Creativity is an essential cognitive ability linked to all areas of our everyday functioning. Thus, finding a way to enhance it is of broad interest. A large number of anecdotal reports suggest that the consumption of psychedelic drugs can enhance creative thinking; however, scientific evidence is lacking. Following a double-blind, placebo-controlled, parall...
BACKGROUND: Microdosing psychedelics is the practice of taking small, sub-hallucinogenic doses of lysergic acid diethylamide or psilocybin-containing mushrooms. Despite its surging popularity, little is known about the specific intentions to start microdosing and the effects of this practice. AIMS: First, we aimed to replicate previous findings regarding the...
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...
Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Journal DigestFull AccessJournal Digest: Home Environment; Postpartum Mental Illness; Placebo in Psychedelic Study; Single Gene Mutation; TopiramateNick ZagorskiNick ZagorskiSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:28 May 2020https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2020.6a34Nurturing Home Environme...
Background: Microdosing psychedelics - the practice of taking small, sub-hallucinogenic doses of substances like LSD or psilocybin-containing mushrooms - is becoming increasingly popular. Despite its surging popularity, little is known about the effects of this practice. Aims: This research had three main aims. First, we attempted to replicate previous findi...
Background: Microdosing psychedelics - the practice of taking small, sub-hallucinogenic doses of substances like LSD or psilocybin-containing mushrooms - is becoming increasingly popular. Despite its surging popularity, little is known about the effects of this practice. Aims: This research had three main aims. First, we attempted to replicate previous findi...
RationaleIs it possible to have a psychedelic experience from a placebo alone? Most psychedelic studies find few effects in the placebo control group, yet these effects may have been obscured by the study design, setting, or analysis decisions.ObjectiveWe examined individual variation in placebo effects in a naturalistic environment resembling a typical psyc...
Drugs and the Music Industry: How the Neurological and Visual Effects of LSD and Psilocybin Impact Creativity and Songwriting Abilities Ammar Jawad, Depts. of Biology and Chemistry, with Prof. Mary Boyes, VCU Honors College The 5-hydroxy-tryptamine 2A receptor, 5-HT2A, is a G protein-coupled receptor that belongs to a subtype of receptors known as serotonerg...
Despite their acutely inebriating and sometimes unpleasant effects, some people report positive changes in life satisfaction, well-being, or mental health after taking psychedelic drugs. One explanation may be the ability of psychedelics to trigger mystical-type experiences. We examined the validity, reliability, and factor structure of a novel Finnish trans...
Psychedelic plants and fungi have been used in indigenous medicinal traditions for millennia. Modern psychedelic research began when Albert Hofmann first synthesized lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) in 1938. Five years later, became the first person to ingest LSD. Hofmann was unaware of the significance of his actions, and the effects they would set in mo...
RationaleMicrodosing psychedelics-the regular consumption of small amounts of psychedelic substances such as LSD or psilocybin-is a growing trend in popular culture. Recent studies on full-dose psychedelic psychotherapy reveal promising benefits for mental well-being, especially for depression and end-of-life anxiety. While full-dose therapies include percep...
Microdosing psychedelics - the regular consumption of small amounts of psychedelic substances such as LSD or psilocybin - is a growing trend in popular culture. Recent studies on full-dose psychedelic psychotherapy reveal promising benefits for mental well-being, especially for depression and end-of-life anxiety. While full-dose therapies include perception-...
Microdosing psychedelics - the regular consumption of small amounts of psychedelic substances such as LSD or psilocybin - is a growing trend in popular culture. Recent studies on full-dose psychedelic psychotherapy reveal promising benefits for mental well-being, especially for depression and end-of-life anxiety. While full-dose therapies include perception-...
Our creativity is challenged daily when facing new situations asking for novel solutions. Creativity, a multicomponent construct includes flexible divergent and rigid convergent thinking. Psychedelic drugs like psilocybin can enhance creativity and affect state of mind (mood, empathy, openness). Of note, flexible thinking is disturbed in psychopathological c...
in this time of ever ascendant materialism, greed, and pathological narcissism, when the delusion of the disconnected dominant individual grows stronger, the contrary life-affirming stream of connection and respect is gaining strength even as it is suppressed, vilified, and criminalized. This stream, which we can call ‘awakening consciousness,’ is the motor ...
Classic serotonergic hallucinogens or psychedelics produce an altered states of consciousness (ASC) that is characterized by profound alterations in sensory perception, mood, thought including the perception of reality, and the sense of self. Over the past years, there has been considerable progress in the search for invariant and common features of psychede...
In medicine we must always expect the unexpected. Medicine is replete with paradoxes, where poisons become cures. Snake venom is deadly but is being used to treat some cancers, (1) because it produces contortrostatin, a protein that paralyzes cancer cells and prevents them from migrating. Venoms from spiders are being investigated as a treatment to slow the ...
Developing methods for improving creativity is of broad interest. Classic psychedelics may enhance creativity; however, the underlying mechanisms of action are unknown. This study was designed to assess whether a relationship exists between naturalistic classic psychedelic use and heightened creative problem-solving ability and if so, whether this is mediate...
Earlier this year I joined some friends at a performance by the New York Philharmonic of Verdi’s Requiem Mass. Not one of us was Catholic or professed any creed threatening an afterlife of eternal suffering for the wicked. No perpetual willies over Judgment Day. Nevertheless, when the massed voices of chorus and orchestra unleashed their frenzy in the climac...
