Psychedelic Journal Watch

I. Psychedelics and Migraines

In this cross-sectional analysis of the Swedish Twin Registry, 50,726 twins answered questions about psychedelic use and migraine history. Among these, 271 twin pairs reported differences in psychedelic use; these reports were further analyzed to assess the relationship between psychedelic use and migraine history.

Twins who reported psychedelic use showed lower odds of having migraines relative to their co-twin who did not use psychedelics. This association held true for male twins, but not female twins.

According to the authors, “the findings from this twin study suggest that psychedelics may be linked to a lower likelihood of migraine, with potential differences by sex. This warrants further investigation and highlights the importance of sex-specific analyses in future studies.”

Read the full article here.

II. Brain Changes After Psilocybin 

In this placebo-controlled EEG and MRI study of 28 healthy psychedelic-naive individuals, anatomical and functional brain changes were measured.

Decreases in brain-network modularity were seen one month after receiving high-dose psilocybin, and this correlates with increases in well-being.

According to the authors, “the present multi-modal neuroimaging study in healthy participants sheds light on the brain effects of first-time high-dose psychedelic use and the therapeutic action of psilocybin-therapy, suggesting that therapeutically relevant changes—i.e., improved well-being—can be forecast via an acute human brain action, i.e., an entropic brain effect, that is well-known to relate to the psychedelic experience.”

Read the full article here.

This study gathered data from 3 previous studies to assess the relationship between psychedelic use and authoritarian attitudes.

Across the 3 studies, there were no changes in authoritarian attitudes after psychedelic use.

According to the authors, “Contrary to previous research, the latest evidence is not compelling that psychedelic use influences authoritarian attitudes in a reliable direction. Future research should recruit larger and more diverse samples, collect additional context-related data, and also investigate political outcomes other than authoritarian attitudes.”

Read the full article here.

María Sabina was the first contemporary Mexican curandera (folk healer) to allow Westerners to participate in the psilocybin mushroom healing ritual known as the velada.

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