Journal of Psychedelic Studies
September 2, 2022
Ismael Apud, Juan Scuro, Ignacio Carrera et al.
6 citations
Ayahuasca's psychological and subjective effects differ between two neoshamanic groups in Uruguay: a psychospiritual holistic center and a center treating substance use disorders. A mixed-methods study using the Hallucinogen Rating Scale and in-depth interviews found significant medium-sized differences in affect, cognition, and perception between groups. The group with higher scores reported more frequent and complex emotional, cognitive, and perceptive experiences. No significant quantitative differences emerged for intensity or somaesthetic domains, yet qualitative reports described the experience as “soft” in one group and noted bodily effects like purging. Stronger subjective effects may relate to differences in dosage and setting.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
August 5, 2022
John Clifton, Annabelle M. Belcher, Aaron D. Greenblatt et al.
6 citations
Among Black individuals diagnosed with Opioid Use Disorder recruited from an urban methadone program, most had heard of psilocybin mushrooms but only 17.8% had ever used them. Over 80% perceived a risk or were unsure of the risk for most psilocybin-related items. About half were willing to try therapy incorporating psilocybin, and half said they would be more likely to try it if FDA-approved for OUD. Most preferred to stay on methadone alone; only one participant chose psilocybin treatment without methadone. The authors suggest culturally informed treatment models and outreach to increase minority representation in psilocybin research.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 1, 2019
Jerry B. Brown, Julie M. Brown
6 citations
Newly examined correspondence between ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson and art historian Erwin Panofsky reveals a financial motive behind Wasson's refusal to acknowledge that a 12th-century fresco in the Chapel of Plaincourault, France, depicts Amanita muscaria. Wasson's view that psychoactive mushrooms disappeared from the Near and Middle East by 1000 BCE prevailed for decades, stalling research on entheogens in Christianity. Twenty-first-century researchers have since documented growing evidence of A. muscaria and psilocybin-containing mushrooms in Christian art across Europe and the Middle East—in frescoes, manuscripts, mosaics, sculptures, and stained glass. The article proposes a psychedelic gospels theory and calls for an interdisciplinary committee to evaluate this evidence and resolve the question of entheogens' role in Christian origins.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
January 24, 2025
Cecile Giovannetti, Anja Loizaga-Velder, Ricardo Campoy Gomez et al.
5 citations
An outpatient clinic serving a Yaqui Indigenous community in Mexico integrated ayahuasca ceremonies with psychotherapeutic support to treat substance use and mental health disorders. In 37 patients with depression, anxiety, complicated grief, or substance use disorder, symptom scores dropped substantially after two ceremonies: depression scores fell from 15.7 to 5.1, anxiety from 16.6 to 6.3, and complicated grief from 39.6 to 10.7. Among eight patients with suicide risk, seven no longer showed risk after one ceremony. The ceremonies were well-tolerated. The findings suggest that culturally-attuned, community-based ayahuasca-assisted therapy may rapidly reduce mental health symptoms and warrants further study.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
July 15, 2024
Christopher Quasti, Dominic Sisti
5 citations
Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) is experiencing renewed clinical interest for treating mental health conditions. Philosophers can contribute to PAT during both the preparation and integration phases by offering philosophical insights and providing conceptual language to articulate the complex philosophical aspects of a psychedelic experience.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
May 10, 2024
Maria Bălăeţ
5 citations
Public discussion about psychedelics, especially when it emphasizes potential harms without proper context, could trigger a nocebo effect—where negative expectations lead to adverse experiences. As interest in these substances grows, an unbalanced narrative may inadvertently influence people's naturalistic psychedelic experiences, potentially causing negative outcomes. The commentary argues for a balanced discourse that equally acknowledges both benefits and risks, and advocates for transparent information to support informed decision-making by users.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
April 2, 2024
Stefanie Desrochers
5 citations
Public acceptance of both the LGBTQ+ community and psychedelic medicines is growing, yet published accounts connecting queerness and psychedelic experiences remain scarce. This knowledge report reviews existing psychedelic literature alongside rising anti-2SLGBTQ+ sentiments and legislation in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. It argues that the current socio-political climate, which increasingly favors psychedelic medicine while attacking recently won civil rights, risks repeating mistakes from the first wave of psychedelic research. Including queer narratives in psychedelic research is essential for equitable, safe, effective, and accessible psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies and for protecting patients from sexual and gender-based violence.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
