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Crowdfunding: Ayahuasca Treatment Outcome Project

December 6, 2021 / Articles, Ayahuasca, Background articles, Publications, Research / By

An international scientific team – consisting of clinical psychiatrists and neuroscientists, medical doctors and anthropologists, epidemiologists and curanderos – is trying to set up an ambitious research project to study the effects of ayahuasca and how it affects addiction and other mental health issues. They have only 12 days left to reach their first funding goal of C$25.000, so please consider making a donation.

Since it can be a big challenge indeed to receive funding through traditional channels, OPEN supports funding serious research via other means. Donating means you are funding an interdisciplinary research design meeting contemporary high quality scientific standards, which involves thorough follow-up and a longitudinal assessment of treatment efficacy.

The team is being led by Dr. Brian Rush, Professor, Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada and Scientist Emeritus at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada.

For more information and a video about this project have a look at their Indiegogo page.

Survey: Quit smoking after a psychedelic experience?

December 6, 2021 / Addiction, Articles, Mystical experiences, Publications, Research / By

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine are currently recruiting individuals who have quit smoking cigarettes or reduced their smoking (even temporarily) after an experience with a psychedelic, for participation in an online survey. Their team has previously conducted innovative research on the effects of compounds including psilocybin, dextromethorphan, and salvinorin A.

The goal of this survey is to learn more about whether psychedelic drugs are associated with reduction or cessation of cigarette smoking. The researchers want to characterize people’s experiences in non-­laboratory settings in which taking a psychedelic may have led to reducing or quitting smoking. For the purposes of this survey, the survey will be asking specifically about individuals who have quit smoking cigarettes or reduced their smoking (even temporarily) after experiences with psilocybin (magic) mushrooms, LSD, morning glory seeds, mescaline, peyote cactus, San Pedro cactus, DMT, or ayahuasca. This research study has been approved by the Institutional Review Board of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The survey is completely anonymous (IP addresses will not be recorded) and will require 40-45 minutes to complete. If you are interested in participating, please click this link. Participation is voluntary and will not be financially compensated.

Participants must be 18+ years of age, speak/write English fluently, and have experienced a reduction or cessation of cigarette smoking after an experience with one of the psychedelic substances listed above. For more information, please contact the researchers via the site’s private messaging system.

Principal Investigator of this study, Matthew W. Johnson was a speaker at our Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research in 2012. A video on the topic of this study can be watched below.

Psychedelics linked to lower mental health risks

December 6, 2021 / Articles, Background articles, Psychology, Publications, Research / By

The use of LSD, magic mushrooms, or peyote does not increase a person’s risk of developing mental health problems, according to an analysis of information from more than 130,000 randomly chosen people, including 22,000 people who had used psychedelics at least once.

Researcher Teri Krebs and clinical psychologist Pål-Ørjan Johansen, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s (NTNU), cleverly used data from a US national health survey to study the association between psychedelic drug use and mental health problems.

The researchers relied on data from the 2001-2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in which participants were asked about mental health treatment and symptoms of a variety of mental health conditions over the past year. The specific symptoms examined were general psychological distress, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and psychosis.

The study showed that lifetime use of psilocybin or mescaline and past year use of LSD were associated with lower rates of serious psychological distress. Lifetime use of LSD was also significantly associated with a lower rate of outpatient mental health treatment and psychiatric medicine prescription, although the nature of these relations were not demonstrated in the Norwegians’ study.

Interestingly, the results of this study confirm the outcomes of recent clinical trials that likewise do not demonstrate lasting harmful effects from the use of psychedelics in a clinical setting. It further shows that even when used non-clinically, psychedelic substances might be able to play a role in alleviating mental health issues.

The results are published in the journal PLOS One and are freely available online.

In Memory of Andrew Sewell

December 6, 2021 / Articles, Background articles, Interviews, Other, Publications / By

The sad news has reached us that Andrew Sewell passed away on Sunday July 21st while he was recovering from surgery. R. Andrew Sewell, MD, was assistant professor of Psychiatry at Yale University where he conducted fascinating research on psyche

delics. We had the pleasure of meeting Andrew at our 2010 Mind Altering Science Conference, where he presented his research as one of our invited speakers.

