{"id":"doi:10.1038/s41598-019-50612-3","kind":"article","title":"Characterization and prediction of acute and sustained response to psychedelic psilocybin in a mindfulness group retreat","authors":["Smigielski L","Kometer M","Scheidegger M","Krähenmann R","Huber T","Vollenweider FX"],"author_count":6,"year":2019,"published":"2019-10-24","venue":"Scientific reports","cited_by":108,"doi":"10.1038/s41598-019-50612-3","arxiv_id":null,"nct_id":null,"source_url":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50612-3","archive_url":"https://space-kitty.com/papers/doi:10.1038/s41598-019-50612-3","updated":null,"pmid":"31649304","pmcid":"PMC6813317","openalex_id":null,"pdf_url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC6813317/pdf","abstract":"Meditation and psychedelics have played key roles in humankind's search for self-transcendence and personal change. However, neither their possible synergistic effects, nor related state and trait predictors have been experimentally studied. To elucidate these issues, we administered double-blind the model psychedelic drug psilocybin (315 μg/kg PO) or placebo to meditators (n = 39) during a 5-day mindfulness group retreat. Psilocybin increased meditation depth and incidence of positively experienced self-dissolution along the perception-hallucination continuum, without concomitant anxiety. Openness, optimism, and emotional reappraisal were predictors of the acute response. Compared with placebo, psilocybin enhanced post-intervention mindfulness and produced larger positive changes in psychosocial functioning at a 4-month follow-up, which were corroborated by external ratings, and associated with magnitude of acute self-dissolution experience. Meditation seems to enhance psilocybin's positive effects while counteracting possible dysphoric responses. These findings highlight the interactions between non-pharmacological and pharmacological factors, and the role of emotion/attention regulation in shaping the experiential quality of psychedelic states, as well as the experience of selflessness as a modulator of behavior and attitudes. A better comprehension of mechanisms underlying most beneficial psychedelic experiences may guide therapeutic interventions across numerous mental conditions in the form of psychedelic-assisted applications.","abstract_license":"CC-BY (article license as recorded by Europe PMC; abstract reproduced unmodified apart from markup removal)","license":"CC-BY","is_open_access":true,"retracted":false,"peer_reviewed":null,"categories":[],"details":null,"provenance":"europepmc","attribution":"Abstract of \"Characterization and prediction of acute and sustained response to psychedelic psilocybin in a mindfulness group retreat\" by Smigielski L, Kometer M, Scheidegger M et al., https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50612-3, used under its Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY); markup removed, otherwise unmodified.","topics":[{"slug":"psychiatric-therapeutics","name":"Novel Psychiatric Therapeutics","domain_slug":"neuroscience"}],"cited_in_dossiers":[]}