OPEN Foundation

Anthropology & Sociology

Lessons on Psychedelic Harm Reduction with PsyCare NL – From the field

“From the Field: Lessons from Psychedelic Practices in the Netherlands” is a new blog series stemming from my qualitative research at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in collaboration with the OPEN Foundation. The study focused on the conception and practice of safe and beneficial use of psychedelics in group settings in the Netherlands—specifically in the counterculture, ayahuasca ceremonies and truffle retreat centers. Based on interviews with experienced practitioners, the series highlights and connects diverse aspects of psychedelic practices, such as cultural influences, ethics, philosophical beliefs, rituals and sensory stimuli. This article is based on my personal experience as part of a new PsyCare NL team, launched last summer (2024) at a festival in the Netherlands.

The Launch of PsyCare NL: Safe Psychedelic Substance Use at Festivals

The PsyCare facility is a calm, safe, cozy and grounding environment for participants in need, playing a crucial role in prevention and harm reduction at festivals where psychedelic substances are commonly used. Visitors are welcomed by experienced psychedelic peer support “sitters” with a deep understanding of mind-altering substances and a relaxed, non-judgmental approach towards difficult and challenging experiences. Ideally, a team is composed of sitters with different professional backgrounds, gender, personality and language skills to ensure the most appropriate support for all visitors.

PsyCare NL was restarted by Cato de Vos following years of volunteer work with international psychedelic support services like Kosmicare at Boom Festival. Developed with her colleague and friend Raoul Koning (who, like Cato, is part of the OPEN team), the pilot was implemented with a team of 11 members. In total, we received 41 guests over three days. Most cases were drug-related and, typical to a festival environment, involved a variety of drug types and doses, with a dominance of LSD. Other cases involved general agitation or overwhelming feelings from the festival. Some guests could not communicate their feelings or which substances they had consumed (if any). Looking back at the stats reveals strong diversity in other parameters as well, such as how guests arrived at PsyCare or for how long they stayed.

So, how can you help someone through a challenging experience with such a wide variety of cases?

Creating a Safe Haven: The Role of Psychedelic Support Services

With the exception of medical issues—which are determined by the First Aid team—we hardly followed any strict protocols. There are handy guidelines, training and even manuals for this complex and challenging work, but much of it is carried out in an intuitive manner. Like humor or the psychedelic experience itself, this sort of knowledge does not lend itself easily to words and numbers. Nevertheless, in this article, I will highlight essential aspects of PsyCare practice as they emerged from our collaboration with First Aid, feedback from guests and visitors and my own experience as a participant-observer and part of the team.

the core of psychedelic Harm Reduction: Being Present

Being present is probably the single most important element of PsyCare, and it begins with the place itself. The festival production supplied us with a Moroccan tent and a yurt, which we made cozy and aesthetic. With mattresses spread around, warm lighting and decoration, PsyCare became both a part of the festival and a peaceful haven away from it. This already had an effect, as by-passers stopped to take a look inside and ask about PsyCare. Some mentioned that they were relieved to know it’s there. 

Festivals with an established PsyCare tend to offer a 24 hour per day service. In this pilot, our official opening hours were from 16:00 to 8:00, with the night hours (1:00-6:00) being the busiest. In practice, we never said ‘no’ to someone in need, and at 10:30 in the morning we welcomed our first guest. We often remind our guests that drug effects are temporary, or as the wise old saying goes: “this too shall pass”. Yet different drugs – and people – require different amounts of time. Guests’ duration of stay throughout the pilot varied from 5 minutes to 14 hours, with an average stay of 3 hours per guest.

Being present in space and time extends to the personal. Often the most meaningful thing you can do for someone who is overwhelmed is just to be there; to stay with them through this difficult moment, fully present with your attention, patience and calm, no matter what comes. Applied within the PsyCare team as well, mutual care and team spirit were vital to the success of the pilot. 

    Community Values: “Psychedelic Peer Support”

    Festivals in this counterculture make room for spontaneity, experimentation, rule-bending and non-conformist behavior. PsyCare emerged from within this community and seems to share with it some core values that came up during my interviews, like non-judgment. In PsyCare, this is applied as refraining from value judgments of people’s experiences, behaviors, thinking processes, or beliefs. Each person’s freedom and autonomy are respected—a principle overridden only in case of imminent risk to oneself or others.

