Really? You Think?
Aug. 4th, 2006 07:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lwoodA study at Johns Hopkins University released in the past few days has determined that ingesting psilocybin (from context, apparently in a refined, mushroom-free form) gives you profound psychospiritual experiences.
I'm happy that they're researching these things on the one hand. On another, "don't do this at home" actually does have some credence over and above spreading Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Mind-blowing experiences are best had, at the very least, when there's someone nearby with twin crucial wisdoms of "here, have a Kleenex" and "getting the fuck out of the way of a mindblowing experience".
Here's a link to the article in the SF Chronicle, article text pasted behind the cut.
Mushroom Drug Produces Mystical Experience
- By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer
Monday, July 10, 2006
(07-10) 21:32 PDT New York (AP) --
People who took an illegal drug made from mushrooms reported profound mystical experiences that led to behavior changes lasting for weeks — all part of an experiment that recalls the psychedelic '60s.
Many of the 36 volunteers rated their reaction to a single dose of the drug, called psilocybin, as one of the most meaningful or spiritually significant experiences of their lives. Some compared it to the birth of a child or the death of a parent.
Such comments "just seemed unbelievable," said Roland Griffiths of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, the study's lead author.
But don't try this at home, he warned. "Absolutely don't."
Almost a third of the research participants found the drug experience frightening even in the very controlled setting. That suggests people experimenting with the illicit drug on their own could be harmed, Griffiths said.
Viewed by some as a landmark, the study is one of the few rigorous looks in the past 40 years at a hallucinogen's effects. The researchers suggest the drug someday may help drug addicts kick their habit or aid terminally ill patients struggling with anxiety and depression.
It may also provide a way to study what happens in the brain during intense spiritual experiences, the scientists said.
Funded in part by the federal government, the research was published online Tuesday by the journal Psychopharmacology.
Psilocybin has been used for centuries in religious practices, and its ability to produce a mystical experience is no surprise. But the new work demonstrates it more clearly than before, Griffiths said.
Even two months after taking the drug, pronounced SILL-oh-SY-bin, most of the volunteers said the experience had changed them in beneficial ways, such as making them more compassionate, loving, optimistic and patient. Family members and friends said they noticed a difference, too.
Charles Schuster, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at Wayne State University and a former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, called the work a landmark.
"I believe this is one of the most rigorously well-controlled studies ever done" to evaluate psilocybin or similar substances for their potential to increase self-awareness and a sense of spirituality, he said. He did not participate in the research.
Psilocybin, like LSD or mescaline, is one of a class of drugs called hallucinogens or psychedelics. While they have been studied by scientists in the past, research was largely shut down after widespread recreational abuse of the drugs during the 1960s, Griffiths said. Some work resumed in the 1990s.
"We've lost 40 years of (potential) research experience with this whole class of compounds," he said. Now, with modern-day scientific methods, "I think it's time to pick up this research field."
The study volunteers had an average age of 46, had never used hallucinogens, and participated to some degree in religious or spiritual activities like prayer, meditation, discussion groups or religious services. Each tried psilocybin during one visit to the lab and the stimulant methylphenidate (better known as Ritalin) on one or two other visits. Only six of the volunteers knew when they were getting psilocybin.
Each visit lasted eight hours. The volunteers lay on a couch in a living-room-like setting, wearing an eye mask and listening to classical music. They were encouraged to focus their attention inward.
Psilocybin's effects lasted for up to six hours, Griffiths said. Twenty-two of the 36 volunteers reported having a "complete" mystical experience, compared to four of those getting methylphenidate.
That experience included such things as a sense of pure awareness and a merging with ultimate reality, a transcendence of time and space, a feeling of sacredness or awe, and deeply felt positive mood like joy, peace and love. People say "they can't possibly put it into words," Griffiths said.
Two months later, 24 of the participants filled out a questionnaire. Two-thirds called their reaction to psilocybin one of the five top most meaningful experiences of their lives. On another measure, one-third called it the most spiritually significant experience of their lives, with another 40 percent ranking it in the top five.
About 80 percent said that because of the psilocybin experience, they still had a sense of well-being or life satisfaction that was raised either "moderately" or "very much."
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/07/10/national/a213221D59.DTL
©2006 Associated Press
I'm happy that they're researching these things on the one hand. On another, "don't do this at home" actually does have some credence over and above spreading Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Mind-blowing experiences are best had, at the very least, when there's someone nearby with twin crucial wisdoms of "here, have a Kleenex" and "getting the fuck out of the way of a mindblowing experience".
Here's a link to the article in the SF Chronicle, article text pasted behind the cut.
Mushroom Drug Produces Mystical Experience
- By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer
Monday, July 10, 2006
(07-10) 21:32 PDT New York (AP) --
People who took an illegal drug made from mushrooms reported profound mystical experiences that led to behavior changes lasting for weeks — all part of an experiment that recalls the psychedelic '60s.
