Principal Investigator: Moshe Kotler, MD, with co-therapists Sergio Marchevsky, MD, Rakefet Rodrigez, MD, and Marina Kupchik

Location: Beer Yaakov Mental Health Center (Israel)

The following information about this study is also available at: www.clinicaltrials.gov
Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosis of Posttraumatic stress disorder arising from war or terrorism-related events.
• PTSD still remains after at last one treatment, with treatment including psychotherapy or pharmacotherapy.
• May meet criteria for a mood disorder.
• Must be at least 18 years old.
• Must be able to stop taking psychiatric medication from the start of the study until the two-month follow-up.
• May continue seeing an outside therapist during the study, but cannot increase the length or frequency of treatments.
• Must be able to follow all the rules and instructions relating to the experimental session, including restrictions on food and substance (alcohol and drug) consumption
• Must be willing to stay overnight in the clinic after each experimental session until the non-drug session occurring the next morning.
• Must be willing to be contacted by one of the researchers on a daily basis for a week after each experimental session.
• If a woman of childbearing potential, must have a negative pregnancy test and must agree to use an effective form of birth control.
• Must be able to speak and read Hebrew.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Cannot have a non-war or non-terrorism event as significant contributor to PTSD symptoms.
• Cannot have history of or be diagnosed with psychotic disorder or bipolar affective disorder - 1.
• Cannot be diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder, an eating disorder with active purging or borderline personality disorder.
• Cannot have evidence or history of significant hematological, endocrine, cerebrovascular, cardiovascular, coronary, pulmonary, renal, gastrointestinal, immunocompromising, or neurological disease, including seizure disorder. (People with hypothyroidism who are on adequate and stable thyroid replacement will not be excluded).
• Cannot have uncontrolled hypertension, peripheral vascular disease, hepatic disease (with or without abnormal liver enzymes), or history of hyponatremia or hyperthermia.
• Cannot weigh less than 50 or more than 105 kg.
• Cannot have used "Ecstasy" more than five times during lifetime or in the past six months.
• Cannot present a serious suicide risk or be likely to require hospitalization during the course of the study.
• Cannot require ongoing concomitant therapy with a psychotropic drug.
• Cannot meet DSM-IV criteria for substance abuse or dependence for any substance save caffeine or nicotine in the past 60 days.
• Unable to give adequate consent.

The Israeli MDMA/PTSD study’s protocol is available for review.

For more information about this study please go to our MDMA page.

Principal Investigator: Peter Oehen, MD, with co-therapist Verena Widmer, RN
Location: Solothurn (Switzerland)

The following information about this study is also available at: www.clinicaltrials.gov

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• PTSD still remains after one or more prior treatment, with treatment including psychotherapy (talk therapy) or drug therapy
• May meet criteria for a mood disorder
• Must be at least 18 years old
• Must be able to stop taking psychiatric medication during the course of the study, from the start of the study to the follow-up two months after experimental session 3.
• Must agree to follow all rules and instructions relating to the experimental session, including restrictions on food and substance (alcohol and drug) consumption.
• Must be willing to stay overnight at the researcher's office after each experimental session until the non-drug session occurring the next morning.
• Must be willing to be contacted by one of the researchers on a daily basis for a week after each experimental session.
• Female participants of childbearing potential must have a negative pregnancy test and must agree to use an effective form of birth control.
• Participants must have sufficient proficiency in speaking the German language to participate in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. Participants must be able to read documents in German.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Cannot have history of or current primary psychotic disorder or bipolar affective disorder-1.
• Dissociative identity disorder, or an eating disorder with active purging or borderline personality disorder.
• Evidence or history of significant hematological, endocrine, cerebrovascular, cardiovascular, coronary, pulmonary, renal, gastrointestinal, immunocompromising, or neurological disease, including seizure disorder. (People with hypothyroidism who are on adequate and stable thyroid replacement will not be excluded).
• Uncontrolled hypertension, peripheral vascular disease, hepatic disease (with or without abnormal liver enzymes), or history of hyponatremia or hyperthermia.
• Being pregnant or lactating (nursing), or not practicing an effective method of birth control.
• Weight of less than 50 or more than 105 kg.
• Patients reporting prior use of "Ecstasy" more than 5 times or at any time within the previous 6 months.
• People who would present a serious suicide risk or who are likely to require hospitalization during the course of the study.
• People who need ongoing concomitant therapy with a psychotropic drug.
• Meeting DSM-IV criteria for substance abuse or dependence for any substance save caffeine or nicotine in the past 60 days.
• People who cannot give adequate consent.

