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Aday JS, Bloesch EK, Davis AK, Domoff SE, Scherr K, Woolley JD, Davoli CC. Effects of Ayahuasca on Gratitude and Relationships with Nature: A Prospective, Naturalistic Study. J Psychoactive Drugs 2024:1-10. [PMID: 38310541 DOI: 10.1080/02791072.2024.2312980] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/06/2024]
Abstract
Qualitative studies and anecdotal reports suggest that experiences with ayahuasca, a psychedelic brew found in Central and South America, may be followed by individuals enduringly feeling more grateful and connected to nature. Yet, to date, these changes have been understudied. Here, participants (N = 54) completed validated surveys related to gratitude, nature relatedness, and nature appreciation one-week before, one-week after, and one-month after attending an ayahuasca retreat center. Compared to baseline, there was a significant increase in gratitude, nature relatedness, and nature appreciation at the one-week and one-month follow-ups. Ratings of mystical-type experiences and awe, but not ego dissolution, during participants' ayahuasca sessions were weakly-to-moderately correlated with these increases. The number of ayahuasca ceremonies attended at the retreat was not related to change in outcomes, underscoring the importance of the quality rather than the quantity of the experiences in post-acute change. Lastly, participant age was negatively related to the occurrence of mystical-type experiences and awe, supporting literature indicating blunted psychedelic effects with increased age. In the context of study limitations, the results suggest that mystical-type experiences and awe occasioned by ayahuasca may be linked to prosocial changes in gratitude and relationships with nature that may be beneficial to mental health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob S Aday
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA
- Translational Psychedelic Research (TrPR) Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Michigan Psychedelic Center, Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Emily K Bloesch
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA
| | - Alan K Davis
- Center for Psychedelic Drug Research and Education, College of Social Work, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, US
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Sarah E Domoff
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA
| | - Kyle Scherr
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA
| | - Josh D Woolley
- Translational Psychedelic Research (TrPR) Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
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Aday JS, Davis AK, Mitzkovitz CM, Bloesch EK, Davoli CC. Predicting Reactions to Psychedelic Drugs: A Systematic Review of States and Traits Related to Acute Drug Effects. ACS Pharmacol Transl Sci 2021; 4:424-435. [PMID: 33860172 PMCID: PMC8033773 DOI: 10.1021/acsptsci.1c00014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Psychedelic drugs are increasingly being incorporated into therapeutic contexts for the purposes of promoting mental health. However, they can also induce adverse reactions in some individuals, and it is difficult to predict before treatment who is likely to experience positive or adverse acute effects. Although consideration of setting and dosage as well as excluding individuals with psychotic predispositions has thus far led to a high degree of safety, it is imperative that researchers develop a more nuanced understanding of how to predict individual reactions. To this end, the current systematic review coalesced the results of 14 studies that included baseline states or traits predictive of the acute effects of psychedelics. Individuals high in the traits of absorption, openness, and acceptance as well as a state of surrender were more likely to have positive and mystical-type experiences, whereas those low in openness and surrender or in preoccupied, apprehensive, or confused psychological states were more likely to experience acute adverse reactions. Participant sex was not a robust predictor of drug effects, but 5-HT2AR binding potential, executive network node diversity, and rACC volume may be potential baseline biomarkers related to acute reactions. Finally, increased age and experience with psychedelics were individual differences related to generally less intense effects, indicating that users may become slightly less sensitive to the effects of the drugs after repeated usage. Although future well-powered, placebo-controlled trials directly comparing the relative importance of these predictors is needed, this review synthesizes the field's current understanding of how to predict acute reactions to psychedelic drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob S. Aday
- Department
of Psychology, Central Michigan University, 1200 South Franklin Street, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, United States
| | - Alan K. Davis
- College
of Social Work, The Ohio State University, 1947 College Road, Columbus, Ohio 43210, United States
- Center
for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 5510 Nathan Shock Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21224, United
States
| | - Cayla M. Mitzkovitz
- Department
of Psychology, Central Michigan University, 1200 South Franklin Street, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, United States
| | - Emily K. Bloesch
- Department
of Psychology, Central Michigan University, 1200 South Franklin Street, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, United States
| | - Christopher C. Davoli
- Department
of Psychology, Central Michigan University, 1200 South Franklin Street, Mount Pleasant, Michigan 48859, United States
