Roland R Griffiths
Biographic Data
| ID | 78940 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Roland R Griffiths |
| GIVEN NAMES | Roland R |
| FAMILY NAME | Griffiths |
| SIGNATURE | GRIFFITHS R R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Johns Hopkins University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5185-7854 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 21 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1969 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Sex Differences in Religious Beliefs Before and After an Entity Encounter During an Ayahuasca Experience
An interesting aspect of entity encounters during psychedelic experiences is their ability to transform one's religious beliefs. However, little is known about sex differences in these transformations. This study investigates sex differences in changes in religious beliefs before and after an entity encounter among ayahuasca users. Data were collected via an anonymous Internet-based survey ( N = 415; M age = 38.53, SD = 11.39; male = 60.5%). Desc…
Psychedelic Experiences Increase Mind Perception but do not Change Atheist-Believer Status
Recent studies suggest psychedelic use may be associated with changes in a variety of beliefs or belief-like states, including increased 1) mind perception, 2) non-naturalistic beliefs, and 3) Atheist-Believer status (e.g. believer, agnostic, or nonbeliever). We conducted a prospective longitudinal study among participants ( N = 657) who planned to have a psilocybin experience outside a laboratory setting. We asked participants about their belief…
Naturalistic psilocybin use is associated with persisting improvements in mental health and wellbeing
Results from this study, the largest prospective survey of naturalistic psilocybin use to date, support the potential for psilocybin to produce lasting improvements in mental health symptoms and general wellbeing
Psychedelic Science, Contemplative Practices, and Indigenous and Other Traditional Knowledge Systems
As individuals and communities around the world confront mounting physical, psychological, and social threats, three complimentary mind-body-spirit pathways toward health, wellbeing, and human flourishing remain underappreciated within conventional practice among the biomedical, public health, and policy communities. This paper reviews literature on psychedelic science, contemplative practices, and Indigenous and other traditional knowledge syste…
Translation and Initial Psychometric Evaluation of Spanish Versions of Three Psychedelic Acute Effects Measures
This study translated and tested the psychometric properties of acute psychedelic effects measures among Spanish-speaking people. The Psychological Insight Questionnaire (PIQ), Challenging Experiences Questionnaire (CEQ), and Mystical Experiences Questionnaire (MEQ) were translated before being incorporated into a web-based survey. We recruited native Spanish-speakers ( N = 442; M age = 30.8, SD = 10.9; Latino/Latina = 62%; Hispanic = 91.4%; male…
Ethical Issues Regarding Nonsubjective Psychedelics as Standard of Care
Evidence suggests that psychedelics bring about their therapeutic outcomes in part through the subjective or qualitative effects they engender and how the individual interprets the resulting experiences. However, psychedelics are contraindicated for individuals who have been diagnosed with certain mental illnesses, on the grounds that these subjective effects may be disturbing or otherwise counter-therapeutic. Substantial resources are therefore …
The Subjective Effects of Psychedelics Are Necessary for Their Enduring Therapeutic Effects
Effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy on Major Depressive Disorder
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03181529.
Trends in the Top-Cited Articles on Classic Psychedelics
This study was designed to identify trends in the top-cited classic psychedelic publications. The top 50 publications on classic psychedelics with the greatest total of number of citations and annual citation rate were identified and pooled. Unique articles ( n = 76) were dichotomized by median year of publication (2010.5); the differential distribution of study characteristics between the "Recent Cohort" ( n = 38) and "Older Cohort" ( n = 38) we…
Persisting Reductions in Cannabis, Opioid, and Stimulant Misuse After Naturalistic Psychedelic Use
While these cross-sectional and self-report methods cannot determine whether psychedelics caused changes in drug use, results suggest the potential that psychedelics cause reductions in problematic substance use, and support additional clinical research on psychedelic-assisted treatment for SUD
Inhaled 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine
Background and aims 5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a potent, short-acting psychedelic that produces strong hallucinogenic effects. The association between the context (i.e., set and setting) of 5-MeO-DMT use and the acute and enduring effects of the substance is unknown. Therefore, this study examined these associations using secondary data from two cross-sectional survey studies. Methods The acute and enduring effects of inhaled…
Cessation and reduction in alcohol consumption and misuse after psychedelic use
BACKGROUND: Meta-analysis of randomized studies using lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) for alcohol use disorder (AUD) showed large, significant effects for LSD efficacy compared to control conditions. Clinical studies suggest potential anti-addiction effects of LSD and mechanistically-related classic psychedelics for alcohol and other substance use disorders. AIMS: To supplement clinical studies, reports of psychedelic use in naturalistic setting…