Many of the 36 volunteers rated their reaction to a single dose of the drug, called psilocybin, as one of the most meaningful or spiritually significant experiences of their lives. Some compared it to the birth of a child or the death of a parent.
Such comments "just seemed unbelievable," said Roland Griffiths of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, the study's lead author.
But don't try this at home, he warned. "Absolutely don't."
Almost a third of the research participants found the drug experience frightening even in the very controlled setting. That suggests people experimenting with the illicit drug on their own could be harmed, Griffiths said.
Viewed by some as a landmark, the study is one of the few rigorous looks in the past 40 years at a hallucinogen's effects. The researchers suggest the drug someday may help drug addicts kick their habit or aid terminally ill patients struggling with anxiety and depression.
It may also provide a way to study what happens in the brain during intense spiritual experiences, the scientists said.
Funded in part by the federal government, the research was published online Tuesday by the journal Psychopharmacology.
Psilocybin has been used for centuries in religious practices, and its ability to produce a mystical experience is no surprise. But the new work demonstrates it more clearly than before, Griffiths said.
Even two months after taking the drug, pronounced SILL-oh-SY-bin, most of the volunteers said the experience had changed them in beneficial ways, such as making them more compassionate, loving, optimistic and patient. Family members and friends said they noticed a difference, too.
Charles Schuster, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience at Wayne State University and a former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, called the work a landmark.
"I believe this is one of the most rigorously well-controlled studies ever done" to evaluate psilocybin or similar substances for their potential to increase self-awareness and a sense of spirituality, he said. He did not participate in the research.
Psilocybin, like LSD or mescaline, is one of a class of drugs called hallucinogens or psychedelics. While they have been studied by scientists in the past, research was largely shut down after widespread recreational abuse of the drugs during the 1960s, Griffiths said. Some work resumed in the 1990s.
"We've lost 40 years of (potential) research experience with this whole class of compounds," he said. Now, with modern-day scientific methods, "I think it's time to pick up this research field."
The study volunteers had an average age of 46, had never used hallucinogens, and participated to some degree in religious or spiritual activities like prayer, meditation, discussion groups or religious services. Each tried psilocybin during one visit to the lab and the stimulant methylphenidate (better known as Ritalin) on one or two other visits. Only six of the volunteers knew when they were getting psilocybin.
Each visit lasted eight hours. The volunteers lay on a couch in a living-room-like setting, wearing an eye mask and listening to classical music. They were encouraged to focus their attention inward.
Psilocybin's effects lasted for up to six hours, Griffiths said. Twenty-two of the 36 volunteers reported having a "complete" mystical experience, compared to four of those getting methylphenidate.
That experience included such things as a sense of pure awareness and a merging with ultimate reality, a transcendence of time and space, a feeling of sacredness or awe, and deeply felt positive mood like joy, peace and love. People say "they can't possibly put it into words," Griffiths said.
Two months later, 24 of the participants filled out a questionnaire. Two-thirds called their reaction to psilocybin one of the five top most meaningful experiences of their lives. On another measure, one-third called it the most spiritually significant experience of their lives, with another 40 percent ranking it in the top five.
About 80 percent said that because of the psilocybin experience, they still had a sense of well-being or life satisfaction that was raised either "moderately" or "very much."
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/07/10/national/a213221D59.DTL
©2006 Associated Press
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-04 05:49 pm (UTC)DUH!
That is all.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-04 05:51 pm (UTC)DUH!
That is all.
Yup.
In other news, the "founder" of the Daughters of Frya has, elsewhere, admitted the hoax and has taken his site down. My post's intro amended to mention, though it's primarily left as-is.
-- Lorrie
no subject
Date: 2006-08-04 07:23 pm (UTC)It may also provide a way to study what happens in the brain during intense spiritual experiences, the scientists said.
That's what I've been trying to do all along! Where can I get government money? Oh yeah---I guess I have to be all hip with the degrees n shit.
Oh well. I guess I'll just keep on not trying this at home.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-04 07:50 pm (UTC)Well, it's not the first time, of course, but it's the quiet reflowering after years of hibernation in this area of research, which was mentioned in the article.
But yeah, "more please!" is definitely my second reaction.
That's what I've been trying to do all along! Where can I get government money? Oh yeah---I guess I have to be all hip with the degrees n shit.
No, you simply need to know someone who's into neurological research, and therefore has the degrees 'n' shit, who is willing to fill out the paperwork for the grants, etc, etc. There are hard parts, like gaining DEA authorization for your controlled substances, but if the right researcher were dropped into the collective lap, and things could be voiced in the correct tones, it's possible.
