Psychedelic Study Shows Positive Results

(AP)  In 2002, at a Johns Hopkins University laboratory, a business consultant named Dede Osborn took a psychedelic drug as part of a research project.

She felt like she was taking off. She saw colors. Then it felt like her heart was ripping open.

But she called the experience joyful as well as painful, and says that it has helped her to this day.

"I feel more centered in who I am and what I'm doing," said Osborn, now 66, of Providence, R.I. "I don't seem to have those self-doubts like I used to have. I feel much more grounded (and feel that) we are all connected."

Scientists reported Tuesday that when they surveyed volunteers 14 months after they took the drug, most said they were still feeling and behaving better because of the experience.

Two-thirds of them also said the drug had produced one of the five most spiritually significant experiences they'd ever had.

The drug, psilocybin, is found in so-called "magic mushrooms." It's illegal, but it has been used in religious ceremonies for centuries.

The study involved 36 men and women during an eight-hour lab visit. It's one of the few such studies of a hallucinogen in the past 40 years, since research was largely shut down after widespread recreational abuse of such drugs in the 1960s.

The project made headlines in 2006 when researchers published their report on how the volunteers felt just two months after taking the drug. The new study followed them up a year after that.

Experts emphasize that people should not try psilocybin on their own because it could be harmful. Even in the controlled setting of the laboratory, nearly a third of participants felt significant fear under the effects of the drug. Without proper supervision, someone could be harmed, researchers said.

Osborn, in a telephone interview, recalled a powerful feeling of being out of control during her lab experience. "It was ... like taking off, I'm being lifted up," she said. Then came "brilliant colors and beautiful patterns, just stunningly gorgeous, more intense than normal reality."

And then, the sensation that her heart was tearing open.

"It would come in waves," she recalled. "I found myself doing Lamaze-type breathing as the pain came on."

Yet "it was a joyful, ecstatic thing at the same time, like the joy of being alive," she said. She compared it to birthing pains. "There was this sense of relief and joy and ecstasy when my heart was opened."

With further research, psilocybin (pronounced SILL-oh-SY-bin) may prove useful in helping to treat alcoholism and drug dependence, and in aiding seriously ill patients as they deal with psychological distress, said study lead author Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins.

Griffiths also said that despite the spiritual characteristics reported for the drug experiences, the study says nothing about whether God exists.

"Is this God in a pill? Absolutely not," he said.

The experiment was funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The results were published online Tuesday by the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Fourteen months after taking the drug, 64 percent of the volunteers said they still felt at least a moderate increase in well-being or life satisfaction, in terms of things like feeling more creative, self-confident, flexible and optimistic. And 61 percent reported at least a moderate behavior change in what they considered positive ways.

That second question didn't ask for details, but elsewhere the questionnaire answers indicated lasting gains in traits like being more sensitive, tolerant, loving and compassionate.

Researchers didn't try to corroborate what the participants said about their own behavior. But in the earlier analysis at two months after the drug was given, researchers said family and friends backed up what those in the study said about behavior changes. Griffiths said he has no reason to doubt the answers at 14 months.

Dr. Charles Grob, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, called the new work an important follow-up to the first study.

He said it is helping to reopen formal study of psychedelic drugs. Grob is on the board of the Heffter Research Institute, which promotes studies of psychedelic substances and helped pay for the new work.

[rushman71]

honestabe8: Yo, man. I never had the chance to try ''shrooms. Will it give me the munchies?

[honestabe8]

ttinsley: i agree about ''shrooms versus LSD. i have enjoyed both, but acid is definitely more intense. more of a speedy thing. i prefer mushrooms and some good bud.

[u-r-right]

Ahh yes, they sure were fun at college football games. Sitting up high in the bleachers, it felt as if we were floating above the crowd. That''s all I''ve got to say about that.

[newageblues]

the only thing surprising about this is that the feds allowed the study.

[honestabe8]

excoachken: do you have a problem with self-medication?

[bobnjersey]

[These things are bad. You can get the same effects from taking communion.]
[Posted by faith_in_w at 08:59 AM : Jul 01, 2008]

no kidding ... what do you think they''re making all those communion ''hosts'' out of!

[excoachken]

Research, as early as the 60''s has shown that LSD has some positive results in dealing with personality disorders. The proble, howveer, as shown by some of the "self-medicated" who have responded here, is that it must be very carefully observed by medical professionals and NOT by your acid distributing college roommate!

[dnamj]

I concur that the experience of overall very beneficial. What this article doesn''t mention is how the subjects were screened prior to taking the drugs. There are some personalities that should not be subjected to this experience, but for most, at least in my opinion, it should be recommended highly. There is no quicker way to learn about the nature of reality and perception. I think that it has a lot to do with basal brain function, the older part, and the part that creates empathetic and psychic-type connections.

If we''re going to pull together as a species and create one world we can all live in perpetually, then these skills are going to become essential.

[legacyabq]

Well, I can tell you, I have grown and eaten these mushrooms (years ago) and all the positive things said about them are true. These little guys will open your eyes and give you a new respect for our life in this universe; very mind-opening. Not just for visual entertainment like some people use them, but very much a powerful learning experience. They scare people sometimes because they are powerful, but this is usually because they are so trapped in their petty egos they dont want to let go. Learning to let go of your ego alittle bit is a powerful experience no matter how it''s acheived: religion, meditation, near death experience, psychedelics, etc. All is good for personal growth: there''s nothing to be afraid of! We are in this together and 125 years from now every living human on this planet right now will be dead! So enjoy yourself and learn while you can! Love and peace to all, and good journeys...

[scallywag8]

My brother is a quad. We took some LSD one night and he could raise and lower his legs and almost get up and walk. No we were not hallocinating. Doctors didn''t want to touch the topic with a ten foot pole. How sad is that. I still think with their help he could be walking.