Research Projects

Investigating Changes in Local and Global Blood Flow and Remote Memory Access Brought About by Psilocybin

Amanda Feilding in collaboration with an institution not yet to be disclosed

A further project for advancing psychedelic assisted psychotherapy will investigate the hypothesis that psilocybin enables vivid recall of remote and inaccessible memories and that psilocybin enables people to reactivate repressed memories more readily. A facilitatory effect of psilocybin on memory recall would be of great help in treating depression and other mood disorders. Indeed, the research will focus on the potential of using psilocybin as a means of enhancing efforts to overcome treatment resistant depression. We will examine carefully the effects of psilocybin vs. placebo on the subgenual cingulate cortex and its connectivity to other regions of the brain as this cortical area has been particularly implicated in intractable depression and its possible treatment.

The project will also investigate the effect of psilocybin on local and global blood and CSF movements using pharmacological magnetic resonance imaging. This compliments well the research we hope to carry out into the effects of LSD on these cerebral fluid systems, and will lead to a more detailed understanding of how psychedelics affect our neurobiology and how these effects are reflected in altered states of consciousness.

If the hypotheses regarding psilocybin's effects on memory retrieval are supported, this pilot study will then be used as the basis to develop a proposal for a much more extensive clinical trial involving patients with treatment resistant depression. This project therefore has the potential to provide a new way of treating a most distressing and growing problem in our society, and also further develop our understanding of the neurobiological effects of psychedelics and how they might be used to the benefit of mankind.