Laboratory research at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has included administering psilocybin to healthy volunteers, psychologically distressed cancer patients, cigarette smokers seeking abstinence, ordained clergy, as well as beginner and long-term meditators.
The results from several studies suggest that mystical-type experiences appear to mediate sustained positive changes in attitudes, mood, and behavior.
However, individuals responding to a “bad trip” survey on the internet affirmed concerns about psilocybin ingestion in uncontrolled settings, potentially leading to acute psychological distress, risky behavior, or enduring psychological symptoms. But when psilocybin is given in laboratory studies to screened, prepared, and supported participants, the incidence of risky behavior or enduring psychological distress is extremely low.
This video, filmed at ICPR2016, highlights some past results of psilocybin studies from the Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Research Project, which started almost 20 years ago. The clip is from a key note speech given by Professor Roland R. Griffiths from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Biography
Roland R. Griffiths, Ph.D., is professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His principal research focus in both clinical and preclinical laboratories has been on the behavioral and subjective effects of mood-altering drugs. His research has been largely supported by grants from the National Institute on Health and he is author of over 300 journal articles and book chapters. He has been a consultant to the National Institutes of Health, and to numerous pharmaceutical companies in the development of new psychotropic drugs. He has worked as a member of the Expert Advisory Panel on Drug Dependence for the World Health Organization. Prof. Griffiths has an interest in meditation and is the lead investigator of the psilocybin research initiative at Johns Hopkins, which includes studies of psilocybin occasioned mystical experience in healthy volunteers and cancer patients, and studies of psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation.