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Aday JS, Wood JR, Bloesch EK, Davoli CC. Psychedelic drugs and perception: a narrative review of the first era of research. Rev Neurosci 2021; 32:559-571. [PMID: 33550787 DOI: 10.1515/revneuro-2020-0094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2020] [Accepted: 12/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Psychedelic drugs are well-known for transiently altering perception, and in particular, for their visual effects. Although scientific interest into the substances' effects on perception increased during the first era of psychedelic research during the early to mid-20th century, there is currently no source where these findings have been synthesized. In addressing this gap, the current narrative review found that psychedelics were examined for their influences across all levels of the visual system (e.g., retinal, cortical, subcortical, simple visual processing, complex imagery, hallucinations). Psychedelics were also shown to affect auditory discrimination/generalization, neural correlates of auditory processing, and led to auditory hallucinations in subsets of participants. Several studies demonstrated that psychedelics can distort representations of body schema and time perception. Concerns regarding methodological standards of this era are a limitation to the findings and are discussed. Collectively, this review preserves and increases the accessibility of the work done by pioneering psychedelic/perception researchers, synthesizes findings, and critically analyzes areas of discrepancy to inform future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob S Aday
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI48858, USA
| | - Julia R Wood
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI48858, USA
| | - Emily K Bloesch
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI48858, USA
| | - Christopher C Davoli
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI48858, USA
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Abstract
Public and scientific interest into psychedelic drugs has grown steadily over much of the last two decades, before an exponential increase in recent years. We contend that 2019, in particular, involved myriad notable changes in the science, industry, and deregulation of psychedelic drugs. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for professionals to keep up-to-date on these advancements given the rapid growth of the field. Further, broad contemporary synopses are critical in maintaining records in the history of science. To address these concerns, this article synthesizes the significant number of scientific, business, and regulatory changes related to psychedelic drugs which occurred in 2019. Establishment of psychedelic research centers, novel applications of the drugs, and international expansion of the field in 2019 seemed to solidify psychedelic research’s place in science. Additionally, many in the business and pharmaceutical industries stimulated considerable investment and innovation in psychedelics for the first time. In the US, successful decriminalization efforts and endorsements by eminent political figures, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Andrew Yang, and the heads of the NIH and FDA, in 2019 were representative of unprecedented regulatory changes. Collectively, this article serves as a succinct summary of the changes psychedelic drugs made across various levels of society in 2019—by coalescing emerging research themes, industrial innovations, and attitude shifts.
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Abstract
Psychedelic drugs and virtual reality (VR) each have the capacity to disrupt the rigidity and limitations of typical conscious experience. This article delineates the parallels among psychedelic and VR states as well as their potential synergistic applications in clinical and recreational settings. Findings indicate that, individually, psychedelics and VR are used in analogous ways to alter sensory experience and evoke awe. They are also both used in tandem with traditional therapies to treat a variety of mood disorders; their shared capacity to transiently alter perspective and disrupt rigid patterns of mental experience may underly their analogous and transdiagnostic therapeutic uses. In terms of their combined applications, a number of recreational users currently utilize psychedelics and VR together to enhance their experience. We propose that VR may be a useful tool for preparing hallucinogen-naïve participants in clinical trials for the sensory distortions experienced in psychedelic states. Given the critical role of "setting" in psychedelic treatment outcomes, we also detail how VR could be used to optimize the environment in psychedelic sessions. Finally, we provide considerations for future studies and detail how advancements in psychedelic and VR research can inform one another. Collectively, this article outlines a number of connections between psychedelics and VR, and, more broadly, is representative of growing scientific interest into the interactions among technology, psychopharmacology, and mental health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob S. Aday
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, 101 Sloan Hall, Mount Pleasant, MI 48858, USA
| | | | - Emily K. Bloesch
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, USA
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Nguyen VHH, Palmer SB, Aday JS, Davoli CC, Bloesch EK. Meditation alters representations of peripersonal space: Evidence from auditory evoked potentials. Conscious Cogn 2020; 83:102978. [PMID: 32650253 DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2020.102978] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2019] [Revised: 03/10/2020] [Accepted: 06/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Meditation commonly gives rise to the feeling that the self and the surrounding world are no longer separate, as if the boundary between them has dissolved. We propose this may occur due to alterations in representations of peripersonal space (PPS), the reachable space surrounding the body which is integral to a sense of where one's bodily "self" is located in space. Thirty-one participants completed an auditory oddball paradigm before and after a guided meditation, during which we measured their P3 evoked potential, a marker of attentional salience. Pre-meditation, participants exhibited an enhanced attentional response to stimuli presented within PPS, relative to beyond PPS. Post-meditation, this PPS attentional enhancement was negated, with no distinction between responses to stimuli within versus beyond PPS. The results suggest that meditation leads to a constriction of PPS boundaries, even in novice meditators, elucidating one potential cause of the perceptual changes associated with meditation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viet Han H Nguyen
- Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, United States
| | - Shannon B Palmer
- Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, United States
| | - Jacob S Aday
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, United States
| | - Christopher C Davoli
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, United States
| | - Emily K Bloesch
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI, United States.
