Journal of Psychedelic Studies
September 16, 2022
Ada Kałużna, Marco Schlosser, Emily Gulliksen Craste et al.
41 citations
Both ego-dissolution and connectedness during a psychedelic experience are associated with a higher chance of therapeutic improvement, but they affect people differently. Ego-dissolution tends to trigger psychological change that typically does not last beyond the psychedelic experience, while connectedness can be more sustained and is linked to several positive, potentially therapeutic feelings. A mixed-methods systematic review of 15 studies (2,182 participants) synthesized findings from four databases. The results suggest that emphasizing ego-dissolution during preparation and connectedness during integration may improve psychedelic therapy models, with broader implications for mental health practice.
Mindfulness
April 1, 2023
Charlotta Simonsson, Richard Chambers, Peter S Hendricks et al.
15 citations
People who have used classic psychedelics report meditating more often, specifically mindfulness meditation, but not loving-kindness or compassion meditation. Among those who had a psychedelic experience, both psychological insight and ego dissolution were linked to more frequent practice of both types of meditation. However, when both factors were considered together, only psychological insight predicted higher meditation frequency. These findings, from a survey of 2,822 U.S. adults, suggest that psychedelic experiences—especially those that produce psychological insight—may encourage regular meditation, though causality cannot be established.
PloS one
January 1, 2023
Marco Schlosser, Harriet Demnitz-King, Thorsten Barnhofer et al.
13 citations
Older adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) recruited from memory clinics are at higher risk for dementia and often have reduced well-being due to memory concerns and fear of dementia. A randomized trial compared an 8-week caring mindfulness-based approach for seniors (CMBAS) with a health self-management program (HSMP) in 147 participants. The mindfulness program showed a small advantage over HSMP in improving a sense of connection immediately after the intervention. However, overall psychological well-being, quality of life, and other composite measures did not increase in either group. The findings suggest that these brief non-pharmacological interventions had only limited effects on well-being in SCD.
BMJ Open
March 1, 2024
Charlie Song-Smith, Edward Jacobs, James Rucker et al.
9 citations
Most UK medical students (83%) are aware of psychedelic research and only 3% are not interested in learning more, yet only 17% feel well-educated on the topic. Students' harm assessments of psychedelics closely match experts', but teaching on psychedelics is rare in their curriculum. Time in medical school does not correlate with more knowledge about psychedelics. On average, students strongly support changing the legal status of psychedelics to enable further clinical research. Greater knowledge, lower perceived harm, more years in medical school, and lower perceived effectiveness of non-pharmacological mental health treatments are associated with stronger support for legal change.
Psychopharmacology
February 1, 2025
Jack Stroud, Charlotte Rice, Aaron Orsini et al.
8 citations
The majority of autistic participants who completed an online survey reported that their most impactful psychedelic experience reduced psychological distress (82%) and social anxiety (78%) and increased social engagement (70%). A substantial minority (20%) reported undesirable effects such as increased anxiety, with some describing the experience as among the most negatively impactful of their lives. The only substantial predictor of reduced distress was increased psychological flexibility. The findings come from a non-experimental design with biased sampling, so caution is warranted.
PloS one
January 1, 2023
Marco Schlosser, Olga M Klimecki, Fabienne Collette et al.
6 citations
An 18-month meditation training program for healthy older adults aged 65 to 84 improved a composite measure of well-being encompassing awareness, connection, and insight, compared to an active control of English language training. The meditation group also showed significant increases in psychological quality of life, awareness, insight, and the global score from the start to the end of the study. However, meditation did not outperform the active control on the Psychological Well-being Scale total score, and improvements in psychological quality of life were no longer significant after adjusting for multiple comparisons. The trial, involving 137 participants, represents the longest randomized meditation training study to date.