Classic psychedelics
Survey of subjective "God encounter experiences"
Naturally occurring and psychedelic drug-occasioned experiences interpreted as personal encounters with God are well described but have not been systematically compared. In this study, five groups of individuals participated in an online survey with detailed questions characterizing the subjective phenomena, interpretation, and persisting changes attributed to their single most memorable God encounter experience (n = 809 Non-Drug, 1184 psilocybin…
Psychological flexibility mediates the relations between acute psychedelic effects and subjective decreases in depression and anxiety
Psilocybin-occasioned mystical-type experience in combination with meditation and other spiritual practices produces enduring positive changes in psychological functioning and in trait measures of pro…
Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences with participant-attributed increases in well-being. However, little research has examined enduring changes in traits. This study administered psilocybin to participants who undertook a program of meditation/spiritual practices. Healthy participants were randomized to three groups (25 each): (1) very low-dose (1 mg/70 kg on sessions 1 and 2) with moderate-level (“standard”) support for spiritual-p…
Psychedelic therapy for smoking cessation
BACKGROUND: Recent pilot trials suggest feasibility and potential efficacy of psychedelic-facilitated addiction treatment interventions. Fifteen participants completed a psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation pilot study between 2009 and 2015. AIMS: The aims of this study were as follows: (1) to identify perceived mechanisms of change leading to smoking cessation in the pilot study; (2) to identify key themes in participant experiences and long…
Classic Hallucinogens and Mystical Experiences
Long-term follow-up of psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation
BACKGROUND: A recent open-label pilot study (N = 15) found that two to three moderate to high doses (20 and 30 mg/70 kg) of the serotonin 2A receptor agonist, psilocybin, in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for smoking cessation, resulted in substantially higher 6-month smoking abstinence rates than are typically observed with other medications or CBT alone. OBJECTIVES: To assess long-term effects of a psilocybin-facilitated sm…
Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer
Cancer patients often develop chronic, clinically significant symptoms of depression and anxiety. Previous studies suggest that psilocybin may decrease depression and anxiety in cancer patients. The effects of psilocybin were studied in 51 cancer patients with life-threatening diagnoses and symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. This randomized, double-blind, cross-over trial investigated the effects of a very low (placebo-like) dose (1 or 3 mg/7…
Survey study of challenging experiences after ingesting psilocybin mushrooms
Acute and enduring adverse effects of psilocybin have been reported anecdotally, but have not been well characterized. For this study, 1993 individuals (mean age 30 yrs; 78% male) completed an online survey about their single most psychologically difficult or challenging experience (worst “bad trip”) after consuming psilocybin mushrooms. Thirty-nine percent rated it among the top five most challenging experiences of his/her lifetime. Eleven perce…
The Challenging Experience Questionnaire
Acute adverse psychological reactions to classic hallucinogens (“bad trips” or “challenging experiences”), while usually benign with proper screening, preparation, and support in controlled settings, remain a safety concern in uncontrolled settings (such as illicit use contexts). Anecdotal and case reports suggest potential adverse acute symptoms including affective (panic, depressed mood), cognitive (confusion, feelings of losing sanity), and so…
Validation of the revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire in experimental sessions with psilocybin
The 30-item revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30) was previously developed within an online survey of mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin-containing mushrooms. The rated experiences occurred on average eight years before completion of the questionnaire. The current paper validates the MEQ30 using data from experimental studies with controlled doses of psilocybin. Data were pooled and analyzed from five laboratory experi…
Psilocybin-Occasioned Mystical Experiences in the Treatment of Tobacco Addiction
Psilocybin-occasioned mystical experiences have been linked to persisting effects in healthy volunteers including positive changes in behavior, attitudes, and values, and increases in the personality domain of openness. In an open-label pilot-study of psilocybin-facilitated smoking addiction treatment, 15 smokers received 2 or 3 doses of psilocybin in the context of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for smoking cessation. Twelve of 15 participan…
Pilot study of the 5-HT 2A R agonist psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco addiction
Despite suggestive early findings on the therapeutic use of hallucinogens in the treatment of substance use disorders, rigorous follow-up has not been conducted. To determine the safety and feasibility of psilocybin as an adjunct to tobacco smoking cessation treatment we conducted an open-label pilot study administering moderate (20 mg/70 kg) and high (30 mg/70 kg) doses of psilocybin within a structured 15-week smoking cessation treatment protoc…
Factor Analysis of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire
A large body of historical evidence describes the use of hallucinogenic compounds, such as psilocybin mushrooms, for religious purposes. But few scientific studies have attempted to measure or characterize hallucinogen-occasioned spiritual experiences. The present study examined the factor structure of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ), a self-report measure that has been used to assess the effects of hallucinogens in laboratory studies…
Inhaled 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine
Background and aims 5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a potent, short-acting psychedelic that produces strong hallucinogenic effects. The association between the context (i.e., set and setting) of 5-MeO-DMT use and the acute and enduring effects of the substance is unknown. Therefore, this study examined these associations using secondary data from two cross-sectional survey studies. Methods The acute and enduring effects of inhaled…
Specificity of Transfer of a Learned Response by Intracisternal Injection of Brain Extract from Trained Rats
One group of rats was trained on a discrimination task while another group received no training. Brain extract containing RNA was prepared from the brains of these rats and injected intracisternally into naive rats. The naive rats were then retrained on the original discrimination task. No differences were found between the performances of the tats injected with “trained” extract, “untrained” extract, or saline solution
Effects of Chlorpromazine and Pentobarbital on Pattern and Number of Responses in Extinction
In a series of experiments rats were trained and subsequently extinguished under different conditions of drug administration. High doses of chlorpromazine (5 mg/kg) or pentobarbital (20 mg/kg) were administered during the first extinction session and the dose was progressively reduced to zero over 10 successive sessions. Extinction was continued until all Ss had consistent near zero responding. When compared to saline control, chlorpromazine had …
Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance
Mystical experiences occasioned by the hallucinogen psilocybin lead to increases in the personality domain of openness
A large body of evidence, including longitudinal analyses of personality change, suggests that core personality traits are predominantly stable after age 30. To our knowledge, no study has demonstrated changes in personality in healthy adults after an experimentally manipulated discrete event. Intriguingly, double-blind controlled studies have shown that the classic hallucinogen psilocybin occasions personally and spiritually significant mystical…
Psilocybin occasioned mystical-type experiences
Factor Analysis of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire
A large body of historical evidence describes the use of hallucinogenic compounds, such as psilocybin mushrooms, for religious purposes. But few scientific studies have attempted to measure or characterize hallucinogen-occasioned spiritual experiences. The present study examined the factor structure of the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ), a self-report measure that has been used to assess the effects of hallucinogens in laboratory studies…
Pilot study of the 5-HT 2A R agonist psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco addiction
Despite suggestive early findings on the therapeutic use of hallucinogens in the treatment of substance use disorders, rigorous follow-up has not been conducted. To determine the safety and feasibility of psilocybin as an adjunct to tobacco smoking cessation treatment we conducted an open-label pilot study administering moderate (20 mg/70 kg) and high (30 mg/70 kg) doses of psilocybin within a structured 15-week smoking cessation treatment protoc…
Validation of the revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire in experimental sessions with psilocybin
The 30-item revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30) was previously developed within an online survey of mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin-containing mushrooms. The rated experiences occurred on average eight years before completion of the questionnaire. The current paper validates the MEQ30 using data from experimental studies with controlled doses of psilocybin. Data were pooled and analyzed from five laboratory experi…
Psilocybin-Occasioned Mystical Experiences in the Treatment of Tobacco Addiction
Psilocybin-occasioned mystical experiences have been linked to persisting effects in healthy volunteers including positive changes in behavior, attitudes, and values, and increases in the personality domain of openness. In an open-label pilot-study of psilocybin-facilitated smoking addiction treatment, 15 smokers received 2 or 3 doses of psilocybin in the context of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for smoking cessation. Twelve of 15 participan…
Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer
Cancer patients often develop chronic, clinically significant symptoms of depression and anxiety. Previous studies suggest that psilocybin may decrease depression and anxiety in cancer patients. The effects of psilocybin were studied in 51 cancer patients with life-threatening diagnoses and symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. This randomized, double-blind, cross-over trial investigated the effects of a very low (placebo-like) dose (1 or 3 mg/7…
Survey study of challenging experiences after ingesting psilocybin mushrooms
