This research paper aims to investigate the safety and efficacy of the newly emerging online approach to psychedelic ceremonies as well as explore the impact set and setting have on the experience....Show moreThis research paper aims to investigate the safety and efficacy of the newly emerging online approach to psychedelic ceremonies as well as explore the impact set and setting have on the experience. Previous research has demonstrated and explored the benefits of psychedelics and their impact on mental health. Nonetheless, no study has yet investigated the potential benefits of psychedelics in an online setting. Therefore, this study recorded the experiences of average people who participated in Spinoza’s online psychedelic ceremonies by means of a voluntary questionnaire. Results showed a significant increase in mental health, compared to baseline, for almost all participants. Additionally, individual differences and setting seemingly had no significant impact on the trip experience. This study provides an insight into the potential experiences of virtual psychedelic ceremonies, contributing to the growing research within the field of psychedelics.Show less
There has been a growing body of research in the field of microdosing psychedelics over the last decade, although it remains in its early stages. One area of particular interest is the potential...Show moreThere has been a growing body of research in the field of microdosing psychedelics over the last decade, although it remains in its early stages. One area of particular interest is the potential influence of microdosing on health behaviors, including diet, physical activity, and sleep. The objective of this current study was to contribute to the existing literature on microdosing psychedelics by investigating their effects on health behaviors through the use of an online self-constructed questionnaire. Based on responses from 365 microdosers, we found that the most commonly reported changes in health behaviors were observed in sleep, mindfulness, and physical activity, as well as other health behaviors. This effect may be attributed to an increased sense of autonomy, wherein users take more control over their behaviors and overall health. Moreover, we found that intentions set before microdosing influenced the reported changes in health behaviors. Users who reported having a psychiatric illness were more likely to have the intention to alleviate their symptoms and subsequently reported a decrease in the use of psychiatric medication after microdosing. This discovery implies a possible link with self-medication practices, revealing the encouraging potential of microdosing psychedelics to improve well-being. However, additional placebo-controlled research is needed to better understand the underlying mechanisms facilitating the observed changes in health behaviors through microdosing.Show less
Rationale: Anecdotal evidence suggests that microdosing (i.e., taking small doses of) psychedelics can enhance focus and increase productivity and creativity. However, the current literature on the...Show moreRationale: Anecdotal evidence suggests that microdosing (i.e., taking small doses of) psychedelics can enhance focus and increase productivity and creativity. However, the current literature on the benefits of microdosing on cognition is generally based on self-report and lacks adequate controls, leading to experimental bias and placebo effects. Methods: This study adds to the limited literature on microdosing by examining the effects of microdosing in two-randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, longitudinal trials. Specifically, we examined the effects of microdosing psilocybin truffles on various aspects of cognition and working memory. In the first experiment, 69 participants completed all sessions, and in the second experiment, a sample of 67 participants was studied. Participants were divided into two groups, a placebo and an active microdosing group, and completed the following tasks: AX-CPT, Multi-Armed Bandit, Attentional Blink, Remember-Know, Reference-Back, N-back, Inclusion of Other in the Self scale (IOS), and Trust Game. Based on previous theoretical research, we expected that the active microdosing group would perform better on tasks linked with cognitive flexibility while showing lower performance on tasks requiring top-down inhibition and persistent focus. Results: Contrary to our hypothesis, the results showed that microdosing had no significant effect on any of the tasks tapping into cognitive control or working memory. We did find some initial significant results for the IOS, but, after multiple comparison correction, these results were found to be nonsignificant. Importantly, participants in our study were not breaking blind, as has been the case in previous microdosing studies. Moreover, no negative effects on the tasks were found after microdosing, suggesting good tolerability of psychedelic microdosing. Conclusion: Our results showed no benefit of microdosing psychedelics on cognition. Therefore, the reported benefits are more likely driven by placebo effects. However, microdosing did not impair cognition and can therefore be considered relatively safe in healthy subjects.Show less
This study focuses on the contributing factors that could predict the likelihood of developing a psychological addiction to mystical experiences induced by psychedelics. A cross-sectional online...Show moreThis study focuses on the contributing factors that could predict the likelihood of developing a psychological addiction to mystical experiences induced by psychedelics. A cross-sectional online survey study (n = 200) was conducted to investigate these effects using a combination of questionnaires and open questions. Contrary to expectations, avoidance was not found to be connected to psychological addiction to mystical experiences. However, sensation-seeking proved to relate to psychological addiction and was correlated with an increased likelihood of using psychedelics in the future. The relationship between absorption and psychological addiction was found to be mediated by the intention to confront difficult emotions. The findings indicate that higher scores on absorption increase the likelihood of using psychedelics with the intention to confront negative emotions. In contrast to expectations, the intention to confront one's emotions was found to increase the likelihood of using psychedelics in the future, therefore making the person more likely to become psychologically addicted to mystical experiences. Exploratory analysis revealed that the perceived importance of a facilitator in a non-clinical setting and the importance of experiencing ego death were not connected to psychological addiction and the future likelihood of using psychedelics. Five intentions for psychedelic use were found to be connected to an increased likelihood of psychological addiction to mystical experiences. Additionally, alternative explanations for hypotheses and new research are suggested.Show less
The current study experimentally investigated the effects of personal religiosity level on an individual’s attribution of psychedelic experience to be religious. And whether the frequency of using...Show moreThe current study experimentally investigated the effects of personal religiosity level on an individual’s attribution of psychedelic experience to be religious. And whether the frequency of using psychedelics could contribute to religious attribution of psychedelic experience under the moderation effect of an individual’s level of belief in God. The number of 516 people responded to a survey assessing their religiosity, indicated by the level of faith in God and other religion-introduced concepts such as angels and demons, their frequency of using psychedelics, and the degree to which they considered their psychedelic experience to be religious-related. SPSS (Version 26) was used to run regression analysis to measure the scores. The results indicated that people with a high religiosity level were more likely to experience psychedelics in a religious-related way. However, there was no effect found of frequency of psychedelic usage on religious-related psychedelic experience with or without belief in God as a moderator. Despite the central hypothesis being significant, there remained partly insignificant results and other limitations of this study. As a result, more research should be conducted to understand better the relationship between religiosity and psychedelics drug and their possible implication in the clinical and non-clinical psychology field.Show less