November 30, 2023
R Villa
5 citations
The Sonoran Desert Toad is the only vertebrate known to produce the powerful psychedelic 5-MeO-DMT, which is easily accessible from its exterior glands. First reported in 1965 and 1967, the compound's discovery led to popular psychedelic use after a 1984 pamphlet. Unmitigated use in for-profit spirituality, wellness, and adventurism has driven erroneous and exploitive narratives of ancient Indigenous use, increasing exploitation of the toad, biocultural erosion, and malpractice. Reconciliation of diverse needs is intellectually and financially challenging, requiring careful approaches that avoid extraction and appropriation of Indigenous and wellness motifs, and can be reached through intersection of Indigenous and Western science. Few conservation studies and outreach efforts exist, mostly supported by crowdfunding.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
January 16, 2023
Stephen Kagan
5 citations
People who smoke the psychedelic compound DMT report complex experiences that include seeing unusual visual and synesthetic phenomena, leaving this world and entering extraordinary places, encountering strange entities, interacting with unusual objects, and having powerful feelings. Although such experiences are often described as indescribable, unique, and occurring in a single domain called Hyperspace, this analysis of online narrative accounts identified distinct subcategories of frequently visited Places, encountered Entities, Objects, and Feelings. The findings provide a framework for a more comprehensive understanding of the profound experiences resulting from DMT inhalation.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 23, 2022
David Wyndham Lawrence
5 citations
Inhaled N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) temporarily raised heart rate immediately after use in a healthy 31-year-old man, and his average daily heart rate variability (HRV) was markedly higher the day after each of three naturalistic experiences. The duration of the experience shortened across the three sessions even though the DMT dose remained similar. Because low HRV is linked to stress, psychiatric conditions, and poor mental health, these preliminary findings suggest that psychedelics may influence cardiac autonomic regulation and warrant further study.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
September 4, 2025
Alan K. Davis, Meghan DellaCrosse, Nathan D. Sepeda et al.
4 citations
Over a five-year follow-up period, psilocybin-assisted therapy produced significant and sustained reductions in depression for people with major depressive disorder. Among the 18 participants who completed the study, 67% remained in remission for at least five years after treatment. Anxiety and functional impairment also improved. Qualitative interviews revealed lasting positive changes in mindset, emotional health, and relationships, including enhanced empathy, self-acceptance, and improved interpersonal relationships. No severe adverse events were reported. These findings support the long-term efficacy and safety of psilocybin-assisted therapy for reducing depressive symptoms and improving mental health.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
May 30, 2025
Esenia K. Cassidy, David Dupuis, Christopher Timmermann et al.
4 citations
Attachment patterns and psychedelic use jointly influence worldview transformations and enculturation processes. Both may operate through common mechanisms: heightened epistemic trust at the psychological level and heightened serotonin 2a receptor-binding with associated hyper-plastic states at the neural level. The synthesis draws on attachment-religion research, anthropological studies of Ayahuasca use in shamanic tourism, and preliminary attachment-psychedelics research. Future research directions and ethical considerations for psychedelic-assisted therapies and cross-cultural research are outlined.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
May 15, 2025
Terence H. W. Ching, Benjamin Kelmendi
4 citations
A primer for culturally attuned psychedelic clinical trials narratively reviews psychological and pragmatic barriers to diversity—including stigma, medical mistrust, history of psychedelic-assisted conversion therapy, income disparities, schedule inflexibilities, and transportation inaccessibility—and proposes strategies for culturally attuned recruitment, assessment, and retention of Black, Indigenous, and Peoples of Color (BIPOC) and sexual- and gender-diverse populations. Strategies include diversifying the study team, debinarizing the therapist dyad, using culturally attuned language and flyers, community outreach, improving transportation access, diversifying room setup, and using culturally attuned assessments. The authors encourage research groups to adapt these recommendations to improve accessibility to innovative mental health treatments for diverse populations.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
May 15, 2025
Marc Sherwin, Fabio Friso, Jörg Fachner et al.