    Embracing Equality and Non-Hierarchy

    The principle of equality, or non-hierarchy, is another unique feature of PsyCare stemming from counterculture. As volunteers in their own community, PsyCare sitters do not operate from a position of superiority or authority in relation to visitors. They are temporarily holding space for temporary “guests”, as their name suggests. This approach carries a multitude of implications. For example, a guest can bump into their sitter from yesterday at the bar or on the dancefloor. Furthermore, yesterday’s sitter can become today’s guest. Accepting such potentialities involved conscious discussions among the team: how do we ensure guests’ privacy? Are we ‘sitters’ outside our shifts? What does this mean in practice?

    On the last evening of the festival, I met a guest with whom I spent three hours in the PsyCare tent. Our guideline in such cases is to let the guest determine what happens. They smiled at me and stretched their arms for a hug. We chatted and danced together for a bit, and then they moved on. For me, this short incidental encounter on the dancefloor supplied closure and reinforced our positions as fellow festival-goers.

    Such liminal cases are exactly where non-judgement and non-hierarchy shine, and have the power to turn an otherwise awkward or embarrassing situation into a meaningful, connecting and supportive event.

    Awareness of Shame and Vulnerability

    Coming to PsyCare requires admitting to being in need, a feeling which can be challenging for many in itself. Guests may realize that they have taken more than they can chew or even completely lost control. Exposing “weakness” is never easy, but in small communities where many people know each other, shame can become a real barrier. Considering these complexities, any authoritative position, even of ‘a professional’ or a ‘responsible adult,’ is unlikely to contribute to PsyCare as a safe haven. This is why, where other emergency services typically wear a uniform, we wore our regular (low-key) festival clothes and a name tag with a little heart on it.

    Early on in the festival, I was called to check on a disoriented person and try to bring them to the PsyCare facility. Despite their highly confused condition, I managed to establish trust and we were quickly holding hands on our way to the PsyCare tent. At the same time, a First Aid worker in uniform approached us and asked if everything was alright. The guest’s state of mind changed instantly. They released their hand from mine, flinched and asked anxiously: “Did I do anything wrong?”

    Following this case, we came to an agreement with the First Aid staff that they remove their jackets before entering PsyCare, notwithstanding their white uniform was chosen for its non-intimidating character. This policy was found useful by both teams.

    Embracing Care: The Heart of PsyCare

    Here is how Ann Shulgin described the ideal MDMA therapist back in 1995:

    “[S/]he has to be able to feel something very close to love for the person [s/]he is guiding. There should be real caring and it cannot be simply an intellectual concern for the client’s welfare; it must be deeper than that, at the gut level.”

    The relatively long experience with mind-altering substances in counterculture is often disregarded or looked down upon by academics, even those studying psychedelics. Some of it is pure stigma, but there is also a genuine conflict of approaches. As PsyCare sitters, we benefit from ‘subjective’ experiences at least as much as from ‘objective’ facts. Both theory and metaphor were used in our training and we followed values and approaches more than rules and protocols. Above all, PsyCare takes place in a vibrant, dynamic and sometimes chaotic setting, which is almost the opposite of a ‘controlled environment.’

    The fear of intellectual uncertainty and making mistakes cannot be entirely avoided, but PsyCare consciously makes room for other ways of knowing. To describe positive attributes of an effective sitter, our training instructor Daan Keiman, who leads OPEN Foundation’s upcoming education programme in psychedelic therapy, shared the following metaphor:

    If a person is immobile, shut, or stiff like a rock, we should be soft and fluid like water. If they are floating and formless like water, we would have to be their rock.

    Furthermore, presence and care ought to be practiced delicately: sitters do not attempt to pull guests out of their experience but offer them a hand to grab on. Curiously, it’s the little things that have the greatest impact: a welcoming smile, a cup of tea, a blanket, holding someone’s hand, offering a hug, listening to their story, laughing with them.

    In one word: Care.

    An attuned caring presence can turn loneliness into a feeling of being held, and a nightmare into a meaningful experience. Like ‘love’, ‘care’ might be difficult to define or even comprehend intellectually; but luckily, this is not necessary in order to give it. Being in a festival setting, I could not help but think of it in terms of the dance floor: there are no steps, but if you listen carefully to the music and let it guide you, there will be a dance.

