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Article in university magazine Folia about psychedelic research

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folia_trippen

University magazine Folia devoted an article to psychedelic research. The cover is entirely dedicated to the article ‘Trippen op recept’ (Tripping on prescription). Visitors of the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research will recognize the interviewed experts. Ben Sessa talks about his experience in an fMRI scanner when he participated in a study into the effects of psilocybin on the brain. Robin Carhart-Harris, a researchers at Imperial College London, talks about initial findings of this study. Matthew Johnson, psychopharmacologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (United States) is interviewed as well. He talks about his research into the use of psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco addiction.

You can find the Folia magazine at various locations at the University of Amsterdam. You can also find it digitally on the Folia website.

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A randomized, controlled pilot study of MDMA (± 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine)-assisted psychotherapy for treatment of resistant, chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

/ Anxiety Disorders / PTSD, MDMA, Papers, Psychology, Publications / / , , ,

Abstract

Psychiatrists and psychotherapists in the US (1970s to 1985) and Switzerland (1988-1993) used MDMA legally as a prescription drug, to enhance the effectiveness of psychotherapy. Early reports suggest that it is useful in treating trauma-related disorders. Recently, the first completed pilot study of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD yielded encouraging results. Designed to test the safety and efficacy of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy in patients with treatment-resistant PTSD; our randomized, double-blind, active-placebo controlled trial enrolled 12 patients for treatment with either low-dose (25 mg, plus 12.5 mg supplemental dose) or full-dose MDMA (125 mg, plus 62.5 mg supplemental dose). MDMA was administered during three experimental sessions, interspersed with weekly non-drug-based psychotherapy sessions. Outcome measures used were the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS) and the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS). Patients were assessed at baseline, three weeks after the second and third MDMA session (end of treatment), and at the 2-month and 1-year follow-ups. We found that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy can be safely administered in a clinical setting. No drug-related serious adverse events occurred. We did not see statistically significant reductions in CAPS scores (p = 0.066), although there was clinically and statistically significant self-reported (PDS) improvement (p = 0.014). CAPS scores improved further at the 1-year follow-up. In addition, three MDMA sessions were more effective than two (p = 0.016).

Oehen, P., Traber, R., Widmer, V., & Schnyder, U. (2012) A randomized, controlled pilot study of MDMA (± 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine)-assisted psychotherapy for treatment of resistant, chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Journal of Psychopharmacology, 27(1), 40-52. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0269881112464827
Link to full text

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Veel aandacht voor uitverkocht ICPR 2012

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Op 6 en 7 oktober vond OPEN’s tweede grote internationale congres plaats in Amsterdam: de Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research. In de uitverkochte Mozes en Aäronkerk kwamen meer dan 400 onderzoekers, studenten, therapeuten en wetenschappers bijeen om te luisteren naar lezingen, variërend van fMRI-onderzoek naar psilocybine, filosofische discussies over de rol van psychedelische ervaringen tot een debat over de plaats en het nut van MDMA in psychotherapie.

Onderzoek naar psychedelica wordt langzaam ook in Nederland serieus genomen. VPRO’s Labyrint heeft opnames gemaakt voor een uitzending gewijd aan psychedelisch onderzoek. Lees ook de artikelen in het wetenschapskatern van de Volkskrant (6 okt. ’12) en het Parool (13 okt. ’12). Foto’s van het congres kunnen hier worden gevonden en video’s worden momenteel gemonteerd en zullen spoedig op de website verschijnen.

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ICPR 2012 draws attention to psychedelic research

/ Publications /

icpr_church

On October 6 & 7 OPEN’s second international conference took place in Amsterdam: the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research. In a sold out Mozeskerk over 400 researchers, students, therapists and scholars gathered to listen and discuss the latest psychedelic research. From brain imaging studies on psilocybin, philosophical discussions on the meaning of altered states of consciousness to a debate on the place of MDMA in psychotherapy, ICPR set the standard for future events.

Research into psychedelics is slowly being taken seriously in the Netherlands. Dutch science program Labyrint recorded interviews and shot the conference for an episode on psychedelic research. Articles on the conference in Dutch national newspapers Volkskrant (6 Oct. ’12) and Parool (13 Oct. ’12) can be clicked and read here (only in Dutch). Photos of the conference can be found here and videos of the conference are being edited and will be put on our website soon.