We will remember Andrew Sewell as a cheerful, optimistic and talented researcher with a gift for inspiring others through his lectures. We feel that his passing away is a great loss for the psychedelic research community. Our deepest sympathies go out to Andrew’s friends and family.

Among other things, Andrew was responsible for writing the well read and sobering manual on how to become a psychedelic researcher, entitled ‘So you want to become a psychedelic researcher?’, a must read for aspiring scientists wanting to study psychedelic substances.

Thank you Andrew, for your contributions to psychedelic research and for your inspiring lectures, filled to the brim with information, delivered at high speed. You’ll be missed.

Lecture: Psilocybin in the treatment of end-of-life anxiety

December 6, 2021 / Articles, End of Life Anxiety, Events, Mushrooms / Psilocybin, Publications, Research / By

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Dr. Grob will come all the way from Los Angeles to give a lecture on his research into psilocybin, the active ingredient in ‘magic mushrooms’. The main focus of this lecture will be the investigation into the safety and efficacy of psilocybin as a therapeutic aid in the treatment of severe anxiety in adult patients with advanced-stage cancer. Research into substances such as MDMA and ayahuasca, also investigated at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, will be addressed as well. There will be ample time for questions and discussion. Students, health care professionals and therapists are encouraged to attend.

Dr. Charles Grob is professor in Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA, Los Angeles (USA). He has published extensively on topics such as substance misuse and the history of hallucinogens in psychiatry. He performed the first FDA approved study of the physiological and psychological effects of MDMA; a multi-national study of ayahuasca in Brazil and has performed a pilot investigation of the safety and efficacy of psilocybin in the treatment of anxiety in adult patients with advanced-stage cancer.
The lecture will take place on Friday 14 June, from 16:00 – 18:00.
LOCATION: CREA (Muziekzaal), Nieuwe Achtergracht 170 Amsterdam.
FEE: €5,- regular / students & alumni get in for free

Labyrint TV special about therapy with psychedelics

December 6, 2021 / Articles, Dutch, Events, Interviews, Public Lectures, Publications / By

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Next week on Wetenschap24 Labyrint TV reports on groundbreaking research into the use of psychedelics for the treatment of psychological disorders.

The episode was filmed at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research 2012 and takes you from the first scientific research into psychedelics in the ’50s, the recreational use and the prohibition of these substances, to the recent research into psychedelics as potential tools for psychotherapy. Amongst others, the British psychopharmacologists Robin Carhart–Harris and Matthew Johnson, both speakers at ICPR 2012, will appear in this episode. They will speak about their research into the therapeutic potential of psilocybin.

Next Wednesday, December 19th, 8:50pm at Nederland 2.

More information on the Labyrint TV website.

Article in university magazine Folia about psychedelic research

December 6, 2021 / Articles, Background articles, Events, Publications / By

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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.

ICPR 2012 draws attention to psychedelic research

December 6, 2021 / Articles, Events, ICPR 2012 Talks, Publications, Research / By

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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.

Study: no adverse effects in long-time ayahuasca users

December 6, 2021 / Articles, Ayahuasca, Publications, Research / By

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.

Dutch plans for ibogaine research

December 6, 2021 / Articles, Background articles, Dutch, Iboga / Ibogaine, Publications, Research / By

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An article in Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant shows there are plans to study the effectiveness of ibogaine in the treatment of addiction in Nijmegen.

The research team, consisting of addiction doctor Maarten Belgers and psychiatrist Toon van Oosteren, works in cooperation with the Radboud University in Nijmegen – to study whether ibogaine can – under strict medical conditions – be used effectively in the treatment of substance dependence. Despite various studies in animals, there has yet been no clinical study in humans. This study would be the first.

In de Volkskrant, Toon van Oosteren states that the researchers intend to subject ten to fifteen people with substance dependence to a treatment with ibogaine. Presently, the team is looking for ibogaine that is pure enough to comply with the rigorous scientific standards for medicines.

Read the whole article in Dutch here.

30 April - Q&A with Rick Strassman

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