For a new clinical trial testing a group retreat-based format of psilocybin-assisted therapy, our research team created an initial set of practice guidelines that aimed to describe facilitator use of touch in a way that is ethical, supportive, and minimizes harm. In our first three retreats, however, we had two unexpected experiences with touch that led us t...
Introduction: Patients with incurable illnesses often experience existential distress, profoundly impacting their well-being. Current medical approaches have limitations in addressing these burdens. Psilocybin, a promising psychedelic compound, may offer therapeutic benefits. This pilot survey study aimed to investigate the attitudes and openness toward psil...
Clinical trials of psychedelics have provided support for their potential efficacy and safety. Although most combined a psychedelic with psychological support akin to psychotherapy, providing psychotherapy is costlier and more difficult to scale than providing only support to reduce harms. Trials with factorial designs can evaluate the individual effects of ...
Flotation-Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy (REST) and mindfulness meditation (MM) are known to induce altered states of consciousness (ASC) and self-consciousness. In this study, we use a phenomenological and predictive processing (PP) framework to compare the interventions alongside the psychedelic experience. Ego-dissolution scores were greater th...
Flotation-Reduced Environmental Stimulation Therapy (REST) and mindfulness meditation (MM) are known to induce altered states of consciousness (ASC) and self-consciousness. In this study, we use a phenomenological and predictive processing (PP) framework to compare the interventions alongside the psychedelic experience. Ego-dissolution scores were greater th...
The efficacy of psilocybin and other psychedelics as modes of treatment have been demonstrated through clinical trials and other studies in the management of a number of mental illnesses, including some treatment resistant cases. In Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy (PAP), psychedelics catalyze or enhance the experience fostered by psychotherapeutic methods...
Due to increasing evidence of efficacy in treating mental health disorders, psilocybin may become a legal medicinal drug. This study tested the validity of Carhart-Harris and Nutt’s (2017) model of extra-pharmacological (EP) factors. It examined whether such factors should be considered in any psychological suitability test for medicinally prescribed psilocy...
Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Annual MeetingFull AccessDemystifying Psychedelic Treatments in Psychiatry: Is Ego Dissolution the Solution?Michael Avissar, M.D., Ph.D., Adrian Jacques Ambrose, M.D., M.P.H.Michael AvissarSearch for more papers by this author, M.D., Ph.D., Adrian Jacques AmbroseSearch for more papers by this author, M....
“Are magic mushrooms the miracle cure for depression we've been looking for?” (Khan, 2021). Attention-grabbing headlines such as this are becoming increasingly common and suggest that psychedelic medicines are some kind of magic bullet. This perception is increased by stories of people who had a single life-changing psychedelic experience that resulted in co...
Existential distress is a significant source of suffering for patients facing life-threatening illness. Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies (PAT) are novel treatments that have shown promise in treating existential distress, but openness to providing PAT may be limited by stigma surrounding psychedelics and the paucity of education regarding their medical use. Ho...
Background: Due to increasing evidence of efficacy in treating mental health disorders, psilocybin may become a legal medicinal drug. This study tested the validity of Carhart-Harris & Nutt (2017) model of extra-pharmacological (EP) factors and examined whether such factors should be taken into account in any psychological suitability test for medicinally pr...
Background: Due to increasing evidence of efficacy in treating mental health disorders, psilocybin may become a legal medicinal drug. This study tested the validity of Carhart-Harris & Nutt (2017) model of extra-pharmacological (EP) factors and examined whether such factors should be taken into account in any psychological suitability test for medicinally pr...
Psychedelic therapies intentionally combine a caring/healing environment, psychotherapy, and psychedelic medicine as a powerful means of treating intractable conditions of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. This article utilizes the nursing theory of human caring science, as articulated by Jean Watson, to describe the essential and fundamental hum...
It is tough to write about psychedelics without a few gratuitous puns. Regardless, Michael Pollan’s “How to Change Your Mind” is definitely “mind expanding” and deserves my “highest” recommendation. Published in 2019, this book comprehensively and presciently covers a topic of increasing interest: whether psychedelic agents can revolutionize mental health. P...
There is a long history of psychedelic use throughout history. A great deal of research was conducted on the possible benefits of psychedelics until LSD and psilocybin became street drugs in the 1960s with reported negative effects. Declared illegal in the late 1960s, research slowed on the benefits of such drugs. A new version of the “street” use of psyched...
## AimInvestigate accounts from breath-holding freedivers about high efficiency in coping with adversity and pain, immediately quitting addictions, attaining harmonious meaningful life, becoming perspicacious and compassionate, getting spontaneous religious experience. ## Findings Full Mystical Experience is confirmed to happen in freediving, i.e. it is the ...
## Aim Investigate accounts from breath-holding freedivers about high efficiency in coping with adversity and pain, immediately quitting addictions, attaining harmonious meaningful life, becoming perspicacious and compassionate, getting spontaneous religious experience. ## Findings Full Mystical Experience is confirmed to happen in freediving, i.e. it is the...
Bonny Method of Guided Imagery and Music emerged following discontinuation of psychedelic therapy research in the early 1970s, but psychedelic therapy research has since revived. Music remains a vital component. This study examined participants' experiences of music in psychedelic therapy research. A rapid review of qualitative and quantitative journal artic...
Meditation and psychedelics have played key roles in humankind's search for self-transcendence and personal change. However, neither their possible synergistic effects, nor related state and trait predictors have been experimentally studied. To elucidate these issues, we administered double-blind the model psychedelic drug psilocybin (315 μg/kg PO) or placeb...