    Continuing the Conversation on Psychedelic Support in Recreational Settings

    A broader look at PsyCare will be discussed in an upcoming OPEN event (3.10.24) moderated by PsyCare NL founder Cato de Vos and featuring international Psychedelic Support Services experts Amanda Guzinska (PsyCare UK) and Valerie Beltrán (Zendo Project). Click below to register.


    Looking back on ICPR 2024 – the leading interdisciplinary conference on psychedelic research

    It’s been 2 months since the leading conference on psychedelic research in Europe, ICPR 2024, took place in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Despite having taken steps to integrate it all, the OPEN foundation team has accepted that we still lack the words to convey what the whole event felt like and meant to us.

    Pia Dijkstra – Minister of Healthcare, The Netherlands – Opening ICPR 2024

    From combating prejudice and stigma back in 2007 to having not one but two subsequent Ministers of Healthcare lining up to inaugurate ICPR, our mission to advance psychedelic research to benefit science, healthcare and society has come a long way.

    At ICPR 2024, we had it all, from Minister from the Netherlands, Pia Dijkstra’s moving opening speech to the heartfelt realities shared by trial participants Maryam Zahra Jabir and Patty B., the Wet Blanket Award for presentations representing rigor and critical thinking’ awarded to Dr. Jamila Hokanson, M.D, MBA, the kind of deep thinking showcased by Leor Roseman, Erik Davis’ magnificent storytelling and accompanying visuals, the important discussions around decolonization curated by Yogi H., and so so so much more.

    Access ICPR 2024 talk recordings & more

    You might imagine why the OPEN Foundation & ICPR team was unable to attend most talks on-site. Yet, via the high-quality recordings (more on this will follow), we didn’t miss out. What we saw was consistently great.

    Immense effort went into crafting ICPR’s mind-blowing programme. And no doubt those efforts have been worth it. ICPR embodied the true spirit of interdisciplinarity: from clinical trial design, neuroscience, archaeology, integration, psychotherapy, adverse events, spirituality, literary analysis—it was all there.

    The programme and ICPR 2024 fulfilled their purpose: to gather and facilitate conversation and connection between open-minded, committed, curious, and caring individuals whose collective perspective creates a critical and constructive narrative for what psychedelics mean moving forward in 21st-century Europe.

    Vibrant lunch breaks @ICPR

    We are honored and humbled by the ICPR 2024, the progress in the field of psychedelic research and therapy, and what lies ahead. Lastly, gratitude. Gratitude, for our co-creation, persists. Fortunately so, as it’s our fuel to do our part in this ongoing process of integrating psychedelics safely and responsibly into healthcare and society.

    Thank you,
    The OPEN & ICPR team

    And please, a big applause for….. the rockstar volunteers who made ICPR 2024 possible!

    Access ICPR 2024 talk recordings & more

    The Evolved Psychology of Psychedelic Set and Setting: Inferences Regarding the Roles of Shamanism and Entheogenic Ecopsychology

    Abstract

    This review illustrates the relevance of shamanism and its evolution under effects of psilocybin as a framework for identifying evolved aspects of psychedelic set and setting. Effects of 5HT2 psychedelics on serotonin, stress adaptation, visual systems and personality illustrate adaptive mechanisms through which psychedelics could have enhanced hominin evolution as an environmental factor influencing selection for features of our evolved psychology. Evolutionary psychology perspectives on ritual, shamanism and psychedelics provides bases for inferences regarding psychedelics’ likely roles in hominin evolution as exogenous neurotransmitter sources through their effects in selection for innate dispositions for psychedelic set and setting. Psychedelics stimulate ancient brain structures and innate modular thought modules, especially self-awareness, other awareness, “mind reading,” spatial and visual intelligences. The integration of these innate modules are also core features of shamanism. Cross-cultural research illustrates shamanism is an empirical phenomenon of foraging societies, with its ancient basis in collective hominid displays, ritual alterations of consciousness, and endogenous healing responses. Shamanic practices employed psychedelics and manipulated extrapharmacological effects through stimulation of serotonin and dopamine systems and augmenting processes of the reptilian and paleomammalian brains. Differences between chimpanzee maximal displays and shamanic rituals reveal a zone of proximal development in hominin evolution. The evolution of the mimetic capacity for enactment, dance, music, and imitation provided central capacities underlying shamanic performances. Other chimp-human differences in ritualized behaviors are directly related to psychedelic effects and their integration of innate modular thought processes. Psychedelics and other ritual alterations of consciousness stimulate these and other innate responses such as soul flight and death-and-rebirth experiences. These findings provided bases for making inferences regarding foundations of our evolved set, setting and psychology. Shamanic setting is eminently communal with singing, drumming, dancing and dramatic displays. Innate modular thought structures are prominent features of the set of shamanism, exemplified in animism, animal identities, perceptions of spirits, and psychological incorporation of spirit others. A shamanic-informed psychedelic therapy includes: a preparatory set with practices such as sexual abstinence, fasting and dream incubation; a set derived from innate modular cognitive capacities and their integration expressed in a relational animistic worldview; a focus on internal imagery manifesting a presentational intelligence; and spirit relations involving incorporation of animals as personal powers. Psychedelic research and treatment can adopt this shamanic biogenetic paradigm to optimize set, setting and ritual frameworks to enhance psychedelic effects.

