Rationale: Microdosing psychedelics – the practice of consuming small, sub-hallucinogenic doses of substances such as LSD or psilocybin – is gaining attention in popular media but remains poorly characterized. Contemporary studies of psychedelic microdosing have yet to report the basic psychiatric descriptors of psychedelic microdosers. Objectives: To examine the practices and demographics of a...
IntroductionThe majority of contemporary psychedelic research has focused on ayahuasca, lysergic acid diethylamide, and psilocybin, though there are hundreds of novel psychedelic compounds that may have clinical utility. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the therapeutic potential of classic and novel phenethylamine, tryptamine, and lysergamide psychedelics via a large, nationally...
Studies combining psychotherapy with psychedelic drugs (PsiDs) have demonstrated positive outcomes that are often associated with PsiDs' ability to induce 'mystical-type' experiences (MTEs) - i.e., subjective experiences whose characteristics include a sense of connectedness, transcendence, and ineffability. We suggest that both PsiDs and virtual reality can be situated on a broader spectrum of...
Though there was initial interest in the use of psychedelic drugs for psychiatric treatment, bad outcomes and subsequent passage of the Substance Act of 1970, which placed psychedelic drugs in the Schedule I category, significantly limited potential progress. More recently, however, there has been renewal in interest and promise of psychedelic research. The purpose of this review is to...
Credit: Dassima Kathleen Murphy Nothing in Richard Alpert’s early life could have predicted that he would come to embody the spirit of the psychedelic 1960s. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the youngest of three sons, to George and Gertrude (Levin) Alpert. His father, a prominent lawyer in Boston, was a founder of Brandeis University and went on to become president of the New York and New...
Past research suggests that use of psychedelic substances such as LSD or psilocybin may have positive effects on mood and feelings of social connectedness. These psychological effects are thought to be highly sensitive to context, but robust and direct evidence for them in a naturalistic setting is scarce. In a series of field studies involving over 1,200 participants across six multiday mass...
Serotoninergic hallucinogens include drugs such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and psilocybin. Recent trials with single/few doses of these compounds show that they induce rapid and sustained antidepressive, anxiolytic, and antiaddictive effects. These effects are also observed in religious groups using the DMT-containing brew ayahuasca. The agonist action of...
Ecstasy (MDMA, Molly) is among the most prevalent drugs used by people who attend electronic dance music (EDM) events; however, little recent research has examined diffusion of ecstasy in this high-risk population. Methods: 1,020 EDM event-attending adults (aged 18-40) were surveyed in NYC in 2018 using time-spacing sampling. Participants were asked about past-year ecstasy use, and those...
Microdosing psychedelics is the repeated use of small doses of, for example, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin, typically for a few weeks. Despite the popular and scientific attention in recent years, and claims by users that it has therapeutic value in affective disorders like depression, little scientific knowledge is available to back this. The purpose of this review was to...
Abstract Objective The number of novel psychedelic phenethylamines and tryptamines has continued to increase, but little academic research has focused on the effects of these substances. We sought to determine and compare the subjective effects of various substances. Methods We conducted in‐depth interviews with 39 adults (75.4% male and 87.2% White) who reported experience using psychedelic...