Excited to announce a clinic for individuals experiencing difficulties following a psychedelic experience. I believe this is the first clinic of its kind in the US and is right here at @HopkinsMedicine, where we aim to learn about & address the benefits & risks of psychedelics
🧵 You can read more about the clinic and the psychiatrist, Dr. Azin Elizabeth Bekhrad, MD in the link below. You can reach out to inquire about an appointment at this email address: abekhra1@jhmi.edu

hopkinsmedicine.org/news/articles/…

It’s high time the field of psychedelic research move beyond the mystical experience construct (MEQ).

While many critiques of the measure rest on misconceptions, persistent misunderstandings & psychometric limitations lead us to recommend transcending it. Here are links to the article:
- Nature:

- Researchgate:

(note figure shown includes speculative, thematic groupings requiring empirical investigation - which we call for and are currently conducting)nature.com/articles/s4415…
researchgate.net/publication/38…

New study on the distinction b/w empathy and compassion. We find empathy = more self focus & negative emotion, whereas compassion = more other focus & positive emotion. Moral implications?
🧵
@paulbloomatyale @sal_giorgi @JEichstaedt @LyleUngar @WWBProject
researchgate.net/publication/37… When @paulbloomatyale published his book “Against Empathy” people responded as if, he says, he came out “against kittens”. People asked, why be against something that seems to inspire moral behavior?
theguardian.com/books/2017/feb…

New article on ethical issues of removing the acute subjective effects of psychedelics from me,@briandavidearp,R. Griffiths @JHPsychedelics

We are supportive of efforts to produce "non-subjective psychedelics" for scientific and clinical reasons. But...🧵
cambridge.org/core/journals/… Me/Griffiths and @DEOlsonLab had a debate a year or so ago about the plausibility of "non-subjective psychedelics" resulting in the FULL and ENDURING therapeutic effects of psychedelics.

- Me/Griffiths: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac…

- Olson:
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac…

At long last, a meta-analysis of aspects of religion/spirituality and life satisfaction (i.e. well-being) is finally out. Results consistent with prior meta-analyses over the decades, overall r = .18.
I find it fascinating that the effect size is so small!
researchgate.net/publication/36… Really, the effect size is even smaller than .18. Spirituality and spiritual experience increase the overall effect size, but I'm concerned these constructs have positive valence baked in due to current cultural connotations. Here are each of the aspects w/ life satisfaction:

New book is out today!

A lot of psychology books are evidence-based self-help books - no shade (really!), but this is not that kind of book. There are no tips or tricks or even encouragement to seek a spiritual-type experience.

Instead, this book... 🧵
amazon.com/Varieties-Spir… This book is more like a self-understanding book - or just an attempt at a balanced and even-handed scientific and scholarly exploration of (I think) a fascinating human experience reported by surprising number of people in the population.

Is the psychedelic hype bubble about to burst?

Might that be best for the field?

In a new @JAMAPsych article w/ me, @jpotash1, & R. Griffiths, we argue for moving beyond overly negative AND positive extremes to embrace the actual evidence
@JHPsychedelics
jamanetwork.com/journals/jamap… After decades of scare-mongering, in the past few years psychedelics have been promoted as miracle cures - both views are extreme and not grounded in the evidence.
We refer to “superenthusiasists” and “superskeptics”. These types are pretty easy to spot.

A team of psychedelic researchers (eg, me, @Drug_Researcher, @jasonluoma) & clinical researchers (eg, @MariannaGrazz, @jasonluoma again) published an article proposing that ACT/CBT/DBT be the default psychotherapeutic pairings w/ psychedelic psychotherapy
frontiersin.org/articles/10.33… We review historical/sociological influences on psychedelic psychotherapy (eg, psychoanalysis/psychodynamic, new age type spirituality, indigenous practices)-and while we are Extremely Supportive of research on these paradigms-ACT/CBT have the most evidence for safety & efficacy

New paper on psychedelics in end of life and palliative care (EOLPC).
The timing of this hit close to home as I lost a family member over the holidays. Hospice was wonderful but I wondered how we could do better. For some, psychedelics may play a role🧵...
researchgate.net/publication/35… Written in close collaboration with co-authors @sdpnayak @N_Gukasyan Brian Anderson and Roland Griffiths @JHPsychedelics.

New article from me & Derek Anderson reporting on a sample of professors of philosophy (& some grad stud/postdoc). We examined whether psychological traits predict philosophical views. What did we find?
A 🧵...
researchgate.net/publication/35… This article is a long time in the making. The ideas began in undergrad w/ discussions between myself (a psych major) and Derek (a philosophy major), my childhood friend, then college roommate, now co-author. There's a notebook page from then with "psych of phil" written on it :)