    Winkelman M. J. (2021). The Evolved Psychology of Psychedelic Set and Setting: Inferences Regarding the Roles of Shamanism and Entheogenic Ecopsychology. Frontiers in pharmacology, 12, 619890. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2021.619890

    Link to full text

    Hallucinations Under Psychedelics and in the Schizophrenia Spectrum: An Interdisciplinary and Multiscale Comparison

    Abstract

    The recent renaissance of psychedelic science has reignited interest in the similarity of drug-induced experiences to those more commonly observed in psychiatric contexts such as the schizophrenia-spectrum. This report from a multidisciplinary working group of the International Consortium on Hallucinations Research (ICHR) addresses this issue, putting special emphasis on hallucinatory experiences. We review evidence collected at different scales of understanding, from pharmacology to brain-imaging, phenomenology and anthropology, highlighting similarities and differences between hallucinations under psychedelics and in the schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. Finally, we attempt to integrate these findings using computational approaches and conclude with recommendations for future research.

    Leptourgos, P., Fortier-Davy, M., Carhart-Harris, R., Corlett, P. R., Dupuis, D., Halberstadt, A. L., Kometer, M., Kozakova, E., LarØi, F., Noorani, T. N., Preller, K. H., Waters, F., Zaytseva, Y., & Jardri, R. (2020). Hallucinations Under Psychedelics and in the Schizophrenia Spectrum: An Interdisciplinary and Multiscale Comparison. Schizophrenia bulletin, 46(6), 1396–1408. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbaa117

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    Chemical Composition of Traditional and Analog Ayahuasca

    Abstract

    Traditional ayahuasca can be defined as a brew made from Amazonian vine Banisteriopsis caapi and Amazonian admixture plants. Ayahuasca is used by indigenous groups in Amazonia, as a sacrament in syncretic Brazilian religions, and in healing and spiritual ceremonies internationally. The study aimed to determine concentrations of the main bio- and psychoactive components of ayahuasca used in different locations and traditions. We collected 102 samples of brews from ayahuasca-using communities. Concentrations of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), tetrahydroharmine, harmine, and harmaline were determined by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Qualitative analyses for non-traditional additives (moclobemide, psilocin, yuremamine) were performed by high resolution mass spectrometry. Higher and more variable concentrations of DMT in neoshamanic ayahuasca samples compared to indigenous samples may indicate use of higher and more variable proportions of DMT-containing admixture plants. From European samples, we found two related samples of analog ayahuasca containing moclobemide, psilocin, DMT, yuremamine, and very low concentrations of B. caapi alkaloids. Some analogs of ayahuasca (Peganum harmala, Mimosa tenuiflora) were used in Europe. No analogs were found from Brazil or Santo Daime ceremonies in Europe. We recommend awareness about the constituents of the brew and ethical self-regulation among practitioners of ayahuasca ceremonies.