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Functional Connectivity Measures After Psilocybin Inform a Novel Hypothesis of Early Psychosis

/ Mushrooms / Psilocybin, Neuroscience, Papers, Psychology, Psychotic Disorders, Publications / / , , , , , ,

Abstract

Psilocybin is a classic psychedelic and a candidate drug model of psychosis. This study measured the effects of psilocybin on resting-state network and thalamocortical functional connectivity (FC) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Fifteen healthy volunteers received intravenous infusions of psilocybin and placebo in 2 task-free resting-state scans. Primary analyses focused on changes in FC between the default-mode- (DMN) and task-positive network (TPN). Spontaneous activity in the DMN is orthogonal to spontaneous activity in the TPN, and it is well known that these networks support very differ -ent functions (ie, the DMN supports introspection, whereas the TPN supports externally focused attention). Here, inde -pendent components and seed-based FC analyses revealed increased DMN-TPN FC and so decreased DMN-TPN orthogonality after psilocybin. Increased DMN-TPN FC has been found in psychosis and meditatory states, which share some phenomenological similarities with the psy -chedelic state. Increased DMN-TPN FC has also been observed in sedation, as has decreased thalamocortical FC, but here we found preserved thalamocortical FC after psi -locybin. Thus, we propose that thalamocortical FC may be related to arousal, whereas DMN-TPN FC is related to the separateness of internally and externally focused states. We suggest that this orthogonality is compromised in early psychosis, explaining similarities between its phenomenol -ogy and that of the psychedelic state and supporting the utility of psilocybin as a model of early psychosis.

Carhart-Harris, R. L., Leech, R., Erritzoe, D., Williams, T. M.,  Stone, J. M.,  Evans, J., …. Nutt, D. J. (2012). Functional Connectivity Measures After Psilocybin Inform a Novel Hypothesis of Early Psychosis. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 39(6), 1343-1351. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbs117
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Wouter Hanegraaff – Entheogens and Contemporary Religion

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This lecture was first given under the title “Entheogenic Esotericism” at the First International Conference on Contemporary Esotericism, Stockholm University 2012 (link to video). The text has been published in Egil Asprem & Kennet Granholm (eds.), Contemporary Esotericism, Equinox 2013, 392-409.

ABSTRACT
Contemporary esotericism is replete with references to impressive “mystical” or visionary experiences, which are typically credited with having radically changed people’s lives by bringing them into contact with a “spiritual” dimension of reality. Given the widely acknowledged fact that the contemporary neo-esoteric revival has its historical roots in the 1960s, known for its widespread experimentation with psychoactive substances such as LSD, it is remarkable how rarely specialists in this domain (including the speaker himself, in his 1996 monograph on the New Age) have seen this dimension as relevant at all.

In my lecture, I will argue that widespread experimentation with psychoactive or “entheogenic” substances is a significant factor in contemporary esotericism and should be given more attention by scholars. With some notable exceptions, such as Terence McKenna, Daniel Pinchbeck, or Alex Grey, esoteric authors and spokes(wo)men have tended to play down or deny this dimension, especially after the beginning of the “war on drugs” around 1970, and on the whole, scholars have been somewhat naïve in taking such emic denials at face value. Especially since “higher knowledge” or “gnosis” is widely seen as an important aspect of Western esotericism, the widespread claim that it may be attained or facilitated by psychoactive substances must be taken seriously in the study of contemporary esotericism.

About Wouter Hanegraaff:

Wouter J. Hanegraaff is Professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, President of the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE; see esswe.org), and a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the author of New Age Religion and Western Culture: Esotericism in the Mirror of Secular Thought (Leiden 1996/ Albany 1998); Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447-1500): The Hermetic Writings and Related Documents (Tempe 2005; with Ruud M. Bouthoorn); Swedenborg, Oetinger, Kant: Three Perspectives on the Secrets of Heaven (West Chester 2007), and numerous articles in academic journals and collective volumes. His forthcoming monograph Esotericism and the Academy will appear with Cambridge University Press in 2012.

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Matthew Johnson – A Systematic Research Program Examining Psilocybin, Mystical Experience, Personality Change, Adverse Effects and Therapeutic Applications

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This talk will describe several lines of research with psilocybin conducted by our laboratory at Johns Hopkins (Baltimore, USA). Completed study results to be presented include: the effects of different psilocybin doses on mystical experience and challenging effects (“bad trips”); the effects of psilocybin in altering personality (increased openness); and the effects of psilocybin on headache. Ongoing studies will also be described, including a study examining psilocybin to treat cancer-related anxiety and depression, a study examining psilocybin to facilitate the adoption of a meditation practice, and a study examining psilocybin in addiction (tobacco smoking) treatment.

