The therapeutic use of psychedelic substances such as LSD and psilocybin has been researched by psychologists and psychiatrists for a range of psychiatric disorders, including substance use disorders. Most of the early research around the therapeutic use of psychedelics was based on case studies or clinical trials that did not meet the contemporary standards of randomized clinical trials, e.g....
BACKGROUND: Pharmacological and nonpharmacological methods of inducing altered states of consciousness (ASCs) are becoming increasingly relevant in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. While comparisons between them are often drawn, to date no study has directly compared their neural correlates. METHODS: To address this knowledge gap, we directly compared 2 pharmacological methods...
The recent heightened public enthusiasm for the potential therapeutic benefits of psychedelics, especially for treatment-resistant mental health conditions, has resulted in a renewed interest in the underlying science that governs their properties and pharmacology.The science of psychedelics is an intriguing, multi-disciplinary field and encompasses many known psychedelic substances, including...
This study translated and tested the psychometric properties of acute psychedelic effects measures among Spanish-speaking people. The Psychological Insight Questionnaire (PIQ), Challenging Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ), and Mystical Experiences Questionnaire (MEQ) were translated before being incorporated into a web-based survey. We recruited native Spanish-speakers (N = 442; Mage = 30.8, SD...
Advances in Mental HealthJuly 13, 2023Jorge Valdiviezo‐oña, Lizbeth Toscano-Molina, Juan Fernando Chávez et al.4 citations
Objective To map the studies reporting the use of psychedelics in clinical and non-clinical settings by people reporting an eating disorder (ED) and their outcomes.Method To be included, peer-reviewed articles had to be written in English or Spanish and had to address the usage of psychedelics by people reporting an ED. Searches were conducted on PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Data on key...
Traditional psychedelics, such as LSD, psilocybin, or DMT, are psychoactive compounds that exert their effects mainly through agonism over serotonergic receptors. In appropriate doses and contexts, they produce profound changes in the subjective experience, configuring altered states of consciousness that, upon reaching a critical point, involve the appearance of phenomena of mystical,...
N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is the simplest psychedelic tryptamine and is produced naturally by many plant and animal species, including humans. While classical psychedelics, such as lysergic acid diethylamide, or psilocybin, are gaining interest because of their therapeutic potential, DMT has yet to be fully investigated. However, preliminary clinical evidence suggests that DMT and/or...
Background: The classical psychedelics, psilocybin, peyote, ayahuasca/ N,N-dimethyltryptamine, and lysergic acid diethylamide are considered promising new treatments for psychiatric illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, addiction, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. However, their profound and characteristic subjective effects raise concern for distinctive biases in randomized clinical...
Substances that change the states of consciousness have been used in the therapeutics of traditional cultures for hundreds of years. In the Western cultural circle, scientific curiosity and hope for a breakthrough in the treatment of various mental disorders constituted the basis of the first wave of research on humans with the use of psychedelics. After synthesizing LSD, psychedelic substances...
Abstract From 1977, MDMA was used in psychotherapy by a handful of psychiatrists and psychotherapists. They found it to be an ideal aid to psychotherapy as it does not affect ego-functions to the same extent as other psychedelic drugs. Its main effect seemed to be suppression of the fear response, allowing patients the opportunity to observe and reprocess painful memories. Another application...