    Kaasik, H., Souza, R., Zandonadi, F. S., Tófoli, L. F., & Sussulini, A. (2021). Chemical Composition of Traditional and Analog Ayahuasca. Journal of psychoactive drugs, 53(1), 65–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2020.1815911

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    Ibogaine therapy for addiction: Consumer views from online fora

    Abstract

    Background Ibogaine is a psychedelic drug used by for-profit clinics and lay-people to treat addiction, despite some reported fatalities and a lack of rigorous clinical research. Little is known about ibogaine therapy from a consumer perspective. Online discussions generate and disseminate information about ibogaine therapy and provide a window into how people understand ibogaine’s risks and uses. We examined views expressed in online fora in order to describe a consumer perspective of ibogaine therapy for addiction, and to elucidate the role of online fora in mediating people’s understanding of, and engagement with ibogaine. Methods We thematically analysed 40 threads comprising posts from 101 individual contributors from two popular online fora; Reddit (n = 20) and Drugs Forum (n = 20). Results Our analysis identified three primary themes: (1) online fora as a resource for do-it-yourself research; (2) the therapeutic interaction in ibogaine therapy, and; (3) therapeutic mechanisms of ibogaine. Online fora were a key resource for information about ibogaine therapy, where personal experiences and evidence-based information were valued. Treatment arrangements, risks, and harm reduction were discussed at length by forum participants. Discussions of therapeutic effects focused on pharmacological mechanisms but positive psychological changes resulting from the psychedelic experience were also reported. Clinic-based treatment was preferred by many forum participants due to safety concerns, but money and time and treatment intent sometimes necessitated lay-administration of ibogaine. Microdosing of ibogaine was also frequently discussed. Conclusion: Online fora appear to have facilitated a sense of community where individuals are held to account for the success of ibogaine therapy. Fora discussions illustrate that neuroscientific explanations of addiction and behaviour have explanatory salience for people involved in ibogaine therapy. Online fora could be used as a platform for clinician and peer-led support and harm-reduction interventions, and for further research monitoring treatment practices and long-term outcomes.

    Barber, M., Gardner, J., Savic, M., & Carter, A. (2020). Ibogaine therapy for addiction: Consumer views from online fora. International Journal of Drug Policy83, 102857.; 10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102857

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    Perceived harm, motivations for use and subjective experiences of recreational psychedelic 'magic' mushroom use

    Abstract

    Background: Data on actual harm of magic mushrooms suggest that toxicity and abuse potential is low, however, their legal status suggests otherwise. We aimed to gauge perception of harm of magic mushrooms in both users and mushroom-naïve participants. We also aimed to observe differences in expectations of effects between users and mushroom-naïve participants, and whether motivations for use predicted their expected effects.

    Method: In total, 73 polydrug users with experience of using magic mushrooms and 78 mushroom-naïve participants completed an online survey. We asked participants to rank a list of 10 substances from most dangerous to least dangerous and questioned them about expectation of effect using a modified magic mushroom expectation questionnaire. Users were asked about their motivations for using magic mushrooms.

    Results: Both groups perceive mushrooms to be safer than heroin, cocaine, prescription painkillers, gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), ecstasy, tobacco and alcohol. However, the mushroom-naïve group ranked mushrooms as significantly more dangerous than the user group. Non-users reported greater expectancy for negative intoxication. Users reported greater expected entactogenic, prosocial, aesthetic and mood effects, and perceptual alterations. Finally, expectant effects of mushroom use were associated with different motivations for use, for example using for personal psychotherapy was associated with expectation of increased entactogenic effects and decreased negative effects.

    Conclusion: Our data suggest a general perception of harm that is in line with data on actual harm, but at odds with current legal classifications. Future clinical investigations may require management of negative intoxication expectation of participants with no prior experience of psilocybin.

    Roberts, C. A., Osborne-Miller, I., Cole, J., Gage, S. H., & Christiansen, P. (2020). Perceived harm, motivations for use and subjective experiences of recreational psychedelic ‘magic’mushroom use. Journal of Psychopharmacology34(9), 999-1007; 10.1177/0269881120936508
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    Serotonergic psychedelics LSD & psilocybin increase the fractal dimension of cortical brain activity in spatial and temporal domains

