Psychedelic Institute of Mental Health & Family Therapy

PsychedelicMentalHealth.net is curated by the Psychedelic Institute of Mental Health & Family Therapy, a cognitive behavioral therapy practice specializing in multidisciplinary collaboration and continuity of care in psychotherapy plus pharmacological medicine approaches

June 2024: We’re moving some pages around and incorporating a new website domain and paywall membership to prevent AI scraping of content. Editing and design improvements ongoing!

Psychotherapy in home \ Greater Palm Springs | Joshua Tree

Psychedelic Preparation, Support & Integration | LMFT |Telehealth/In-Home Available| CA, NY, UT, VT

An evolving, data-driven approach adds quantitative, usable information to get a baseline of where you’re at now, gives us a way to monitor your progress in our work together, and helps us make referrals for other modalities, or to an escalated level of care if what we’re doing isn’t working for you. Built by a human, without AI.

Our psychedelic program is an inclusive, culturally-relevant, bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach using modalities and protocols that have been, and continue to show promise in current scientific literature, adding to millennia of previous use and study.

We make no claims about the safety and efficacy of any particular medicine molecule, and refer to ongoing literature to support the design of a cognitive behavioral therapy program that may help minimize harm and maximize effects when combined with a pharmacological treatment as prescribed by your medical provider.

Ethical psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and psychiatric medicine assisted psychotherapy means collaborating closely with a medical provider to monitor the medical and prescription aspects of your treatment ensuring we’re tending to your whole Self. The experience, however, has been suggested in the literature to be an important part of the healing process, as is the corrective relational aspect of working with a psychedelic specialist. In other perspectives, working with a mental health practitioner may minimize the side-effects of a medicine.

From The American Psychological Association (APA):

Some people may access psychedelic medicines in other contexts than through the mental health system. The Psychedelic Institute offers a cognitive behavioral therapy program offers a standard 6-12 week course of cognitive behavioral therapy for the sake of reducing harm and needless suffering, and to offer the possibility of an improved sense of mental health after the acute effects of a medicine. Psychedelic practitioner specialists in pain management and mental health are a trusted source for support and information as these medicines become more available.

You are worth getting the support you need to experience a possibility of something transformational in your life. There are medicines available that doctors may prescribe with varying amounts of freedom around the world that may lead to a great reduction in human suffering. Other medicines are available in plants and fungi, which are culturally important to groups around the world spanning thousands of years.

Mental health support for psychedelics provided by psychotherapy specialists allows for a more streamlined deployment within a pre-existing structure of practice of allied health practitioners (Masters Level Marriage and Family Therapy, Counseling, Social Work, Psychiatric Nursing, etc) with ongoing continuing training and supervised practice in psychedelic medicines generally and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy specifically. These practitioners are fully within their scope of practice to offer mental health support in offices, bedsides, clinics, in nature, as guided by the specific laws in your state.

An independent medical provider will make an assessment of the setting and route of administration of your ketamine treatment if they deem the off-label prescription of a medicine as beneficial in your care. See a doctor in person if you can. Telehealth increases access to a generic medicine and therapy on a sliding scale, some of which may be reimbursed by health insurance.

Psychedelic therapists are trained in specific medicines and modalities to prepare, and integrate your experience and support a period of neuroplasticity in your brain. Cognitive behavioral therapy offers specific techniques in working with neuroplasticity.

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is designed to help you put into modern mental health terms a practice with over 100 years of research in western medicine. This practice may include working with medicines that elicit an experience we now call “psychedelic”. In conjunction with cognitive behavioral therapy, you can support what psychedelic, psychiatric, or plant medicines are doing in your body, mind, heart and spirit. The practice of working with this experience has existed for thousands of years in cultures around the world.

Preparation, support, and resources for ongoing integration of the various psychological and spiritual types of experiences that these medicines, practices, and states of consciousness may elicit, applied to a mindful, modern cognitive behavioral therapy.

You may continue your mental health work with other practitioners who come from a variety of traditions and perspectives that are culturally relevant to you and your life in the 21st Century.

Accessing and exploring various states of consciousness safely, with preparation and support, followed by integrating your experiences into lasting change in your mental health and well-being, whether through psychedelic medicine, lucid dreaming, traditional plant medicine, or techno-delics and binaural beats— a psychedelic experience can be the catalysyt for a profound process of change.