4 citations
Curative songs called icaros, used by traditional healers in the Peruvian Upper Amazon alongside the psychoactive plant brew ayahuasca, may aid healing by influencing self-referential processing, promoting decentering, and facilitating beneficial introspective or meditative states. An interpretive phenomenological analysis of six participants attending an ayahuasca ritual for personal and spiritual development at the Takiwasi Center in 2018 provides pointers toward a neurophenomenology of musico-healing experiences. The work contributes a medical ethnomusicological perspective to understanding how Amazonian curative songs function under the altered state of consciousness produced by ayahuasca.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
October 29, 2024
Pamela Kryskow, Paul Stamets, Joseph la Torre et al.
4 citations
In a program offering psilocybin-assisted therapy for end-of-life distress, participants received synthetic psilocybin, whole Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms, and a mycological extract on separate occasions. Post-treatment interview transcripts revealed broad consensus that all three forms were helpful and similar, generating visual and perceptual distortions, emotional and cognitive insight, and mystical experiences. However, synthetic psilocybin was described as feeling less natural and its overall quality of experience was inferior to the organic forms. These preliminary findings suggest that research should include whole psychedelic mushrooms and extract alongside synthetic psilocybin, given that traditional medicine keepers have used whole mushrooms and plant material for millennia.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
July 17, 2024
Liam Engel, Sascha Thal, Stephen Bright et al.
4 citations
Analysis of 660 posts from online psychedelic forums (The Shroomery and DMT Nexus) about trip sitting revealed that psychedelics discussed include 5-MeO-DMT, ayahuasca, changa, LSA, LSD, and psilocybin. For well-researched substances like LSD and psilocybin, the common dosages determined by a Delphi-style expert panel aligned closely with those used in clinical studies. Many posts indicated that psychedelic care was seen as unnecessary or optional, especially for LSD and LSA, while 5-MeO-DMT was strongly associated with a perceived need for care. Greater psychedelic purity and dosage intensity correlated with a perceived need for care. Oral administration, the most common route, showed lower dosage intensity.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 5, 2024
Meghan DellaCrosse, A. Garcia-Romeu, Alan K. Davis
4 citations
A lack of consensus and theoretical clarity in psychedelic-assisted therapy research has led to polarized debates and unusual regulatory recommendations, such as removing psychological and medical safety measures to better study drug effects. This commentary argues that an ecological systems theory approach, adapted from Bronfenbrenner, can make contextual and practical factors explicit and testable in research. The proposed conceptual model aims to improve measurement of acute subjective experience and address limitations in current approaches. The authors suggest this framework could help reconcile conflicting perspectives and enhance safety in ongoing clinical trials.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
May 31, 2024
Evan E. Ozmat, Alicia K. Mcdonough, Guy M. Ladouceur et al.
4 citations
People who received ibogaine treatment for addiction reported reduced cravings, withdrawal symptoms, and addiction severity. The drug's psychedelic, dream-like experiences prompted personal insight into their addictions and supported recovery. Participants often sought ibogaine after exhausting other treatments. Disclosing their ibogaine experiences to professional and non-professional supporters was important for recovery. Despite prior negative encounters with behavioral health systems, most participants later sought mental health professional support. These intersecting individual, interpersonal, and health-system experiences had an enduring impact on addiction recovery.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
February 26, 2024
Ido Hartogsohn
4 citations
The term psychonaut, coined in 1949 by Ernst Jünger, describes individuals who systematically and deliberately explore their own minds, often using psychedelics, distinguishing them from casual experimenters. The concept implies method, commitment, and audacity, and psychedelic history has produced notable figures like Alexander Shulgin who exemplify this approach.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 19, 2023
Kevin Byrne, Spencer Lindsay, Nicholas Baker et al.
