiting the supply and possession of some psychedelics for non-clinical use. Debates about these policy changes will probably differ from what we saw with cannabis. Andrews et al. correctly note that: 'The current push to broaden the production, sale, and use of psychedelics bears many parallels...
Psychedelics known for mankind from millennia are class of compounds that alter consciousness, affect perception and produce hallucinations. Classic psychedelics such as psilocybin, mescaline, dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) have pharmacodynamic serotonergic effects. They are known to exert profound effects on neuroplasticity i.e. alteration of neuronal structure...
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive drink originally consumed by indigenous people of the Amazon. The lack of regulation of this drink leads to uncontrolled consumption, and it is often consumed in religious contexts. The aim of this work is to compare three miniaturised extraction techniques for extracting the main ayahuasca compounds from beverages. Three sample pretreatment techniques were evaluated...
When the Saskatchewan-based British psychiatrist Humphry Osmond first wrote to his fellow British émigré, novelist Aldous Huxley, he could have had little idea of how the ripples of their private correspondence of the early 1950s would reverberate across the world and into the future. But here we are in 2024, and the term that Osmond coined—‘psychedelic’—is quite literally everywhere, from...
As psychedelics are being investigated for more medical indications, it has become important to characterize the adverse effects and pharmacological interactions with these medications. This chapter will summarize what is known about the toxicology and drug-drug interactions for classic psychedelics, such as LSD, psilocybin, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, mescaline, 2C-B, Bromo-DragonFLY, and 25X-NBOMe.
Abstract Background and aims Online communities provide insights into psychedelic consumption, assisting in identification of trends, informing both harm reduction provisions and clinical research. This study extracts forum data on psychedelic substances, dosages, and administration routes, categorising and analysing self-reported consumption to inform care services and guide clinical work with...
Abstract Psychedelic substances, which can occasion mystical experiences, are sometimes used for religious and spiritual reasons. Despite strong links between psychedelics and spirituality, no previous systematic review has investigated connections between psychedelics and indicators of long-term spiritual growth. Thus, 34 empirical studies were analyzed with 19,724 total participants from 32...
Abstract Serotonergic psychedelics (e.g., psilocybin) have shown potential for treating psychiatric disorders, with therapeutic effects lasting weeks after a single dose. Predictive processing theories posit that psychedelics work by loosening priors or high-level beliefs, including ingrained biases that have become pathological, leading to shifts in bottom-up vs top-down information processing...
Ayahuasca, a psychoactive beverage native to the Amazon, originally derived from Banisteriopsis caapi stem scrapings and Psychotria viridis leaves, exhibits hallucinogenic properties due to N,N-dimethyltryptamine. When combined with β-carbolines, it enters the bloodstream and central nervous system, inhibiting monoamine oxidase-A. Over time, therapeutic effects have been associated to ayahuasca...