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.
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.