Journal of Psychopharmacology
May 14, 2019
Albert Garcia-Romeu, Alan K Davis, Fire Erowid et al.
286 citations
In a survey of 343 people who had problematic alcohol use for an average of seven years and then used psychedelics in non-clinical settings, 83% no longer met criteria for alcohol use disorder after the experience. Most respondents were White males in the USA who took moderate or high doses of LSD or psilocybin. They rated the experience as highly meaningful and insightful, and 28% said changes in life priorities or values helped reduce alcohol misuse. Greater dose, insight, mystical-type effects, and personal meaning were linked to larger reductions in drinking. The results suggest naturalistic psychedelic use may reduce problematic alcohol use, supporting further research into psychedelic-assisted treatment.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
January 22, 2020
Earth Erowid, Fire Erowid, Albert Garcia‐romeu et al.
155 citations
A cross-sectional, self-report survey found that people who use psychedelics reported reductions in problematic substance use, including alcohol, opioids, and stimulants. The authors note that because the study is cross-sectional and relies on self-reports, it cannot determine whether psychedelics caused these changes. However, the results suggest a potential for psychedelics to reduce problematic substance use and support further clinical research into psychedelic-assisted treatment for substance use disorders.
Frontiers in Neuroscience
January 22, 2018
Camila Sanz, Federico Zamberlán, Earth Erowid et al.
112 citations
Subjective reports of experiences under hallucinogens like LSD are semantically most similar to reports of high-lucidity dreams, while Datura (a deliriant) resembles low-lucidity dreams. Sedatives, stimulants, antipsychotics, and antidepressants rank lowest in similarity to dream reports. Frequent words across both dreams and hallucinogen experiences include perception-related terms ("see," "visual," "color"), emotion ("fear"), setting ("inside," "outside"), and family members ("mom," "dad"). The analysis confirms that hallucinogens produce experiences with the highest semantic similarity to dreams among all psychoactive substances.
Consciousness and cognition
March 1, 2019
Charlotte Martial, Héléna Cassol, Vanessa Charland-Verville et al.
98 citations
Near-death experiences (NDEs) share consistent features across cultures, suggesting a common neurobiological basis. Analyzing semantic similarity between about 15,000 reports from 165 psychoactive substances and 625 NDE narratives, the NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine produced reports most similar to NDEs, followed by Salvia divinorum and serotonergic psychedelics like DMT. The similarity was driven by concepts of self and environmental consciousness, as well as therapeutic, ceremonial, and religious aspects of drug use. Ketamine may serve as a safe experimental model for NDE phenomenology, and endogenous NMDA antagonists might be released near death.
Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience
November 1, 2018
Camila Sanz, Carla Pallavicini, Carla Pallavicini et al.
78 citations
Classic psychedelics produce a wide range of subjective effects influenced by the user's mindset and environment, and their common mechanism involves activation of the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor. The diversity of effects across different compounds may also stem from their binding affinities for multiple neurotransmitter receptors and transporters. By analyzing two binding affinity datasets alongside natural language processing of thousands of trip reports from Erowid's Experience Vaults, preliminary evidence showed that similarity in binding profiles across phenethylamines and tryptamines correlates with similarity in the language used to describe experiences.
Drug and alcohol dependence
October 1, 2010
Matthew J Baggott, Earth Erowid, Fire Erowid et al.
78 citations
A survey of 500 individuals who had used Salvia divinorum found that 92.6% typically smoked or vaporized the plant, with acute effects lasting about 14 minutes on average. Most participants (80.6%) said they would use it again, and 38.4% described the experience as unique. On at least one occasion, 25.8% reported persisting positive effects lasting 24 hours or more, often an increased sense of well-being, while 4.4% reported persisting negative effects, most commonly anxiety. These findings suggest that Salvia divinorum may produce subacute improvements in mood, which is unusual for a non-medically used drug.
Pharmacopsychiatry
August 4, 2021
Sandeep M Nayak, Natalie Gukasyan, Frederick S Barrett et al.
