Psychopharmacology (Berl)
November 4, 2021
Joanna Kuć, Hannes Kettner, Fernando Rosas et al.
37 citations
People who use cannabis at the same time as a classic psychedelic report more intense subjective effects, with higher cannabis doses linked to stronger mystical, visual, and ego-dissolution experiences. The relationship between cannabis dose and challenging experiences followed a U-shaped pattern, while emotional breakthrough showed no connection to cannabis dose. The findings suggest an interaction between cannabis and psychedelics, but the study's design cannot establish cause or clinical implications.
J Psychopharmacol
January 27, 2024
Jessica Barbut Siva, Tommaso Barba, Hannes Kettner et al.
29 citations
A prospective survey study examined how serotonergic antidepressants affect the acute subjective experience of classic psychedelics and subsequent well-being and depressive symptoms. People taking antidepressants reported less intense mystical-type experiences and greater anxiety during psychedelic sessions compared to those not on antidepressants. Despite this blunting, both groups showed similar improvements in well-being and reductions in depressive symptoms after the session. The findings suggest that while antidepressants may dampen the acute psychedelic experience, they do not necessarily hinder long-term mental health benefits.
Psychopharmacology
August 22, 2023
Robert F. Dougherty, Patrick Clarke, Merve Atli et al.
21 citations
A machine learning model that analyzes language from therapy sessions can predict which patients with treatment-resistant depression will respond to psilocybin therapy. Researchers used a zero-shot classifier based on the BART large language model to measure sentiment (valence and arousal) in transcripts of therapist-patient conversations one day after COMP360 psilocybin administration. These sentiment scores, combined with the Emotional Breakthrough Index and treatment arm, were fed into multinomial logistic regression models. The models predicted responder status at week 3 and through week 12 with 85% and 88% accuracy, respectively, and AUC values of 88% and 85%. This approach could enable early identification of patients needing alternative treatments.
September 30, 2022
Robert F. Dougherty, Patrick Clarke, Merve Alti et al.
3 citations
preprint
A machine learning model that analyzes language from therapy sessions accurately predicted which patients with treatment-resistant depression would respond to psilocybin treatment. Transcripts of psychological support sessions held one day after COMP360 (a synthetic psilocybin formulation) administration were analyzed using a zero-shot classifier based on the BART large language model to measure sentiment (valence and arousal) for both participant and therapist. These scores, combined with the Emotional Breakthrough Index and treatment arm, were used to predict treatment outcome measured by MADRS scores. Two multinomial logistic regression models predicted responder status at week 3 and through week 12 with 85% and 88% accuracy, and AUC values of 88% and 85%, respectively. The approach enables rapid prognostication of personalized response to psilocybin treatment and insights into therapeutic model optimization.
February 6, 2025
Rosalind McAlpine, Merve Utanğaç, Joanna Kuć et al.
2 citations
preprint
Experienced meditators who also use psychedelics expect meditation to enhance acceptance and present-moment focus during psychedelic sessions, while increasing feelings of oceanic boundlessness and reducing anxious ego-dissolution. Among those with limited meditation experience (1-3 years) and few psychedelic sessions (1-20), adhering to a specific meditation tradition was linked to higher perceived benefits of meditation for psychedelic preparation. However, for highly experienced meditators (10+ years) with limited psychedelic use, non-adherents reported higher perceived benefits. Loving-Kindness Meditation was rated the most beneficial preparatory practice. Participants recommended about three weeks of daily 30-minute sessions, favoring online and asynchronous delivery.
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
May 23, 2026
Joanna Kuć, Rosalind G McAlpine, Amelia Sellers et al.
A short-acting psychedelic, 5-MeO-DMT, shifts speech from external focus to introspection. In 29 participants who kept daily voice journals two weeks before and after a single 12 mg dose, language analysis showed increased cognitive words and fewer social words, while vocal quality changed with more jitter and shimmer. Baseline speech patterns predicted how prepared people felt, the intensity of emotional breakthrough, and later well-being. This is the first longitudinal study showing that vocal journaling can track and predict psychological transformation around a psychedelic retreat, offering a framework for monitoring preparation and integration periods.
BMJ open
March 12, 2026
Rosalind McAlpine, Magdalena Jaglinska, Krisztina Jedlovszky et al.
A 21-day mobile-accessible programme called the Digital Intervention for Psychedelic Preparation (DIPP) is being tested for feasibility and preliminary efficacy in a randomised controlled trial. The study will recruit 40 non-treatment-seeking adults without a clinical diagnosis, randomly assigning them to either a guided meditation with music condition or a music-only condition. After the digital intervention, all participants will attend an in-person supervised psilocybin session with a standardised 25 mg dose. Primary outcomes include recruitment efficiency, retention, and adherence; secondary outcomes assess preparedness, quality of the psychedelic experience, and wellbeing, with follow-ups up to 9 months. The trial is registered as NCT06815653.
bioRxiv
April 21, 2025
Joanna Kuć, Rosalind G. McAlpine, Amelia Sellers et al.
preprint
After a single 12 mg dose of the psychedelic 5-MeO-DMT, people's speech patterns shifted toward more cognitive language and fewer social words, and their voices showed increased jitter and shimmer, indicating altered vocal quality. Baseline speech features predicted how psychologically prepared participants were, their anxiety about ego dissolution, emotional breakthrough, and later well-being. The findings suggest that analyzing voice journals can track a shift from external focus to introspection and serve as a tool for monitoring psychological transformation after psychedelic use.
arXiv (Cornell University)
September 30, 2024
Jeremy I Skipper, Joanna Kuć, Gregory M. Cooper et al.
Reducing attention to language in multimodal AI models makes their semantic spaces more similar to the phenomenology of altered states such as ego dissolution and unity reported in psychedelic and meditation experiences. When attentional weights were shifted away from language and vision in CLIP and FLAVA models, their embedding spaces aligned more closely with disembodied, unitive, and minimal phenomenal states than with anxiety or random text. This alignment was accompanied by blurred distinctions within and across semantic categories, such as 'giraffes' becoming more like 'bananas'. The findings suggest that language categorization contributes to the structure of ordinary consciousness, and its breakdown may underlie the phenomenology of altered states linked to improved mental health.