2007年12月14日星期五

Psilocybin Surprises

In my last entry, I wrote about the fascinating psilocybin research by Roland Gritffiths and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins.
They recruited people to take a dose of psilocybin, the active substance of hallucinogenic mushrooms, and then, on a different day, another substance (methylphenidate) for comparison purposes. The participants were then monitored for eight hours in a comfortable and supportive setting. Afterwards, the subjects described their experiences and completed a series of questionnaires. The results were surprising.
Among the questionnaires done seven hours after taking either substance were a hallucinogen-rating scale, a states-of-consciousness questionnaire, a mysticism scale, and the APZ. The APZ is an instrument that also measures altered states of consciousness and has categories such as "oceanic boundlessness," "dread of ego dissolution," and "visual restructuralization." The subjects rated their experiences much higher on these scales on days that they took the psilocybin.
The states-of-consciousness questionnaire included the items from the Pahnke-Richards Mystical Experience Questionnaire, a survey based on the following categories:
Internal unityExternal unityTranscendence of time and spaceIneffability and paradoxicalitySense of sacrednessNoetic qualityDeeply felt positive mood The combined scores of 22 of the 36 subjects met the criteria for a "complete mystical experience" on their psilocybin days. On days when the methylphenidate was taken, only four subjects' scores reached levels corresponding to a "complete mystical experience."
About two months following each of the sessions, the subjects were again surveyed, this time with questions that assessed possible persistent changes in attitude, mood, and behavior. They were also asked the following:
How personally meaningful was the experience?Indicate the degree to which the experience was spiritually significant to you.Do you believe that the experience and your contemplation of that experience have led to change in your current sense of well-being or life satisfaction? Here's what was surprising: One-third of the volunteers rated their psilocybin experience as being the single most spiritually significant experience of his or her life. Another 38 percent rated it as being among the top-5 most spiritually significant experiences of their lives. Longer-term follow-up assessments are now being done.
Do the results of this study suggest that people should use psilocybin frequently to gain spiritual and mystical experiences? Definitely not. The investigators are very clear in not recommending widespread use of the substance. They point out that this research was conducted in a safe and supportive environment and that the mental experiences could very well be different in other settings.
They also emphasize that some of the volunteers had negative experiences when taking the psilocybin. Almost one-third of the subjects, for example, reported experiencing "strong" or "extreme" fear at some point during their psilocybin session. During their sessions, six subjects displayed paranoid thinking or felt transient "ideas of reference" (that is, the belief that objects, events, or people are of personal significance - as when a person watching TV believes that the show is all about him).
But then, if not to encourage psilocybin use, why would researchers do these types of studies? Because such experiments may provide important information about brain chemistry, psychopharmacology, and the psychology of mental states.
They also might help lead to the development of medications for mental illnesses. Future studies could be done with people suffering with symptoms related to certain psychiatric disorders.

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