67 citations
Combining classic psychedelics like LSD or psilocybin with the mood stabilizer lithium carries a high risk of seizures. In an analysis of 62 online reports of such combinations, 47% involved seizures and 18% resulted in bad trips; 39% required medical attention. In contrast, none of 34 reports combining psychedelics with the mood stabilizer lamotrigine involved seizures, and most lamotrigine reports (65%) indicated no effect on the psychedelic experience. The findings suggest that lithium, but not lamotrigine, may pose a significant seizure danger when taken with psychedelics, though further research is needed.
February 24, 2021
Sandeep M. Nayak, Natalie Gukasyan, Frederick S. Barrett et al.
10 citations
preprint
Classic psychedelics such as LSD or psilocybin may pose a significant seizure risk for people taking the mood stabilizer lithium. Analysis of online reports found that 47% of 62 accounts of combining lithium with a psychedelic involved seizures, and an additional 18% resulted in bad trips; 39% required medical attention. In contrast, none of 34 reports of the mood stabilizer lamotrigine combined with a psychedelic involved seizures, and most lamotrigine reports (65%) indicated no effect on the psychedelic experience. The authors provisionally conclude that psychedelic use with lithium carries a seizure risk, warranting further research.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
September 1, 2019
Avery Sapoznikow, Zachary Walsh, Kenneth W. Tupper et al.
8 citations
Ayahuasca, a psychedelic brew used for centuries in the Amazon and now internationally, produces different subjective experiences depending on the context of use. Analyzing online reports, ceremonial settings that incorporate traditional Amazonian elements emphasize emotional and motivational features, while psychonautic use without such rituals highlights cognitive processes. The findings suggest that beneficial effects of ayahuasca may stem from affective processing and integration, implying that cross-cultural ceremonial use may offer advantages over psychonautic use, underscoring the importance of context in psychedelic experiences.
Npj mental health research
February 7, 2025
Ari Brouwer, Joshua K Brown, Earth Erowid et al.
5 citations
Psychedelic therapy may work partly because of an overlooked temporal pattern: the initial 'come-up' phase often feels like an acute stress reaction, while the later 'come-down' phase brings positive feelings similar to recovery from illness or stress. A qualitative analysis of psilocybin experience reports from Erowid.org, using phenomenological, thematic content, and word frequency analysis, shows that negatively valenced states dominate the onset, and positively valenced states dominate the falling phase. This pattern helps explain how initially distressing altered states can ultimately resolve distress, with implications for therapeutic and theoretical understanding of psychedelic treatment.
Frontiers in Psychology
December 6, 2024
Sean Noah, Earth Erowid, Fire Erowid et al.
5 citations
Psychedelic compounds like LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and DMT can dramatically alter visual perception, but whether these visual effects consistently differ between substances is unclear. Using the large Erowid experience report dataset, researchers analyzed narrative self-reports for 103 psychoactive substances, including 30 psychedelics and 73 comparison substances. They used an AI embedding model to classify sentences describing visual effects. The proportion of visual-effect sentences varied significantly and consistently across substances, even among psychedelics. Further analysis of visual effect categories—such as movement, color, and pattern—also showed reliable variation. The findings indicate that different psychedelic substances have distinct propensities to affect vision and produce qualitatively different visual experiences.
Research Square (Research Square)
February 23, 2024
Ari Brouwer, Joshua K. Brown, Earth Erowid et al.
5 citations
Psychedelic therapy may work partly because its temporal structure mirrors the narrative arc of the Hero's Journey. A qualitative analysis of self-reported onset (comeup) and offset (comedown) phases of psilocybin experiences found that the comeup is more often characterized by negatively valenced feeling states, while the comedown is more often characterized by positively valenced feeling states resembling recovery from illness or adversity. This trajectory suggests that initially distressing altered states can ultimately resolve distress, offering a framework for understanding the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics.
Frontiers in neuroscience
January 1, 2018
Camila Sanz, Federico Zamberlan, Earth Erowid et al.
3 citations
correction
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