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12 papers
Researchers used a large prospective online survey to test whether psychedelic drug use changes people’s metaphysical beliefs. After psychedelic use, people tended to move away from physicalist or materialist views and toward panpsychism and fatalism. Except for fatalism, these shifts lasted for at least 6 months. The shifts were linked…
This small, randomized, double-blind pilot study tested MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for anxiety tied to life‑threatening illness. Eighteen people were enrolled (13 got MDMA, 5 got placebo) and had two blinded 8‑hour therapy sessions, with later open‑label MDMA sessions and 6‑ and 12‑month follow-ups. The MDMA group showed a larger drop in…
Researchers collected face photos and personality surveys from about 12,400 volunteers and used a type of computer program that learns patterns, called artificial neural networks, to try to predict the Big Five personality traits from those pictures. The program could guess some traits better than chance, with the strongest matches…
This study used a smartphone app to compare 4,050 people who said they microdose psychedelics with 4,653 people who did not. Psilocybin was the most common microdose substance, and people who microdosed often said they did so for health and wellness reasons. In people who reported past mental health concerns,…
Researchers followed 953 people who microdosed psilocybin and 180 non-microdosing controls for about 30 days. Microdosers showed small-to-medium improvements in mood and overall mental health at one month compared with controls. These improvements were seen across genders, age groups, and in people with and without prior mental health concerns. The…
This small, exploratory study gave people with moderate to severe major depressive disorder placebo first (19 people) and then a single dose of psilocybin (0.3 mg/kg) to 15 people four weeks later, with all dosing embedded in therapy based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). After the psilocybin session, measures…
Researchers built and tested a 20-question survey called the Attitudes on Psychedelics Questionnaire (APQ) with 1,153 people in Croatia to measure how the general public thinks about psychedelics. The questions fall into four parts: legal use, effects, risks, and openness. The survey gave very consistent results, matched well with another…
Researchers ran an online survey of about 174 people who had used psychoactive drugs to see how these drugs affected obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms. Participants reported that classic psychedelics were the only drugs that helped reduce OCD symptoms, and bigger immediate effects (which were linked to higher doses) were tied…
The study tested the Post-Traumatic Symptom Questionnaire (PTSQ) in 761 people who had experienced a traumatic event. The PTSQ showed strong psychometric results and good fit to the data, and the researchers identified clinical cut-off scores. Using a multiple multivariate latent regression model, they found that intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal…
This study tested how slow versus fast breathing affects anxiety and brain activity. Twenty-seven people did breathing and threat-uncertainty tasks while their brain activity was measured with EEG. Slow breathing reduced anxiety and led to different EEG patterns than fast breathing. In particular, slow breathing raised EEG power across several…
The study surveyed 419 psychiatrists working in 33 European countries about their knowledge and attitudes toward psychedelics and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP). Overall, psychiatrists showed general openness to psychedelics and PAP but also notable concern about risks. Younger age, being male, higher knowledge, identifying as spiritual, past personal use of psychedelics,…
This study of 413 adults (254 women, 155 men; ages 18–81, mean 33.8) looked at how self-compassion relates to post‑traumatic symptoms (PTS) and post‑traumatic growth (PTG). Women reported more PTS and less self‑compassion than men, while PTG did not differ by gender. Higher PTS was linked both to higher PTG…