One goal is to approach this work in a way that is not extractive/exploitative of any particular indigenous or spiritual practice, and shows reciprocity towards any wisdom shared from our teachers who came before the advent of modern Western concepts of psychology.

This knowledge was often stolen or suppressed by invasive, colonizing groups, as humans continue to migrate around the world and human social constructs develop and change in time. Historically, these practices weren’t left for a person to figure out on their own or by talking to a machine (AI). A wisdom approach, whether cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, or a social worldview that supports making sense of the “psychedelic experience” as it applies to the human condition has precedence.

Studying and honoring historical cultural wisdom in the spirit of intercultural reciprocity

With a mission to increase access to psychedelic therapies, we offer practicums, residencies, fellowships and trainings to psychedelic therapists and culturally relevant psychedelic medicine practitioners, guides, coaches, trip-sitters, chaplains, death doulas and caregivers.

Download Practice Guide - Condensed lit review in support of a sample cognitive behavioral therapy protocol. The therapist and client go over this in detail after a client has been prescribed therapeutic ketamine from a medical provider, where they have gone over risks, benefits, contraindications, and then have had their medicine dispenses by a pharmacist, who requires additional patient information on how to safely store the medicine, and information about the medicine itself. Alternately, if ketamine is administered by a clinician in an office, the various safety protocols are given to the patient / client and signs of risks and benefits.

For patients where ketamine is contraindicated, an identical course of cognitive-behavioral therapy is available. Your medical providers may discuss other treatment options.

There are individuals, groups, corporations- whole systems that feel designed to try to help make you feel anxious, depressed and traumatized. Whether you keep feeling miserable for another day is now up to you.

Go Inward.

Explore.

Reemerge feeling more like your Self.

Choose your existential crisis: fascism, war, bigotry, famine, violence, poverty, disease, intergenerational trauma…

There is a lot to process on the planet right now, if you hadn’t noticed.

Learn to identify where your thinking and feeling isn’t aligning with your body and best sense of Self. Develop a new set of directions to move through the difficult inner states you may experience in life. Process and release what has felt stuck. Whether we’re doing online/remote psychotherapy sessions or in-person counseling, an engaging, data-driven approach aims to help you honor your experiences, to accept yourself and others unconditionally, and to work towards safely experiencing the reminder that we really are all in this together. You've taken the first step just by looking for some help getting back in touch with your Psyche (saɪki).

Psychedelic was coined in the middle of the last century, combining two Greek words in reference to medicines studied in conjunction with psychotherapy.

Psyche- (saɪki): soul, spirit, Self, inner self, innermost self, ego, inner ego, true being, essential nature, life force, vital force, inner man, inner woman, persona, identity, personality, individuality, make-up, subconscious, mind, intellect, non-self

Delic- from δείκνῡμῐ • deíknūmi, δηλόω • (dēlóō) : to show, point out to someone, to bring to light, display, portray, represent, to make known, explain, teach, prove to show, to manifest, to make apparent or known, clear

Our program is designed to support you any experiences you may have in conjunction with a medicine that affects your personal psychology, including experiences described as “dissociative” or “psychedelic" offering a framework in which to integrate the experiences and medicine effects into daily life. This involves incorporating shifts in thinking and outlook, feelings and behaviors— supporting what the medicine is doing in your brain and body to address the physiological imbalances that occur when we’re dealing with constant threats to our mental health.

This process goes beyond ai, therapy apps, drip clinics and mail-order ketamine delivery. The care and feeding of your Psyche is worth the full supportive, immersive experience of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy that is most convenient, safe and effective for your individual situation. This is provided by a human who has been called and trained to do this work with you.

This experience has been part of our collective human experience around the world and through time, resulting from various medicine and non-medicine practices, although sometimes considered as a side effect from medicines such as ketamine.

Psychedelic therapy specialists have a minimum credentials and experience in general mental health and have completed their foundational psychedelic trainings, receiving a Certificate in Psychedelic Therapy & Research from the California Institute of Integral Studies, Naropa, etc. The Psychedelic Institute provides clinical practicums appropriate for any level of psychedelic support and assistance, emphasizing experiential practice and clinical supervision with medical oversight and collaboration. We currently offer weekly practicums ( 8 hours each week) in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy & support for clinicians, chaplains, death doulas, and palliative care workers.

