Journal of Psychopharmacology
May 1, 2024
Max Wolff, Ricarda Evens, Lea J. Mertens et al.
34 citations
A new questionnaire, the General Change Mechanisms Questionnaire (GCMQ), reliably measures five psychotherapy processes—resource activation, therapeutic relationship, problem actuation, clarification, and mastery—during psychedelic experiences. Validated in 1153 English-speaking and 714 German-speaking users, the GCMQ showed good internal consistency and convergent validity. Experiences varied with setting and use motives (therapeutic, hedonic, escapist). Resource activation, clarification, and mastery moderated the link between stressful life events and well-being, suggesting potential therapeutic benefits. Five distinct user profiles emerged, which may inform clinical use and harm reduction.
General hospital psychiatry
January 1, 2025
Max Wolff, Hans Rutrecht, Gerhard Gründer et al.
9 citations
As psychedelic treatments move from research settings into hospitals, clinics, and community practices, a new competencies framework outlines the skills needed for safe, effective, and ethically sound therapy. The framework is substance-unspecific and transtheoretical, covering foundational domains including psychotherapy, biomedicine, philosophy, socio-cultural awareness, existential concerns, legal issues, and self-experience. It translates these into practical competencies for multi-professional cooperation, screening, preparation, dosing, integration, and harm-reduction. Developed within the MIND Foundation's Augmented Psychotherapy Training program, the framework awaits systematic evaluation but offers an initial blueprint for future accredited certification and clinician training as these treatments enter mainstream care.
HCI International 2025 – Late Breaking Papers
January 1, 2026
Maria Laura Mele, Hans Rutrecht
A review of literature from 2014 to 2024 examines how virtual reality can induce, modulate, and assess altered states of consciousness. Four methodological fields are analyzed: clinical and therapeutic research, cognitive science and neurophysiology, immersive technology and human-computer interaction, and psychological and phenomenological evaluation. VR-mediated altered states can be systematically evaluated through multimodal techniques, but the review reveals significant methodological inconsistencies, including a lack of standardization in experimental designs, variability in measurement tools, and limited interdisciplinary integration. The authors call for a standardized methodological framework to enable replicable assessment of VR-induced altered states.