4 citations
People who use classic psychedelics outside of clinical settings commonly do so alone when aiming to improve their mental health, and solo use is linked to greater subjective symptom improvement than group use. However, overall perceived mental health benefit does not differ significantly between solo and group settings. Negative mental health outcomes are rare regardless of setting. Most naturalistic use occurs informally, with no notable difference between solo and group users. These findings suggest that group settings for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy warrant further investigation, as they appear no more harmful than solo use and yield comparable overall benefits.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
January 17, 2023
Ioana Pop, Jannis Dinkelacker
4 citations
Microdosing—taking repeated sub-threshold doses of serotonergic hallucinogens—was expected to increase emotional diversity (emodiversity), but the opposite occurred. Over 28 days, 18 experienced microdosers reported their emotions five times daily via experience-sampling. On microdosing days, positive and overall emodiversity were significantly lower, with participants feeling more awe, shame, and less joy. Cumulative microdosing showed no effect on any emodiversity measure. The findings suggest microdosing may heighten the centrality of specific emotions, thereby reducing emotional balance.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
March 12, 2020
Brianna R. Altman, Maha N. Mian, Mitch Earleywine
4 citations
Ayahuasca users expect its effects to differ from those of other hallucinogens like LSD or psilocybin in several ways, including stronger positive connections to nature and other people, more dramatic or terrifying thoughts, greater variability of effects, and distinct physical reactions. Among 139 experienced users surveyed online, intentions to use ayahuasca again increased when they expected positive connections but decreased when they expected physical reactions. One version of a scale measuring the novelty of ayahuasca effects predicted a preference for ayahuasca over other hallucinogens, while another version did not, indicating a need for further research. Understanding these expectancies may help guide choices among hallucinogens for therapeutic use.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
February 25, 2019
Jenna Varley
4 citations
Psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin are being studied again for treating anxiety and depression in terminally ill patients, building on research from the 1960s. Recent clinical trials show higher methodological quality and demonstrate a profound impact for these patients. However, gaps remain in understanding Western views on death, how the psychedelic experience helps those facing death, and how suffering and distress are defined in psychiatry and medicine. This article critically evaluates recent studies and suggests that anthropology can contribute valuable knowledge to this emerging field.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
November 24, 2025
Petri J. Kajonius, David Sjöström, Emma Claesdotter-Knutsson
3 citations
Most people who have had a psychedelic experience rank it among the most meaningful events in their lives, and personality traits shape how the experience unfolds. In a survey of 400 experienced users, those higher in openness reported more mystical and positive aspects, while those higher in neuroticism reported more challenging and negative aspects. The findings suggest that individual differences in personality influence both the quality and lasting impact of psychedelic experiences, and future research should measure and control for these traits.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
May 15, 2025
Sara G. Gloeckler, Julien Thibault Lévesque, Alexandre Lehmann et al.
3 citations
Music is a standard part of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, but the role of silence is not well understood. In a compassionate-access program in Canada, two breast cancer patients undergoing psilocybin therapy experienced a 30-minute silent period that included mindfulness exercises and therapist discussion. One patient initially found the absence of music difficult but later found the mindfulness exercises highly meaningful. The other patient reported that music had evoked challenging memories early in the session, which were then productively explored during the silent period. The findings suggest that integrating silent intervals may enhance mindfulness and therapist-patient interactions, offering distinct therapeutic benefits. The authors call for more detailed reporting on session components in psychedelic research.