Thursdays/Sundays June-August 2024— Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy & Support practicum has trained medical and mental health clinicians in over 2570 hours of ketamine experience & advanced training

2024 Clinical Fellows

Dominique Condevaux, LPC

Dominique offers ketamine-assisted psychotherapy via telehealth for clients in Michigan and Colorado. Dominique is a licensed addiction and professional counselor (National and Distance credentialed), as well as a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist with certification specialties concerning child, parent, and family issues.

Thais Salles Araujo, MD

Dr. Salles is a medical doctor in California with a specialty in internal medicine and medical acupuncture. A former UCLA Palliative Care fellow, Thais has experience in teaching medical students, residents and healthcare providers both in Brazil and US. Areas of most interest are spirituality, holistic pain care, ancient healing traditions, psychedelics and medical education.

Founding Fellow

Michael DeMarco, LMFT, LMHC, PhD

Support Ongoing Work

Paid subscriptions support ongoing work, study, and practice in this field, which adds to the psychedelic infrastructure, contributing to the field of psychedelic-assisted style of cognitive behavioral therapy. Institute Fellows work clinically according to their scopes of practice and competency, and charge a sliding scale according to their time. By subscribing here, you'll get full access to curated psychedelic content when it's available.

By signing up, you'll get access to the full archive of everything that's been published before and everything that's still to come. Your very own private library of citations on psychedelic and pharmacological medicines as they apply to cognitive behavioral therapy in research and practice.

Membership web access to the Psychedelic Institute of Mental Health & Family Therapy is coming soon for clinicians and anyone working with medicines that may affect your individual and relational (social) psychology.

Join a community sharing interest in psychedelic-assisted therapies, plant medicines, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, preparation, integration, and ongoing continuing education.

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Ongoing Literature Review

American Psychedelic Practitioner Association closes Read More →Jun 8, 2024

40 research articles were included for review: 26 studies on EBPI for PTSD, and 14 studies on PT. EBPI studied were CBT, EMDR, CPT and PE. Psychedelic compounds studied were psilocybin, ibogaine, LSD, MDMA and ketamine, for treatment of substance use disorders, anxiety relating to physical illness, depression, and PTSD. Core themes from patient experiences of EBPI: 1) patient burden in PTSD treatment; 2) readiness; 3) key mechanisms of change; 4) psychological safety and trust. Themes identified in the review of PT: 1) indirect trauma processing; 2) reorganisation of self-narratives via processes of relatedness and identification; 3) key treatment characteristics.

Conclusion: This study suggests overlap between patients' experience of EBPI and PT in terms of key mechanisms of change, the importance of psychological safety and readiness to engage in treatment. Trauma-informed care paradigms and practices may improve safety and acceptability of PT research.

(The way ghost.io includes links to other sites and materials will streamline our self-publishing projects by allowing for better linking to source materials and discussions of citations.)

The posts below are part of the site update, and will be reformatted soon.

Your paid subscription supports this ongoing project.

The serotonin deficit hypothesis explanation for major depressive disorder (MDD) has persisted among clinicians and the general public alike despite insufficient supporting evidence. To combat rising mental health crises and eroding public trust in science and medicine, researchers and clinicians must be able to communicate to patients and the public an updated framework of MDD: one that is (1) accessible to a general audience, (2) accurately integrates current evidence about the efficacy of conventional serotonergic antidepressants with broader and deeper understandings of pathophysiology and treatment, and (3) capable of accommodating new evidence. In this article, we summarize a framework for the pathophysiology and treatment of MDD that is informed by clinical and preclinical research in psychiatry and neuroscience. First, we discuss how MDD can be understood as inflexibility in cognitive and emotional brain circuits that involves a persistent negativity bias. Second, we discuss how effective treatments for MDD enhance mechanisms of neuroplasticity-including via serotonergic interventions-to restore synaptic, network, and behavioral function in ways that facilitate adaptive cognitive and emotional processing. These treatments include typical monoaminergic antidepressants, novel antidepressants like ketamine and psychedelics, and psychotherapy and neuromodulation techniques. At the end of the article, we discuss this framework from the perspective of effective science communication and provide useful language and metaphors for researchers, clinicians, and other professionals discussing MDD with a general or patient audience.