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Abstract
During the 1950s and 1960s, there was a tremendous surge in research into the effects of psychedelic drugs. When discussing this period of research, the discovery of the psychoactive properties of LSD in 1943 is often presented as the main, and sometimes only, driving force of the boom in research. This "Great Person," or "Great Chemical," historiographical lens fails to acknowledge other factors that were fundamental in setting the stage for the research. In particular, other psychedelic drugs, such as mescaline, were already being probed for their uses in psychotherapy and as models for psychosis before the effects of LSD had been discovered. Psilocybin and other classical psychedelics had also been discovered by Western researchers around the same time as the synthesis of LSD. Additionally, many of the dominant zeitgeists (e.g., pharmacological, psychoanalytic, and humanistic) in psychology during this period were congruent with psychedelic research. This article argues that while the discovery of LSD may have been a catalyst for psychedelic research in the 1950s and '60s, there was a broader psychedelic zeitgeist that deserves acknowledgement for setting the stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob S Aday
- a Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University , Mount Pleasant , MI , USA
| | - Emily K Bloesch
- a Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University , Mount Pleasant , MI , USA
| | - Christopher C Davoli
- a Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University , Mount Pleasant , MI , USA
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Emily K. Bloesch
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI, USA
| | - Richard A. Abrams
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
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Costello MC, Bloesch EK. Are Older Adults Less Embodied? A Review of Age Effects through the Lens of Embodied Cognition. Front Psychol 2017; 8:267. [PMID: 28289397 PMCID: PMC5326803 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 63] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2016] [Accepted: 02/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Embodied cognition is a theoretical framework which posits that cognitive function is intimately intertwined with the body and physical actions. Although the field of psychology is increasingly accepting embodied cognition as a viable theory, it has rarely been employed in the gerontological literature. However, embodied cognition would appear to have explanatory power for aging research given that older adults typically manifest concurrent physical and mental changes, and that research has indicated a correlative relationship between such changes. The current paper reviews age-related changes in sensory processing, mental representation, and the action-perception relationship, exploring how each can be understood through the lens of embodied cognition. Compared to younger adults, older adults exhibit across all three domains an increased tendency to favor visual processing over bodily factors, leading to the conclusion that older adults are less embodied than young adults. We explore the significance of this finding in light of existing theoretical models of aging and argue that embodied cognition can benefit gerontological research by identifying further factors that can explain the cause of age-related declines.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Emily K Bloesch
- Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant MI, USA
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Costello MC, Bloesch EK, Davoli CC, Panting ND, Abrams RA, Brockmole JR. Spatial representations in older adults are not modified by action: Evidence from tool use. Psychol Aging 2015; 30:656-68. [PMID: 26052886 DOI: 10.1037/pag0000029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Theories of embodied perception hold that the visual system is calibrated by both the body schema and the action system, allowing for adaptive action-perception responses. One example of embodied perception involves the effects of tool use on distance perception, in which wielding a tool with the intention to act upon a target appears to bring that object closer. This tool-based spatial compression (i.e., tool-use effect) has been studied exclusively with younger adults, but it is unknown whether the phenomenon exists with older adults. In this study, we examined the effects of tool use on distance perception in younger and older adults in 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, younger and older adults estimated the distances of targets just beyond peripersonal space while either wielding a tool or pointing with the hand. Younger adults, but not older adults, estimated targets to be closer after reaching with a tool. In Experiment 2, younger and older adults estimated the distance to remote targets while using either a baton or a laser pointer. Younger adults displayed spatial compression with the laser pointer compared to the baton, although older adults did not. Taken together, these findings indicate a generalized absence of the tool-use effect in older adults during distance estimation, suggesting that the visuomotor system of older adults does not remap from peripersonal to extrapersonal spatial representations during tool use.
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Abstract
Neurological changes in older adults suggest that their mental representation of peripersonal space, the space around their bodies, might be degraded compared with that of young adults. These changes may lead to differences in how attention is allocated within peripersonal space, affecting how older adults plan and guide their actions. In the present study, we show that there are indeed profound differences between the spatial representations of older and young adults: In a task involving simple hand movements, young adults adopted an attentional reference frame centered on the hand, and older adults adopted a reference frame centered on the body. Such differences may help to explain age-related changes observed in the performance of many common movement tasks.
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