BIOGRAPHY

Matthew W. Johnson, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, US. He received a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Vermont, and completed a fellowship in behavioral pharmacology at Johns Hopkins.

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Robin Carhart-Harris – Neuroimaging Studies with Psilocybin and MDMA

/ Uncategorized /

This talk will describe recently completed fMRI and MEG research with psilocybin and MDMA. I will describe the methods and main results of these studies and discuss their potential implications, both for understanding how the drugs work in the brain and how their effects may be relevant to psychiatry.

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Studie: ayahuasca niet schadelijk voor gezondheid

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Een onderzoek naar de psychiatrische en neuropsychologische effecten van ayahuasca, uitgevoerd door de ‘Human Experimental Neuropsychopharmacology’ onderzoeksgroep van het Sant Pau ziekenhuis in Barcelona, in samenwerking met IDEAA en onderzoeksteams uit Spanje en Brazilië, heeft geen bewijs gevonden voor nadelige effecten op de geestelijke gezondheid van mensen die al 15 jaar lang minimaal twee maal per maand ayahuasca drinken.

Het Spaans / Braziliaanse onderzoeksteam, geleid door psycholoog José Carlos Bouso, onderzocht verschillende domeinen van de geestelijke gezondheid in een groep van 127 lange termijn ayahuasca drinkers in een religieuze context. Deze deelnemers werden vergeleken met een controlegroep bestaande uit 115 niet-drinkers. Om de betrouwbaarheid van het onderzoek te bevestigen, zijn de test een jaar later herhaald. Er werden geen persoonlijkheidsstoornissen gevonden onder de ayahuasca-drinkers en – opmerkelijk genoeg had deze groep zelfs lagere scores op psychopathologisch gebied en scoorden ze beter op sommige cognitieve taken dan de controlegroep. Deze resultaten  zijn consistent met eerdere onderzoeken bij kleinere groepen ayahuasca-drinkers. Dit is de eerste studie die een grote groep onderzoekt en de resultaten heeft weten te repliceren. De auteurs geven aan dat de onderzochte groep bestaat uit mensen die al lange tijd ayahuasca drinken, wat duidelijk laat zien dat ze goed kunnen omgaan met de effecten van ayahuasca. Hun aanbeveling is dan ook om toekomstig onderzoek te richten op beginnende gebruikers die stoppen met het gebruik van ayahuasca vanwege psychologische problemen.

José Carlos Bouso is lid van het International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research & Service (ICEERS) en geeft een lezing tijdens het door Stichting OPEN georganiseerde Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research, waar hij bovenstaand onderzoek zal bespreken.

Het gepubliceerde artikel (zowel het abstract als de volledige tekst) is hier te vinden.

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Study: no adverse effects in long-time ayahuasca users

/ Ayahuasca, Publications /

An investigation into the psychiatric and neuropsychological status of long-term ayahuasca users – conducted by the Human Experimental Neuropsychopharmacology group of Hospital Sant Pau (Barcelona), in cooperation with IDEAA and research centers in Brazil and Spain – found no evidence of adverse psychiatric or neuropsychological effects. The team performed a longitudinal study of ayahuasca users who had been drinking for at least 15 years, at least twice a month.

The Spanish and Brazilian research team, headed by psychologist José Carlos Bouso, evaluated several domains of mental health in 127 long-time ayahuasca users in religious contexts. They compared these participants with 115 non-users. To confirm the reliability of the results, they repeated the tests one year later. Interestingly, the ayahuasca users showed no personality disorders, and had lower psychopathological indices and better cognitive performance in some neuropsychological tests than the non-users. The study concludes that there is “no evidence of psychological maladjustment, mental health deterioration or cognitive impairment in the ayahuasca-using group.” These results are consistent with earlier results obtained by other research groups that had studied smaller samples of users. This is the first study with long-term ayahuasca users that both assessed a sample of this size and replicated the results. The authors indicate that the study sample was composed of people that have been using ayahuasca for many years, which is a clear sign that they tolerate the ayahuasca well. The researchers suggest that future studies should focus specifically on participants that initiate the use of ayahuasca and then stop because of a psychological issue possibly related to its use.

José Carlos Bouso is currently a member of the International Center for Ethnobotanical Education, Research & Service (ICEERS) and will be discussing the results of this study during the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research, to be held in Amsterdam on the 6th and 7th of October 2012.

The scientific article (both abstract and full text) can be found here.

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Psyche & Praxis Forum: Working at the Edge of Medicine and Mysticism - January 29

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