OPEN Foundation

Spirituality

Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance

July 7, 2006 / Mushrooms / Psilocybin, Mystical experiences, Papers, Personal development, Psychology, Psychopharmacology, Publications, Spirituality / By / , ,

Abstract

Rationale: Although psilocybin has been used for centuries for religious purposes, little is known scientifically about its acute and persisting effects.

Objectives: This double-blind study evaluated the acute and longer-term psychological effects of a high dose of psilocybin relative to a comparison compound administered under comfortable, supportive conditions.

Materials and methods: The participants were hallucinogennaïve adults reporting regular participation in religious orspiritual activities. Two or three sessions were conducted at 2-month intervals. Thirty volunteers received orally administered psilocybin (30 mg/70 kg) and methylphenidate hydrochloride (40 mg/70 kg) in counterbalanced order. To obscure the study design, six additional volunteers received methylphenidate in the first two sessions and unblinded psilocybin in a third session. The 8-h sessions were conducted individually. Volunteers were encouraged to close their eyes and direct their attention inward. Study monitors rated volunteers’ behavior during sessions. Volunteers completed questionnaires assessing drug effects and mystical experience immediately after and 2 months after sessions. Community observers rated changes in the volunteer’s attitudes and behavior.

Results: Psilocybin produced a range of acute perceptual changes, subjective experiences, and labile moods including anxiety. Psilocybin also increased measures of mystical experience. At 2 months, the volunteers rated the psilocybin experience as having substantial personal meaning and spiritual significance and attributed to the experience sustained positive changes in attitudes and behavior consistent with changes rated by community observers.

Conclusions: When administered under supportive conditions, psilocybin occasioned experiences similar to spontaneously occurring mystical experiences. The ability to occasion such experiences prospectively will allow rigorous scientific investigations of their causes and consequences.

Griffiths, R. R., Richards, W. A., & McCann, U. (2006). Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance. Psychopharmacology, 187(3), 268–283. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0457-5
Link to full text

Hallucinogenic botanicals of America: A growing need for focused drug education and research

December 22, 2005 / Ayahuasca, Cacti / Mescaline, Ethnobotany, History, Iboga / Ibogaine, Indigenous use, Other disciplines, Other subjects, Other substances, Publications, Safety, Salvia / Salvinorin A, Spirituality / By / ,

Abstract

Botanical sources for medicines in America have been known since long before the arrival of Columbus. Nevertheless, both scientists and the general public are often unaware that some of these botanical drugs are also potent intoxicants. We provide a quick overview of hallucinogenic and dissociative drugs harvested from nature or that are openly and legally cultivated in the United States. Examples of harmful outcomes reported in the media are contrasted with existing responsible ingestion by others, some of whom have the protected right to do so for traditional or sacramental religious purposes. Despite an ongoing and expensive effort to warn people of the potential harms of recreational drug use, little is known about the extent of use of these psychoactive botanicals, and the recent explosion of information available via the Internet could herald a storm of morbidity to come. Mounting more targeted research and educational efforts today may reduce later use and abuse, inform society about the special circumstances of religious use, and better prepare clinicians and other health care providers about the issues involved when people choose to indigenously source psychoactive drugs for human consumption.

Halpern, J. H., & Sewell, R. A. (2005). Hallucinogenic botanicals of America: A growing need for focused drug education and research. Life sciences, 78(5), 519-526. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2005.09.005
Link to full text

Psychotherapeutic interventions at the end of life: a focus on meaning and spirituality

June 14, 2004 / Other subjects, Papers, Psychology, Publications, Spirituality / By / , , ,

Abstract

Medical and psychological discourse on end-of-life care has steadily shifted over the years from focusing primarily on symptom control and pain management to incorporating more person-centred approaches to patient care. Such approaches underscore the significance of spirituality and meaning making as important resources for coping with emotional and existential suffering as one nears death. Though existential themes are omnipresent in end-of-life care, little has been written about their foundations or import for palliative care practitioners and patients in need. In this article, we explore the existential foundations of meaning and spirituality in light of terminal illness and palliative care. We discuss existential themes in terms of patients’ awareness of death and search for meaning and practitioners’ promotion of personal agency and responsibility as patients face life-and-death issues. Viktor Frankl’s existential logotherapy is discussed in light of emerging psychotherapeutic interventions. Meaning-centred group therapy is one such novel modality that has successfully integrated themes of meaning and spirituality into end-of-life care. We further explore spiritual and existential themes through this meaning-oriented approach that encourages dying patients to find meaning and purpose in living until their death.

Breitbart, W., Gibson, C., Poppito, S. R., & Berg, A. (2004). Psychotherapeutic interventions at the end of life: a focus on meaning and spirituality. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 49, 366-372. http://dx.doi.org/10.1176/foc.5.4.foc451
Link to full text

Influence of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD-25) on Subjective Time

November 1, 1959 / Consciousness, LSD, Other subjects, Papers, Phenomenology, Psychology, Psychopharmacology, Publications, Spirituality / By / , ,

Aronson, H., Silverstein, A. B., & Klee, G. D. (1959). Influence of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) on subjective time. AMA archives of general psychiatry, 1(5), 469-472., 10.1001/archpsyc.1959.03590050037003
Link to full text

30 April - Q&A with Rick Strassman

REGISTER NOW!
X