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P. Johnstad

The Psychedelic Personality: Personality Structure and Associations in a Sample of Psychedelics Users

January 7, 2022 / Other substances, Papers, Personality, Psychology / Leave a Comment / By /

Abstract

Research on the relationship between personality and psychedelics use has found evidence of a two-way influence where the personality structure predicts individual responses to psychedelics, and psychedelics use results in lasting changes to the individual’s personality structure. This study used brief personality measures in the form of the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) and a simplified version of the Risk Taking Index (RTI) in order to measure personality traits in a sample of psychedelics users (N = 319). The participants in the study scored consistently higher than norms on each of the Big Five traits except Extraversion, and on every dimension of risk taking in the RTI. In multivariate logistic regression analyses, personality structure was associated with characteristics of the psychedelic experience that included the feelings of fear, love, and peace as well as states of perceived contact with non-ordinary beings and transcendent forces.

Johnstad P. G. (2021). The Psychedelic Personality: Personality Structure and Associations in a Sample of Psychedelics Users. Journal of psychoactive drugs, 53(2), 97–103. https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2020.1842569

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A Dangerous Method? Psychedelic Therapy at Modum Bad, Norway, 1961-76

January 13, 2020 / Anxiety disorders / PTSD, Ayahuasca, Background articles, Depression, LSD, Mushrooms / Psilocybin, Papers, Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychopharmacology, Psychotherapy, Publications / By /

Abstract

After many years of disregard, the use of psychedelic drugs in psychiatric treatment has re-emerged in recent years. The prospect that psychedelics may again be integrated into mainstream psychiatry has aroused interest in long-forgotten research and experience from the previous phase of psychedelic therapy, which lasted from the late 1940s to the 1970s. This article will discuss one large-scale psychedelic therapy programme at Modum Bad Nervesanatorium, a psychiatric clinic which treated 379 inpatients with psychedelic drugs during the years 1961-76. The psychiatrists there initially regarded the psychedelic treatment as efficacious and without serious negative reactions, but reports of long-term harm have since surfaced. This article discusses how insights from Modum Bad might benefit the new generation of psychedelic treatment efforts.
Johnstad, P. G. (2020). A dangerous method? Psychedelic therapy at Modum Bad, Norway, 1961–76. History of Psychiatry, 31(2), 217-226., https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0957154X19894537
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Powerful substances in tiny amounts An interview study of psychedelic microdosing

February 15, 2018 / LSD, Mushrooms / Psilocybin, Other subjects, Papers, Psychology, Publications / By /

Abstract

Aims:

This article presents a qualitative interview study of people who microdose with psychedelic drugs, which means that the user takes about one tenth of an ordinary recreational dose.

Design:

Respondents (n = 21) were recruited at several Internet fora for individual interviews via private messaging. Every participant was male, and the median respondent was in his 30s with a stable job and relationship and extensive entheogen experience.

Results:

Respondents tended to experiment with microdosing in phases, reporting mostly positive consequences from this form of drug use. Reported effects included improved mood, cognition, and creativity, which often served to counteract symptoms especially from conditions of anxiety and depression. There were also reports of various challenges with psychedelic microdosing, and some did not find the practice worth continuing.

Conclusion:

The study obtained evidence of a group of users taking small doses of psychedelics not for the purpose of intoxication but to enhance everyday functioning. While the study’s findings are not generalisable, they may inform subsequent investigations with research questions and hypotheses.
Johnstad, P. G. (2018). Powerful substances in tiny amounts: An interview study of psychedelic microdosing. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 35(1), 39-51. 10.1177/1455072517753339
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