Abstract The recently published Imperial College study of a Phase II, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial comparing psilocybin-assisted therapy to a six-week titration of escitalopram for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) should raise concerns for this illness category as a target of early psychedelic research given a goal of FDA approval. There are thr...
In this manuscript, I reflect on how Critical Indigenous theory offers white historians like myself powerful conceptual tools to combat the underlying, historically-rooted colonial assumptions prevalent in their work, specifically within the subfield of psychedelic history. Histories of compounds like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, ayahuasca, ...
Abstract This article reports on the experiences of four healthy individuals who attended a legal psilocybin truffle retreat in the Netherlands. The study employed a qualitative phenomenological approach, using semi-structured interviews to gain an understanding of participants' psilocybin experiences and their after-effects. The experiential themes that eme...
Abstract Background Psilocybin is emerging as a promising therapeutic agent for a wide range of psychiatric conditions, and clinical trials on psilocybin-assisted treatment are forthcoming in Scandinavian countries. However, little is known about attitudes towards this psychedelic compound among the general public in Nordic countries. This might represent a ...
Abstract We sought to estimate the prevalence of lifetime psilocybin use among a national sample of US adults ages 18 and older and associated demographic/substance use correlates. Pooled data from the 2015-2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health were utilized among 168,650 individuals 18 years or older. An estimated 9.68% of individuals reported lifetim...
This study examined how psychedelics reduced symptoms of racial trauma among black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) subsequent to an experience of racism. A cross-sectional internet-based survey included questions about experiences with racism, mental health symptoms, and acute and enduring psychedelic effects. Changes in mental health were assessed ...
ABSTRACT Over the last three decades, the renaissance of interdisciplinary research into psychedelic drugs has challenged the Cartesian notions of subjectivity and identity that have endured throughout modernity. But as work in this field reaches new degrees of complexity, the limitations of verbal and textual language are presenting barriers to conventional...
Abstract The recent revivification of interest in the therapeutic use of psychedelics has had a particular focus on mood disorders and addiction, although there is reason to think these drugs may be effective more widely. After outlining pertinent aspects of psilocybin and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the current review summarizes the evidence indica...
Background and aims Given the enormous global burden of depressive illness, there is an urgent need to develop novel and more effective treatments for major depressive disorder (MDD). Recent findings have suggested that psychedelic drugs may have a role in the treatment of depressive symptoms, and a number of groups are in the process of developing protocols...
In light of new historical evidence regarding ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson’s correspondence with art historian Erwin Panofsky, this article provides an in-depth analysis of the presence of entheogenic mushroom images in Christian art within the context of the controversy between Wasson and philologist John Marco Allegro over the identification of a Garde...
This introduction to the special issue reviews research that supports the hypothesis that psychedelics, particularly psilocybin, were central features in the development of religion. The greater response of the human serotonergic system to psychedelics than is the case for chimpanzees’ serotonergic receptors indicates that these substances were environmental...
Clinical research on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is rapidly advancing in the USA, with two drugs, psilocybin and MDMA, progressing through a structure of FDA-approved trials on a trajectory toward Drug Enforcement Agency rescheduling for therapeutic use. Researcher's and clinician's personal use of psychedelics was cited as a potential confound in psy...
Sixty years ago, the ethnomycologist R. G. Wasson discovered an ancient mushroom cult in Oaxaca, Mexico.1, 2 The famous mycologist R. Heim classified the psychoactive mushroom species in the genera Psilocybe and the eminent natural product chemist Albert Hofmann published the isolation, structural elucidation and synthesis of the new alkaloids psilocybin and...
This presentation will discuss Stan Grof’s impact on the resurgent field of psychedelic research, particularly in regard to the development of the psilocybin treatment of advanced-cancer anxiety studies that were conducted in the early 2000s. After decades of repression, we are on the threshold of demonstrating that the field Stan and his colleagues courageo...
Since 1990, FDA has been willing to approve research with psychedelic drugs. Currently Phase II studies have been conducted or are underway for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), LSD, psilocybin or MDMA for end-of-life anxiety, MDMA for autistic adults with social anxiety, psilocybin for addiction, psilocybin as an adjunct ...
Anthropologists have studied the use of hallucinogens as a spiritual tool by indigenous populations since the turn of the 20th century. However, literature is sparse in describing use by non-indigenous populations. Using a study population of students from a university in the Southwest United States, the current study investigated the spiritual development a...