I would volunteer my own mad scientist collection, but it'd be hard to connect psychoactives to Alzheimer's and other neurodegeneratives (the focus of our Neurological Institute, there's also Cardio and Viro/Immuno) in any way that would also bring that touch of class to, well, us.
See Jenny Blain's book Nine Worlds of Seid Magic for the kind of researcher you'd have to find (only, obviously, in a completely different specialty).
The other problem, particularly from your perspective, may be that they were using, specifically, psilocybin in some sort of concentrated, controlled-dose form, seeing as they were swapping it out freely with Ritalin. You'd get the chemical perspective, sure, but the spiritual one, well, that's left for the liminal freaks. ;)
DLP and I are eternally keen for someone to 'trode us all up while we're put through our several altered-state paces--but we don't have inroads into the right scientific communities for that. 8-(
-- Lorrie
no subject
Date: 2006-08-04 08:00 pm (UTC)Another "I've been wanting to do that for YEEERS" things of mine.
The other problem, particularly from your perspective, may be that they were using, specifically, psilocybin in some sort of concentrated, controlled-dose form, seeing as they were swapping it out freely with Ritalin. You'd get the chemical perspective, sure, but the spiritual one, well, that's left for the liminal freaks. ;)
You'd get the spiritual one as well, though it would have to turn a few corners that it wouldn't have to if you were getting it directly from a plant. The chemical basically functions as a physical body for the spirit that animates it. The concentrated chemical will still contain, either directly or through inferance, the entire spirit. Whether they're still around and willing to talk will be an entirely different matter.
I would volunteer my own mad scientist collection, but it'd be hard to connect psychoactives to Alzheimer's and other neurodegeneratives (the focus of our Neurological Institute, there's also Cardio and Viro/Immuno) in any way that would also bring that touch of class to, well, us.
I could see it happening (though obviously not now, and not to Crazy Jess); psychoactives light up parts of the brain that aren't so directly stimulated any other way (or in the precise combination) and effectively create new neural pathways because new experiences and new memories are being created. What the effect on current neural pathways depends a great deal on the person and the psychoactive concerned.
Well, it's not the first time, of course, but it's the quiet reflowering after years of hibernation in this area of research, which was mentioned in the article.
And it's about damn time, too. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-08-05 12:05 am (UTC)I have done sleep studies, but they were to test out some new EEG-like device: an EEG takes data samples very, very slowly by modern standards, and these folks wanted to see how theirs, which involved peculiarly modulated tones and differently-placed 'trodes, um... actually measured.
Mad Science at its finest.
In this run, they needed some people with abnormal sleeping habits and some normal sleepers--for which we'd be paid $250 a night, plus mileage reimbursement. I was introduced to this through a narcoleptic friend who wanted a ride.
So, there I was, with cyberpunk dreadlocks and all, but it would have completely skewed the results to have tried anything mentally hinky, and dammit I'm enough of a scientist to know not to pee in the data pool!
However, I did take the opportunity to try and lure the scientists I saw into trying their freaky new machine on other abnormal mental patterns--alas, none of them quite bit. I'm given to understand, though, that if you want to see real excitement with mental states and mad science, eeg, however fancy, won't cut it: too coarse a tool.
Nope, for that you need to break out the Giant Electromagnetic Doughnuts. Alas, I wasn't invited to any of those parties, so I didn't get to put bugs in anyone's ears.
You'd get the spiritual one as well, though it would have to turn a few corners that it wouldn't have to if you were getting it directly from a plant.
Well, that's what I thought, actually, but I didn't know quite the tack you were taking on the topic. After all, even if you completely synthesize a compound in a library, the author is still, obviously, a herbaceous one. A recording is not a live performance, but that doesn't stop it being sung by the Beatles.
What the effect on current neural pathways depends a great deal on the person and the psychoactive concerned.
Naturally. And substitute the other neural drivers as needed, etc.
And it's about damn time, too. :)
Hear, hear!
-- L
no subject
Date: 2006-08-04 08:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-04 10:02 pm (UTC)-- Lorrie
no subject
Date: 2006-08-05 06:25 pm (UTC)Unrelated
Date: 2006-08-07 08:04 am (UTC)Lawl he has one eye open only.
Re: Unrelated
Date: 2006-08-07 04:58 pm (UTC)-- Lorrie
Nothing to do with topic
Date: 2006-08-08 06:24 pm (UTC)Re: Nothing to do with topic
Date: 2006-08-08 07:00 pm (UTC)Er...sorry, no, not with 2000 people at P-con, but I love your taste in LJ friends and icons--and, indeed, we seem to have a bit in common, so yay on a new friend, and I've already friended you back. I haven't posted anything freaky, spooky, or woo-ish in my LJ in some months (whee, politics), but I think the time may be to change that...
-- Lorrie
Re: Nothing to do with topic
Date: 2006-08-08 07:43 pm (UTC)