Read More →Apr 9, 2024

Psychedelic Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (On Ketamine, Context and Competencies in "Assisted-Psychotherapy")

An evolving overview of cognitive behavioral therapy in modern psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and ketamine psychedelic therapy See Preliminary Lit Review for more sources and summaries

Jun 19, 2024

Ketamine Compared With Morphine for Out-of-Hospital Analgesia for Patients With Traumatic Pain — A Randomized Clinical Trial (Le Cornec, et al, 2024)

A total of 251 patients were randomized (median age, 51 [IQR, 34-69] years; 111 women [44.9%] and 140 men [55.1%] among the 247 with data available) and were included in the intention-to-treat population. The mean pain score change was −3.7 (95% CI, −4.2 to −3.2) in the ketamine group compared with −3.8 (95% CI, −4.2 to −3.4) in the morphine group. The difference in mean pain score change was 0.1 (95% CI, −0.7 to 0.9) points. There were no clinically meaningful differences for vital signs between the 2 groups. The intravenous morphine group had 19 of 113 (16.8% [95% CI, 10.4%-25.0%]) adverse effects reported (most commonly nausea [12 of 113 (10.6%)]) compared with 49 of 120 (40.8% [95% CI, 32.0%-49.6%]) in the ketamine group (most commonly emergence phenomenon [24 of 120 (20.0%)]). No adverse events required intervention.

Conclusions and Relevance In the KETAMORPH study of patients with out-of-hospital traumatic pain, the use of intravenous ketamine compared with morphine showed noninferiority for pain reduction. In the ongoing opioid crisis, ketamine administered alone is an alternative to opioids in adults with out-of-hospital traumatic pain.

The MUSIK trial found that music significantly decreased ketamine-induced systolic BP changes. Music may thus represent a feasible, benign, nonpharmacological approach to improving the hemodynamic response of subanesthetic ketamine infusions for TRD. Secondary trial outcomes will be published elsewhere.

Beyond psychiatric contexts, the stimulatory hemodynamic effects of ketamine have received extensive study, both as desirable (eg, in surgical contexts) and as potentially harmful (eg, in procedural sedation),5 but never in relation to music, to our knowledge. The magnitude of the hemodynamic effects observed in this study suggests that ketamine research should consider potential influences of contextual factors, including auditory stimuli. Ketamine’s unique psychoactive effects may amplify the effects of music and other environmental influences, as has been long observed in the anesthesiology literature.6

Although the MUSIK trial administered 181 ketamine infusions, its modest sample size is a limitation. Further investigation is needed in larger samples and additional clinical contexts.

Jun 8, 2024 The efficacy and safety of ketamine in the treatment of super-refractory status epilepticus: a systematic review (Yan, et al, 2024)

Out of 782 studies retrieved from electronic databases, 11 met the inclusion criteria. Among them, 10 studies were retrospective, and 1 study was prospective. Patient data for inclusion were sourced from the case registries of the researchers' respective hospitals. Across all included studies, the administration of ketamine significantly reduced the duration of status epilepticus and demonstrated higher safety compared to patients not receiving ketamine treatment for super-refractory status epilepticus. Additionally, early administration of ketamine correlated with improved treatment outcomes. The risk of bias across all studies was deemed low.

Jun 1, 2024 At-home, telehealth-supported ketamine treatment for depression: Findings from longitudinal, machine learning and symptom network analysis of real-world data (Mathai, et al, 2024)

Researchers write “A sample of 11,441 patients was analyzed, At-home, telehealth-supported ketamine administration was largely safe, well-tolerated, and associated with improvement in patients with depression. Strategies for combining psychedelic-oriented therapies with rigorous telehealth models, as explored here, may uniquely address barriers to mental health treatment.”