    Abstract

    Psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin and LSD, represent unique tools for researchers investigating the neural origins of consciousness. Currently, the most compelling theories of how psychedelics exert their effects is by increasing the complexity of brain activity and moving the system towards a critical point between order and disorder, creating more dynamic and complex patterns of neural activity. While the concept of criticality is of central importance to this theory, few of the published studies on psychedelics investigate it directly, testing instead related measures such as algorithmic complexity or Shannon entropy. We propose using the fractal dimension of functional activity in the brain as a measure of complexity since findings from physics suggest that as a system organizes towards criticality, it tends to take on a fractal structure. We tested two different measures of fractal dimension, one spatial and one temporal, using fMRI data from volunteers under the influence of both LSD and psilocybin. The first was the fractal dimension of cortical functional connectivity networks and the second was the fractal dimension of BOLD time-series. In addition to the fractal measures, we used a well-established, non-fractal measure of signal complexity and show that they behave similarly. We were able to show that both psychedelic drugs significantly increased the fractal dimension of functional connectivity networks, and that LSD significantly increased the fractal dimension of BOLD signals, with psilocybin showing a non-significant trend in the same direction. With both LSD and psilocybin, we were able to localize changes in the fractal dimension of BOLD signals to brain areas assigned to the dorsal-attenion network. These results show that psychedelic drugs increase the fractal dimension of activity in the brain and we see this as an indicator that the changes in consciousness triggered by psychedelics are associated with evolution towards a critical zone.

    Varley, T. F., Carhart-Harris, R., Roseman, L., Menon, D. K., & Stamatakis, E. A. (2020). Serotonergic psychedelics LSD & psilocybin increase the fractal dimension of cortical brain activity in spatial and temporal domains. NeuroImage220, 117049; 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117049
    Link to full text

    Serotonergic psychedelics LSD & psilocybin increase the fractal dimension of cortical brain activity in spatial and temporal domains

    Abstract

    Psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin and LSD, represent unique tools for researchers investigating the neural origins of consciousness. Currently, the most compelling theories of how psychedelics exert their effects is by increasing the complexity of brain activity and moving the system towards a critical point between order and disorder, creating more dynamic and complex patterns of neural activity. While the concept of criticality is of central importance to this theory, few of the published studies on psychedelics investigate it directly, testing instead related measures such as algorithmic complexity or Shannon entropy. We propose using the fractal dimension of functional activity in the brain as a measure of complexity since findings from physics suggest that as a system organizes towards criticality, it tends to take on a fractal structure. We tested two different measures of fractal dimension, one spatial and one temporal, using fMRI data from volunteers under the influence of both LSD and psilocybin. The first was the fractal dimension of cortical functional connectivity networks and the second was the fractal dimension of BOLD time-series. In addition to the fractal measures, we used a well-established, non-fractal measure of signal complexity and show that they behave similarly. We were able to show that both psychedelic drugs significantly increased the fractal dimension of functional connectivity networks, and that LSD significantly increased the fractal dimension of BOLD signals, with psilocybin showing a non-significant trend in the same direction. With both LSD and psilocybin, we were able to localize changes in the fractal dimension of BOLD signals to brain areas assigned to the dorsal-attenion network. These results show that psychedelic drugs increase the fractal dimension of activity in the brain and we see this as an indicator that the changes in consciousness triggered by psychedelics are associated with evolution towards a critical zone.

    Varley, T. F., Carhart-Harris, R., Roseman, L., Menon, D. K., & Stamatakis, E. A. (2020). Serotonergic psychedelics LSD & psilocybin increase the fractal dimension of cortical brain activity in spatial and temporal domains. NeuroImage220, 117049; 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117049
    Link to full text

    Psilocybin: from ancient magic to modern medicine

    Abstract

    Psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is an indole-based secondary metabolite produced by numerous species of mushrooms. South American Aztec Indians referred to them as teonanacatl, meaning “god’s flesh,” and they were used in religious and healing rituals. Spanish missionaries in the 1500s attempted to destroy all records and evidence of the use of these mushrooms. Nevertheless, a 16th century Spanish Franciscan friar and historian mentioned teonanacatl in his extensive writings, intriguing 20th century ethnopharmacologists and leading to a decades-long search for the identity of teonanacatl. Their search ultimately led to a 1957 photo-essay in a popular magazine, describing for the Western world the use of these mushrooms. Specimens were ultimately obtained, and their active principle identified and chemically synthesized. In the past 10–15 years several FDA-approved clinical studies have indicated potential medical value for psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in treating depression, anxiety, and certain addictions. At present, assuming that the early clinical studies can be validated by larger studies, psilocybin is poised to make a significant impact on treatments available to psychiatric medicine.

    Nichols, D. E. (2020). Psilocybin: from ancient magic to modern medicine. The Journal of Antibiotics, 1-8., doi.org/10.1038/s41429-020-0311-8
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