PUBLISHED IN THE BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY
Psilocybin is thought to help people to access remote autobiographical memories – things they would normally be unable to recall. A second leg of the Imperial study examines the hypothesis that psilocybin helps people to re-activate repressed emotional memories. A facilitatory effect of psilocybin on memory recall would be of great help in treating many psychological disorders.
As in the previous work, this part of the study will measure the brain activity after ingesting psilocybin, using the Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) signal of fMRI. This pioneering work has the collaborative support of a world leader in fMRI, Professor Karl Friston, Scientific Director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging in London. Prof. Friston is the fourth most-cited neuroscientist in the world.
This is a landmark program of research which we expect to deliver important new insights into the mechanisms of action of psilocybin, the neurophysiology of drug-induced states and the nature of these states in the wider context of human consciousness. This work may also have implications for the science of psychotherapy and our understanding of the mind in general.
Background
Psilocybin is a classic psychedelic drug that has a history of use in psychotherapy. One of the rationales for its use was that it aids emotional insight by lowering psychological defences.
Aims
To test the hypothesis that psilocybin facilitates access to personal memories and emotions by comparing subjective and neural responses to positive autobiographical memories under psilocybin and placebo.
Method
Ten healthy participants received two functional magnetic resonance imaging scans (2 mg intravenous psilocybin v. intravenous saline), separated by approximately 7 days, during which they viewed two different sets of 15 positive autobiographical memory cues. Participants viewed each cue for 6 s and then closed their eyes for 16 s and imagined re-experiencing the event. Activations during this recollection period were compared with an equivalent period of eyes-closed rest. We split the recollection period into an early phase (first 8 s) and a late phase (last 8 s) for analysis.
Results
Robust activations to the memories were seen in limbic and striatal regions in the early phase and the medial prefrontal cortex in the late phase in both conditions (P<0.001, whole brain cluster correction), but there were additional visual and other sensory cortical activations in the late phase under psilocybin that were absent under placebo. Ratings of memory vividness and visual imagery were significantly higher after psilocybin (P<0.05) and there was a significant positive correlation between vividness and subjective well-being at follow-up (P<0.01).
Conclusions
Evidence that psilocybin enhances autobiographical recollection implies that it may be useful in psychotherapy either as a tool to facilitate the recall of salient memories or to reverse negative cognitive biases.
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This is a study I might like to participate in.
Is there a resource for psychedelic research studies or activities? I’d like to learn more about opportunities to take part, whether as part of officially sanctioned research or through independent groups interested in states of consciousness. I’d appreciate any information you might be able to provide. Thanks.