May 30, 2024 Can Ketamine-Induced Near-Death Experiences Expedite Healing? (Sienknecht, 2020)

The potential for ketamine to replicate NDE’s has been supported by research. A recent study published in Science Direct, looking at over 15,000 self-reports, found that the use of ketamine, over all other psychedelic compounds, most frequently led users to have NDE’s (followed by salvia in second and peyote in third). “After assessing the semantic similarity between 15,000 reports linked to the use of 165 psychoactive substances and 625 NDE narratives, we determined that the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist ketamine consistently resulted in reports most similar to those associated with NDE’s.” The authors go on to suggest that “ketamine could be used as a safe and reversible experimental model for NDE phenomenology”1

May 13, 2024 Ketamine for treatment-resistant major depressive disorder: Double-blind active-controlled crossover study (Glue, et al, 2024)

Within 1 h of ketamine dosing, patients reported reduced depression and anxiety ratings, which persisted for up to 7 days. A dose–response profile for ketamine was noted for dissociative side effects, adverse events and changes in blood pressure; however, changes in mood ratings were broadly similar for both ketamine doses. Overall, 14/25 patients (56%) were responders (⩾50% reduction at 24 h compared with baseline) for either ketamine dose for the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and 18/25 (72%) were responders for the HADS-anxiety scale. After fentanyl, only 1/25 (HADS-depression) and 3/25 (HADS-anxiety) were responders. Ketamine was generally safe and well tolerated in this population.

Conclusions:

Our findings add to the literature confirming ketamine’s activity against depressive and anxiety symptoms in patients with TRD.

May 3, 2024 Exploring the Impact of Music on Response to Ketamine/Esketamine: A Scoping Review (Kheirkhah, et al, 2024)

This scoping review describes the existing literature on the joint use of music and ketamine-or esketamine (the S(+) enantiomer of ketamine)-in humans. The review considers that extant studies have explored the intersection of ketamine/esketamine and music in healthy volunteers and in patients of various age groups, at different dosages, through different treatment processes, and have varied the sequence of playing music relative to ketamine/esketamine administration.

May 3, 2024 Cognitive behavioral therapy in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (an ongoing review, part 1)

An evolving overview of cognitive behavioral therapy in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and ketamine psychedelic therapy.

May 2, 2024 Sublingual and iv ketamine for bipolar disorder, depression with mixed features? Ketamine in Bipolar Disorder: A Review (Wilkowska, et al, 2020)

Data on multiple administration of ketamine in patients with bipolar depression are scarce. A very low dose of sublingual ketamine (administered every 2–3 days or weekly) was reported to produce rapid and consistent effects, which included the improvement of mood level and stability, cognition, and sleep in most patients (77%) with unipolar or bipolar depression; mild side effects were observed in 26 patients.21 Another study administered multiple ketamine intravenous infusions (six 0.5mg/kg infusions) in patients with unipolar (n=77) and bipolar (n=20) depression, and reported response and remission rates of 68% and 50.5%, respectively; however, the results of the bipolar group were not analyzed separately.22 A recent study on 6 low-dose ketamine infusions in 16 bipolar patients reported response and remission rate 73.7% and 63.2%, respectively, at 24 h after the 6th infusion.23 The most recent study by McIntyre included 213 TRD patients including 30 patients with bipolar disorder, but this subgroup was not analyzed separately. The authors observed rapid antidepressive and antisuicidal effects.24 The authors of the mentioned studies did not observe any significant side effects. It remains unclear as to how repeated ketamine infusions may affect the severity of subsequent episodes of bipolar depression. It is possible that this treatment regimen could decrease the severity of depressive symptoms, as well as improve quality of life and daily functioning.25 A recent retrospective study on IV ketamine in unipolar and bipolar depression suggests that using ketamine to treat resistant depression has a rapid effect in reducing agitation, irritability, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. Therefore, the authors suggest that this treatment should be considered in depression with mixed features, which is particularly common in bipolar disorders (2.2 in MDD vs 14.3% in BD) and related to high suicidality.26,27

Apr 24, 2024 A comparison between psilocybin and esketamine in treatment-resistant depression using number needed to treat (NNT): A systematic review (Wong, et al, 2024)

Esketamine and psilocybin NNT (number to treat) suggests safety and efficacy for depression

Psilocybin Research

A comparison between psilocybin and esketamine in treatment-resistant depression using number needed to treat (NNT): A systematic review (Wong, et al, 2024)

Psilocybin and esketamine show a similar safety and efficacy for treatment of depression

Apr 20, 2024 Psilocybin: The Holy Children of the Mazatec people— Columbia School of Social Work (2023)

Mar 27, 2024 Unique Psychological Mechanisms Underlying Psilocybin Therapy Versus Escitalopram Treatment in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (Weiss, et al, 2024)

The present study provides evidence for the role of unique psychological mechanisms underlying the therapeutic action of PT versus ET. Mystical experience and ego dissolution, in particular, demonstrated uniqueness to PT (versus ET) and meaningful associations with depressive response, while emotional breakthrough, mystical experience, and music impact were meaningfully associated with better response. Trait absorption and suggestibility showed evidence of potentiating these mechanisms, and may offer higher positive outcome prediction within a precision medicine framework. In sum, these findings advance our understanding of how psychedelic therapies may differ from conventional SSRI pharmacotherapy at the mechanistic level.