Acute and enduring adverse effects of psilocybin have been reported anecdotally, but have not been well characterized. For this study, 1993 individuals (mean age 30 yrs; 78% male) completed an online survey about their single most psychologically difficult or challenging experience (worst “bad trip”) after consuming psilocybin mushrooms. Thirty-nine percent rated it among the top five most challenging experiences of his/her lifetime. Eleven perce…
The Challenging Experience Questionnaire
Acute adverse psychological reactions to classic hallucinogens (“bad trips” or “challenging experiences”), while usually benign with proper screening, preparation, and support in controlled settings, remain a safety concern in uncontrolled settings (such as illicit use contexts). Anecdotal and case reports suggest potential adverse acute symptoms including affective (panic, depressed mood), cognitive (confusion, feelings of losing sanity), and so…
Classic Hallucinogens and Mystical Experiences
Long-term follow-up of psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation
BACKGROUND: A recent open-label pilot study (N = 15) found that two to three moderate to high doses (20 and 30 mg/70 kg) of the serotonin 2A receptor agonist, psilocybin, in combination with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for smoking cessation, resulted in substantially higher 6-month smoking abstinence rates than are typically observed with other medications or CBT alone. OBJECTIVES: To assess long-term effects of a psilocybin-facilitated sm…
Psilocybin-occasioned mystical-type experience in combination with meditation and other spiritual practices produces enduring positive changes in psychological functioning and in trait measures of pro…
Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences with participant-attributed increases in well-being. However, little research has examined enduring changes in traits. This study administered psilocybin to participants who undertook a program of meditation/spiritual practices. Healthy participants were randomized to three groups (25 each): (1) very low-dose (1 mg/70 kg on sessions 1 and 2) with moderate-level (“standard”) support for spiritual-p…
Psychedelic therapy for smoking cessation
BACKGROUND: Recent pilot trials suggest feasibility and potential efficacy of psychedelic-facilitated addiction treatment interventions. Fifteen participants completed a psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation pilot study between 2009 and 2015. AIMS: The aims of this study were as follows: (1) to identify perceived mechanisms of change leading to smoking cessation in the pilot study; (2) to identify key themes in participant experiences and long…
Cessation and reduction in alcohol consumption and misuse after psychedelic use
BACKGROUND: Meta-analysis of randomized studies using lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) for alcohol use disorder (AUD) showed large, significant effects for LSD efficacy compared to control conditions. Clinical studies suggest potential anti-addiction effects of LSD and mechanistically-related classic psychedelics for alcohol and other substance use disorders. AIMS: To supplement clinical studies, reports of psychedelic use in naturalistic setting…
Classic psychedelics
Survey of subjective "God encounter experiences"
Naturally occurring and psychedelic drug-occasioned experiences interpreted as personal encounters with God are well described but have not been systematically compared. In this study, five groups of individuals participated in an online survey with detailed questions characterizing the subjective phenomena, interpretation, and persisting changes attributed to their single most memorable God encounter experience (n = 809 Non-Drug, 1184 psilocybin…
Psychological flexibility mediates the relations between acute psychedelic effects and subjective decreases in depression and anxiety
Persisting Reductions in Cannabis, Opioid, and Stimulant Misuse After Naturalistic Psychedelic Use
While these cross-sectional and self-report methods cannot determine whether psychedelics caused changes in drug use, results suggest the potential that psychedelics cause reductions in problematic substance use, and support additional clinical research on psychedelic-assisted treatment for SUD
Inhaled 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine
Background and aims 5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a potent, short-acting psychedelic that produces strong hallucinogenic effects. The association between the context (i.e., set and setting) of 5-MeO-DMT use and the acute and enduring effects of the substance is unknown. Therefore, this study examined these associations using secondary data from two cross-sectional survey studies. Methods The acute and enduring effects of inhaled…
The Subjective Effects of Psychedelics Are Necessary for Their Enduring Therapeutic Effects
Effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy on Major Depressive Disorder
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03181529.
Trends in the Top-Cited Articles on Classic Psychedelics
This study was designed to identify trends in the top-cited classic psychedelic publications. The top 50 publications on classic psychedelics with the greatest total of number of citations and annual citation rate were identified and pooled. Unique articles ( n = 76) were dichotomized by median year of publication (2010.5); the differential distribution of study characteristics between the "Recent Cohort" ( n = 38) and "Older Cohort" ( n = 38) we…
Psychedelics and Drug Studies (28 works) · Psychology (28 works) · Psychiatry (24 works) · Psilocybin (22 works) · Hallucinogen (21 works) · Clinical Psychology (20 works) · Medicine (19 works) · Chemical synthesis and alkaloids (14 works) · Social Psychology (10 works) · Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior (9 works)