Underground Knowledge — A discussion group discussion

I'm super surprised no one has posted about research with psychedelics before this... not really sure what to say except if you've never heard about or if you know nothing about what we've learned from research with psychedelics - something that for years was banned and is now still only very rare and highly regulated enough that it's difficult for anyone interested in doing it to actually accomplish it- that is in the scientific/academic world... individuals will find it much easier to accomplish personally... :)

Check out writings by Stanislav Grof - he is a very accredited researcher who has probably put out the most of anyone on the research of psychedelics and what we can learn about human consciousness, cognition, perception, etc. I would highly recommend many books by him being added to the group booklist.

Another book that I am *shocked* is missing from the booklist is 'Doors of Perception' by Aldous Huxley... Brave New World is yes his most famous, but DoP is a non-fiction straightforward book. One of my favorites of all time.

Another book would be 'DMT: The Spirit Molecule' - that is pretty much the only one that addresses the psychedelic DMT, which is really in a realm of its own compared to the others and needs more learned about it...

There are so many books and literature suggestions I could come up with... anyone else have any thoughts on the subject or comments or suggestions? :)

Seriously check it out if you haven't -- people are so blind to the knowledge that psychedelic research open up; it's just very niche perhaps so if you haven't been exposed you won't know to look....so I'm telling you it's worth checking out. :)

Morgan wrote: "I'm super surprised no one has posted about research with psychedelics before this... not really sure what to say except if you've never heard about or if you know nothing about what we've learned ..."

Thanks Morgan. Interesting stuff.
Don't be too "shocked" about books missing from our bookshelves etc... We are still a very new group (albeit one of the fastest growing groups) and so obviously don't have all bases covered at this point. That said, we look forward to your future contributions to our discussion threads.

+1 for DMT: The Spirit Molecule

I also highly recommend anything by Terrance McKenna and Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception

Naim wrote: "There is some interesting research from the John Hopkins school of medicine. Doctors and scientists have found that psilocybin may be a very powerful *cure* for depression and social anxiety. with ..."

the best way to learn about them is to use them **in the right setting and with the right mindset**

DMT: The Spirit Molecule

Psilocybin, Psychedelic Therapies & Mystical Experiences (with Roland Griffiths, Ph.D.) https://www.goodreads.com/videos/1149...

In this 1-hour and 15-minute podcast, we discuss…
• 00:01:03 - the broader story of Dr. Griffiths 40 years of mood-altering drug research, including what got him started and how taking up a meditation practice ultimately influenced the eventual focuses of his research.
• 00:02:22 - the effect psilocybin has had in clinical trials in eliciting so-called mystical experiences that can act as a long-term catalyst for meaningful spiritual change and is amenable to being reproduced and clinically studied in a prospective manner.
• 00:03:45 - what distinguishes psilocybin from other drugs, particularly when reflecting backward on the experience months afterward.
• 00:05:11 - the process by which Dr. Griffiths and his team create an appropriate “setting” and facilitate feelings of safety for those participating in his trials.
• 00:06:42 - the elusive fundamental nature of a classical psychedelic experience whereby people often simultaneously describe the experience as ineffable (indescribable) but yet also often assign it a truth value that may even exceed that of everyday consensus reality.
• 00:07:36 - a description of the core features of a classical mystical experience that overlap with those found in a mystical experience induced by psilocybin.
• 00:08:58 - the qualities of the experience that Dr. Griffiths believes to most underlie the “reorganizational” potential it can have.
• 00:10:55 - the interesting potential areas for scientific exploration that the reproducibility of the psilocybin experience makes the substance amenable to.
• 00:11:25 - the promise psilocybin has shown as an effective therapeutic for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer and also treatment-resistant depression in otherwise healthy patients (00:18:46).
• 00:13:04 - the lack of rigor in the very early trials on these compounds and the way in which cultural stigma surrounding psychedelic drugs ultimately played a role in impeding real, substantive clinical research for decades afterward.
• 00:16:31 - the long-term resilience of the antidepressant and anxiolytic effect, lasting six months and possibly even longer.
• 00:21:01 - the effect psilocybin has demonstrated in animal studies to increase hippocampal neurogenesis and enhance extinction of trace fear conditioning.
• 00:23:07 - the somewhat unintuitive neurobiological mechanism that may tie together some of the antidepressant properties of both psilocybin and ketamine, an anesthetic currently being studied as a rapid-onset antidepressant.
• 00:25:16 - whether or not the mystical subjective experiences are necessary for drugs like psilocybin to exert their antidepressant or anxiolytic effects.
• 00:26:43 - what the default mode network is and what its pattern of activity is in depression, long-term meditators, and after the acute use of psilocybin.
• 00:32:16 - the hard problem of consciousness.
• 00:37:26 - the challenge of finding the neurological correlates to match the phenomenology of individual’s subjective experiences.
• 00:38:16 - the promise psilocybin has shown in a small trial on smoking cessation where 60% of the treatment group were still abstinent a year afterward and plans Dr. Griffiths has to expand this area of research
• 00:41:10 - the possibility that the “reorganizational nature” of these experiences may open up new avenues as trials continue to try to embed the experience within different therapeutic contexts.
• 00:44:02 - the roadmap to FDA approval for use of psilocybin as a medication, particularly in the context of cancer-associated depression and anxiety.
• 00:45:05 - the risks inherent in taking psilocybin and the frequency of self-reported negative experiences in the general population.
• 00:47:22 - the criteria Dr. Griffiths and his colleagues use when screening for volunteers to participate in his studies involving psilocybin.
• 00:49:21 - the inability for clinicians to predict who is at risk of having challenging experiences defined by fear and anxiety (“bad trip”) and whether or not it is desirable, in terms of achieving a therapeutic outcome, to prevent these types of experiences altogether or not.
• 00:51:43 - the sort of dosages used in the trials.
• 00:54:45 - the clever ways devised by Dr. Griffiths to placebo control trials where expectation itself can affect outcome.
• 00:57:45 - some of the interesting anecdotes gleaned from Dr. Griffiths’ working with long-term meditators participating in the psilocybin trial.
• 01:05:13 - a brief discussion about some of the other psychedelics besides psilocybin, such as salvia divinorum and DMT (at 01:10:24).
• 01:12:08 - the historical indigenous use of psychedelics in various cultures spread throughout the world.

How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics

Consciousness and psychedelics | Peter Sjostedt-H | TEDxTruro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV8PS...

Psychedelic Medicine: The Healing Powers of LSD, MDMA, Psilocybin, and Ayahuasca

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/bo...

I found this article particularly interesting. The discussion between authors T.C. Boyle, Ayelet Waldman, and Michael Pollen focus on psychedelics in society, which is a completely different conversation than the lab effects of the drugs. For example, the authors discuss the "trump effect", and their views on legalization.

Emily wrote: "https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/12/bo...

I found this article particularly interesting. The discussion between authors T.C. Boyle, Ayelet Waldman, and Michael P..."

That's quite a balanced article, Emily, showing pros and cons.

Are you doing medical research on psychedelics?