Psychedelic Journal Watch

I. Psilocybin for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

In this Phase 2, nonrandomized, open-label trial, 22 participants with PTSD took high dose psilocybin in combination with psychological support. Safety, tolerability and PTSD symptoms were measured.

There were no serious adverse events; and 12 weeks after taking psilocybin, participants reported a 30-point reduction in PTSD symptoms on an 80-point scale.

According to the authors, “The landscape of PTSD pharmacotherapy and drug development has been described previously as in crisis. … In this trial … [psilocybin] treatment was associated with a rapid and sustained reduction in PTSD symptoms and improved functioning and quality of life over a 12-week follow-up period.”

Read the full article here.

II. Mental Health Effects of Experimenting with MDMA

In this longitudinal, population study of 1943 individuals from Victoria, Australia, the relationship between MDMA use in early adulthood (age 20 – 29) and subsequent anxiety and depression was assessed.

MDMA use in early adulthood was associated with an increased risk of anxiety, but not depression in later adulthood.

According to the authors, “although the current study positions researchers closer to understanding the potential causal associations between MDMA use, anxiety and depression, a greater understanding of polysubstance use and experiences of trauma among people who use MDMA would further improve confidence in findings and should be considered in future research.”

Read the full article here.

In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject clinical trial, 30 male participants received DMT/harmine, placebo or harmine alone; and measures of creativity were assessed.

DMT/harmine significantly impaired convergent thinking (the type of thinking that allows one to narrow down options to arrive at a single solution) and altered pathways to insight.  

According to the authors, “This study demonstrates that the effects of DMT/harmine on creativity are not uniform. By capturing real-world creative behavior through an ecologically valid painting task, this study offers the first evidence that psychedelics influence not only creative cognition but also the dynamic processes that give rise to it.”

Read the abstract here.

Under, the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, the U.S. government classified LSD, psilocybin, and other psychedelics as Schedule I substances, criminalizing their use and stifling scientific research for decades.

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