These results also illustrate the value of psychological mechanisms in psychedelic therapy. Despite recent propositions about the potential sufficiency of physiological mechanisms, we remind the reader that the face valid model for psychedelic therapy involves a standard package of psychological preparation, dosing supervision with music listening and psychological integration. This is the model that has yielded the promising results that are now attracting major public and private interest in psychedelic medicine. The idea of giving a psychedelic but stripping away its psychedelic subjective effects (and perhaps stripping away psychological support also) while hoping to preserve the therapeutic response is an entirely untested model in humans.

Mar 8, 2024 Psychedelic Healing: A Historical, Empirical, and Personal Account (Swoap, 2023)

The resurgence in psychedelic medicine may be due in part to its applications to a number of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, PTSD, eating disorders, and substance use disorders, all of which appear to be growing in scale and suffering. In 2023, Oregon became the first state to legalize psilocybin for use in state-certified service centers.1 Psilocybin and other naturally occurring psychedelic substances have been used for millennia for healing and ceremony across many continents and cultures. Some speculate that psychedelic mushrooms may even have played a role in human evolution.2,3 But it is over the past 30 years that the psychedelic renaissance has occurred, driven by a revived interest in the therapeutic potential of these substances, especially for mental health care.4 This paper will examine 2 psychedelic medicines (psilocybin and ketamine) used as a part of an evidence-based treatment strategy. In addition to reviewing the literature, I will report on a current study in which I serve as both external researcher and participant-observer. The paper concludes by examining the interaction between psychedelics, nature, and healing.

Feb 29, 2024 Effect of chemically synthesized psilocybin and psychedelic mushroom extract on molecular and metabolic profiles in mouse brain (Shahar, et al, 2024)

Psilocybin, a naturally occurring, tryptamine alkaloid prodrug, is currently being investigated for the treatment of a range of psychiatric disorders. Preclinical reports suggest that the biological effects of psilocybin-containing mushroom extract or “full spectrum” (psychedelic) mushroom extract (PME), may differ from those of chemically synthesized psilocybin (PSIL).

Feb 22, 2024 Subtypes of the psychedelic experience have reproducible and predictable effects on depression and anxiety symptoms (Nikolaidis, et al, 2023)

The present analysis suggests that psychedelic experiences, in particular those that are associated with enduring improvements in mental health, may be characterized by reproducible and predictable subtypes of the subjective psychedelic effects. These subtypes appear to be significantly different with respect to the baseline demographic characteristics, baseline measures of mental health, and drug type and dose. These findings also suggest that efforts to increase psychedelic associated personal and mystical insight experiences may be key to maximizing beneficial impact of clinical approaches using this treatment in their patients.

Feb 13, 2024 Developing a Direct Observation Measure of Therapeutic Connection in Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy: A Feasibility Study (Gramling, et al, 2023)

Direct observation of therapeutic human connection is feasible, sensitive to changes in states of consciousness and requires evaluation of audible and visual data.

Feb 13, 2024 Ketamine’s Role in Spirituality: How One Synthetic Drug Catalyzes a Natural Experience (Woods, 2020)

This article highlights the potential spiritual effects of a popular anesthetic, ketamine, and how these spiritual effects can be used to help promote the reconciliation of spiritual and physical health. Ketamine, like the prominent psychedelic, psilocybin, has reportedly caused feelings of spiritual revelation and “out of body experiences” that many physicians may not feel qualified to discuss with their patients. This reluctance to address ketamine-induced spiritual experiences may affect the health outcomes of the patient. The primary goal of this project is to bring academic validity to considerations of the spiritual health of patients. This paper (1) investigates the extent that ketamine-induced, non-ordinary experiences can help bring awareness to the compatibility of spiritual and physical health and (2) compares the mechanisms of ketamine and psilocybin, as well as their value to the medical community due to the spiritual experiences that they catalyze. Thus, this research seeks to demonstrate that understanding the spiritual value of ketamine may encourage better communication between the physician and patient and promote more holistic healthcare approaches.

