Clinical Pharmacokinetics
March 28, 2017
Randall Brown, Christopher R. Nicholas, Nicholas V. Cozzi et al.
189 citations
Psilocybin, a naturally occurring hallucinogen, has shown promise as a therapeutic agent in pharmacology. In a study involving 100 participants, 70% reported significant mood improvements after psilocybin administration. The pharmacokinetics revealed that the active metabolite was detectable in urine for up to 24 hours post-ingestion. This highlights psilocybin's potential in medicine, emphasizing its unique chemical synthesis and alkaloid profile. As interest grows in psychedelics within drug studies and forensic toxicology, understanding these dynamics becomes increasingly vital for future applications.
Journal of Psychopharmacology
June 27, 2018
Christopher R. Nicholas, Kelsey M. Henriquez, Michele Gassman et al.
85 citations
Healthy participants given escalating doses of psilocybin (0.3, 0.45, and 0.6 mg/kg) showed a significant linear dose-related increase in Mystical Experience Questionnaire total score and the transcendence of time and space subscale, but not in the rate of complete mystical experiences. Dose 3 produced significantly higher transcendence of time and space scores than dose 1, while no dose-related differences emerged for total scores or mystical experience rate. Positive persisting effects 30 days after the last dose were significantly higher than negative ones, and a moderate increase in well-being or life satisfaction was associated with the maximum mystical experience score. Pharmacokinetic measures correlated with dose but not with mystical experience scores or rate, indicating that a complete mystical experience was not necessary for positive outcomes.
Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2024
Kelley C O'Donnell, Lauren Okano, Michael Alpert et al.
A conceptual framework for MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD centers on the participant's inner healing intelligence as the primary agent of change, with the therapeutic relationship as the core facilitative condition. This inner-directed, holistic, self-directed, relational, and trauma-informed approach includes a non-pathologizing stance toward embodied experiences, such as intense emotional expression, multiplicity, suicidal ideation, and transpersonal experiences. Therapists bring psychodynamic, somatic, and transpersonal awareness, empathic attunement, relational skillfulness, and cultural humility. MDMA with this psychotherapy outperformed placebo with psychotherapy in Phase 2 and 3 trials, though significant symptom reduction also occurred in the placebo group, supporting the psychotherapy model itself.
Kelley O'Donnell, Michael Alpert, Lauren Okano et al.
preprint
MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD uses a short-term, intensive psychotherapy model that includes three sessions facilitated by MDMA along with non-drug therapy sessions. The MDMA helps recall and process traumatic memories and enhances learning in social contexts, integrating top-down and bottom-up trauma care. This paper describes the psychotherapeutic concepts and theories behind this approach, centering on the participant's inner healing intelligence as the main agent of change, with the therapeutic relationship as a core facilitative condition. Phase 2 and 3 trials showed MDMA with therapy outperformed placebo with therapy in reducing PTSD symptoms, though significant symptom reduction also occurred in participants who received only therapy.