Feb 3, 2024 Me, myself, bye: regional alterations in glutamate and the experience of ego dissolution with psilocybin (Mason, et al, 2020)

Following a double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group design, we utilized an ultra-high field multimodal brain imaging approach and demonstrated that psilocybin (0.17 mg/kg) induced region-dependent alterations in glutamate, which predicted distortions in the subjective experience of one’s self (ego dissolution). Whereas higher levels of medial prefrontal cortical glutamate were associated with negatively experienced ego dissolution, lower levels in hippocampal glutamate were associated with positively experienced ego dissolution. Such findings provide further insights into the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of the psychedelic, as well as the baseline, state. Importantly, they may also provide a neurochemical basis for therapeutic effects as witnessed in ongoing clinical trials.

Feb 3, 2024 Serotonergic Psychedelics – a Comparative review Comparing the Efficacy, Safety, Pharmacokinetics and Binding Profile of Serotonergic Psychedelics (Holz, et al, 2024)

Psychedelic compounds, including psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and 5-MeO-DMT all of which are serotonin (5-HT) 2A receptor agonists are being investigated as potential treatments. This review aims to summarize the current clinical research on these four compounds and mescaline to guide future research. Their mechanism/s of action, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, efficacy, and safety were reviewed. While evidence for therapeutic indications, with the exception of psilocybin for depression, is still relatively scarce, we noted no differences in psychedelic effects beyond effect duration. It remains therefore unclear whether different receptor profiles contribute to the therapeutic potential of these compounds. More research is needed to differentiate these compounds in order to inform which compounds might be best for different therapeutic uses.

Feb 3, 2024 When will psychedelics be legal?

With the FDA reviewing psychedelic treatments, approval of such drugs would lead to DEA reclassification and open a world of new mental health care.

MDMA Research

MDMA-assisted Brief Cognitive Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for ptsd (clinicaltrials.gov)

Sponsor Dr. Leslie Morland San Diego #veterans Healthcare System — #mdma research is robust and ongoing, with studies addressing the weak/sloppy areas outlined in the #fda Lykos/MAPS new drug application. #psychedelics #mdma #psychedelic #psychedelicresearch

Jun 5, 2024 June 4, 2024 Meeting of the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC)

Briefing document— https://www.fda.gov/media/178984/download and public comments— https://www.regulations.gov/document/FDA-2024-N-1938-0001/comment #mdma #psychedelic #fda #mdmaassistedtherapy #psychedelics #ptsd #mentalhealth #psychedelicresearch

Jun 4, 2024 MDMA-assisted therapy: A new treatment model for social anxiety in autistic adults (Danforth, et al, 2016)

Pure MDMA used in approved clinical settings is far safer than recreational use of Ecstasy or Molly.

•MDMA-assisted therapy could reduce social anxiety symptoms and increase social adaptability.

•The need to develop effective treatments for social anxiety in autistic adults is presently unmet.

•MDMA does not require ongoing administration to achieve lasting benefits

Apr 9, 2024 Updated Research on MDMA Read More →

Apr 1, 2024 Big Money Is Taking Over MDMA-Assisted Therapy

Nonprofit MAPS promised to bring therapeutic MDMA to market on the back of philanthropic donations. But then it morphed into a for-profit concern — and with FDA approval looming, Big Pharma is trying to get in on the act.

Feb 25, 2024 As investors pile into psychedelics, idealism gives way to pharma economics

For more than 30 years, MAPS' efforts have been funded almost entirely by donations from wealthy individuals, including billionaires like New York Mets owner Steven Cohen and Republican political donor Rebekah Mercer. On principle, MAPS has never patented its work.
The group’s pharmaceutical arm, the MAPS Public Benefit Corp., is expected to win U.S. approval this year for the first psychedelic medicine accepted for review by the Food and Drug Administration: MDMA, or ecstasy, to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

Feb 3, 2024 MDMA-Assisted Therapy Clinic Opens in Australia Read More →

Feb 1, 2024

Psychedelic Sensationalism: An Analysis of the Schedule Classification of Psilocybin (Wood, 2023)

The importance of the social perception of different drugs in determining their eventual classification is abundantly clear. While the biochemical properties of psilocybin and other psychedelics raised few concerns, the drugs’ associations with the rebellious younger generation posed a clear threat to the American social order. Psilocybin’s importance in the hippie movement is of particular importance given the violence that hippies faced in the years leading up to the Controlled Substances Act. The persecution of hippies only intensified as a result of the Act, which supports the argument that strict enforcement of the prohibition of psilocybin had less to do with protecting the American public from the horrors of drug use and more to do with protecting the public from counterculture.

In conclusion, the lack of medical justification for the schedule classification of psilocybin alludes to a more complex explanation for its harsh criminalization. In just a matter of years, psilocybin went from being regarded as a medical marvel to being vilified as a toxic substance fit for criminals and out-of-control kids. Based on physiological data alone, psilocybin should never have been included in the Schedule I category. This calls for a more critical look at the politics surrounding drug use during the years leading up to the Controlled Substances Act. By contextualizing psilocybin’s scientific and political record within the scope of American history, it is apparent that its federal criminalization was far more complicated than a reaction to a public health concern or even a misunderstanding of its chemical effects. Psilocybin’s association with LSD and the divisive hippie movement contributed to the government’s decision to classify it as a Schedule I drug, repressing the hippies’ radical lifestyle and controversial beliefs. By implementing legal restrictions, the government could limit the spread of progressive ideology without explicitly infringing upon the freedoms of speech, expression, and protest that the hippies embraced. In an era of dramatic social change, the Controlled Substance Act bolstered traditional, conservative values and effectively criminalized American counterculture. Whether or not it was the government’s intention, the population that most threatened American traditionalism was the very demographic that was most negatively affected by psilocybin’s classification in the Controlled Substances Act. For this reason, psilocybin’s Schedule I designation in the Controlled Substances Act can be viewed as a form of social control under the thin guise of healthcare policy.

Bring underground therapists above ground with harm reduction certificates that differentiate a “psychedelic facilitator” or “coach” from a licensed psychotherapist and medical provider plus pharmacist for the medical and pharmacological aspects of this treatment. All can have the patient experience with the medicine if not contraindicated. A patient can invite who they want to to sit with them during their journey or check in on them throughout, as we do with telehealth. There ARE ways to do this where the most people are helped, and the least amount of people are harmed. Train licensed psychotherapists in psychedelic medicines.

Cognitive neuroscience has recently become interested in altered states of consciousness such as near-death experiences (NDEs) and psychedelic experiences. While these two phenomena differ in several aspects (NDEs may occur spontaneously in life-threatening situations, while psychedelics are induced by the intake of specific substances), there are notable similarities in their phenomenology. In this presentation, we will explore the extent to which these experiences resemble each other and discuss methods for investigating these parallels. Building on this comparison, the speakers will propose that the psychedelic experience can serve as a model for studying NDEs in laboratory settings. Additionally, the speakers will review current research efforts in our lab aimed at scientifically examining NDEs under controlled conditions. This presentation will provide an opportunity to discuss the methodology and rationale for integrating these two domains, as well as the challenges associated with studying their neurophysiological mechanisms in laboratory settings.

For the past 70 years, most Western medical uses of psychedelics have centered on the way these drugs can serve as an adjunct to psychological therapy, or psychotherapy. From treating alcoholism to alleviating depression and anxiety, the general idea has been that psychedelics can amplify suggestibility, increase neuroplasticity and accelerate the clinical process of psychotherapy.

In fact, for much of the current so-called “psychedelic renaissance,” the treatment has been explicitly referred to as psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. While there may be more and more research illustrating exactly what psychedelics do pharmacologically to our brain, for the most part it was never particularly controversial to suggest the drugs should always be delivered in tandem with a broad program of psychological preparation and integration.

Although working on many different parts and systems in the brain, some overlapping with serotonergic psychedelics, some not, the experience and its effects have been studied consistently for over 100 years, over 60 of which were in the ongoing study and practice of ketamine in large doses with a range of patient indications related to pain, both physical and mental, especially to avoid pain and mental anguish as its most common use as a high dose surgical anesthetic administered in a medical setting.

For medical advice, please consult your State licensed healthcare provider. For psychiatric emergencies, call 988 or 911 or head to your nearest Emergency room.

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