The Swiss MDMA/PTSD pilot study’s protocol is available for review.
For more information about this study please go to our MDMA page.

Principal Investigator: Peter Gasser, MD, with co-therapist Barbara Speich, PhD
Location: Solothurn (Switzerland)

p>The following information about this study is also available at: www.clinicaltrials.gov

Inclusion Criteria:

• Diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• Have a diagnosis of advanced-stage potentially fatal illness. As well as metastatic
cancer this may include autoimmune, neurological, infectious or rheumatoid diseases as well. At the moment of qualifying for the study the participant must have a probalility of survival of more than six months. The estimated life expectancy in relation to the study must be documented.
• It must be clear that the participant makes the decision to participate in the study
by his or her own will and that there is no inhibition to his or her will or ability of deciding due to the primary disease.
• Meet DSM-IV criteria for Anxiety Disorder as indicated by the SCID or have a
score of at least 40 on each part of the STAI.
• Have failed to respond adequately or at all to medication or psychotherapy intended to reduce anxiety, or have refused to take anxiolytic medication.
• May be diagnosed with another affective disorder other than anxiety disorder, except bipolar-I disorder.
• Are at least 18 years of age.
• Are willing to commit to medication dosing, experimental sessions, follow-up sessions, and to complete evaluation instruments (although they may withdraw from the study at any time without cause).
• Are willing to withdraw from taking any psychiatric medications during the experimental session period. If they are being treated with antidepressants or are taking anxiolytic medications on a fixed daily regimen at the time they are first evaluated, these potential participants should independently review their use of these medications with their treatment providers. Such drugs must be discontinued long enough before the first LSD treatment session to avoid the possibility of a drug-drug interaction (the interval will be at least 5 times the particular drug's half-life).
• If in ongoing psychotherapy, those recruited into the study may continue to see their outside therapist, provided they sign a release for the investigators to communicate directly with their therapist. Participants should not change therapists, increase or decrease the frequency of therapy or commence any new type of therapy until after the evaluation session 2 months after the second LSD treatment session.
• Participants must agree that, for one week preceding each LSD treatment session:
  a. Clinical judgment will be used to determine permissible herbal supplements.
  b. They will not initiate any new prescription medications (except with prior
  approval of the research team).
  c. Clinical judgment will be used to determine permissible nonprescription
  medications.
  
• Participants must agree to take nothing by mouth except for routine medications, non-alcoholic liquids and light food after 12 A.M. (midnight) the evening before each experimental intervention session. Participants must also refrain from the use of any psychoactive drug, with the exception of the long term pain medication or caffeine or nicotine, within 24 hours of each LSD treatment session. They must agree not to use nicotine for at least 2 hours before and 6 hours after each dose of LSD. They must agree to not ingest alcohol-containing beverages for at least 1 day before each LSD treatment session. Non-routine PRN medications for treating breakthrough pain taken in the 24 hours preceding the LSD treatment session may result in rescheduling the treatment session to another date, with the decision at the discretion of the investigators after discussion with the participant.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Women who are pregnant or nursing, or of child bearing potential and are not practicing an effective means of birth control.
• Anyone with past or present diagnosis with a primary psychotic disorder
• Meeting DSM-IV criteria for Dissociative Disorder or Bipolar-I Affective Disorder
• Meeting DSM-IV criteria for abuse of or dependence on any substance (other than caffeine or nicotine) in the past 60 days.
• Diagnosed with significant somatic problems, that in the clinical judgment of the investigators poses too great a potential for side effects.
• No sufficient liver function at the baseline examination or the day before the experimental sessions.
• Having evidence of CNS affection from the primary disease (e.g. brain metastasis), shown by neurocognitive impairment.
• Weighing less than 45 kg.
• Reasonably judged to present a serious suicide risk or who are likely to require psychiatric hospitalization during the course of the study.
• Unable to fully understand the potential risks and benefits of the study and give informed consent.
• Requiring ongoing concomitant therapy with a psychotropic drug (other than as needed, anxiety medications, and pain control medications) and are unable or unwilling to comply with the washout period.

This study’s full protocol is available for review.
For more information about this study please go to our LSD Page.

Principal Investigator: Michael Mithoefer, MD and Ann Mithoefer, BSN
Location: Charleston, SC, USA

This study is not yet recruiting. Please check back again soon.

We are inviting people with fibromyalgia, IBS, interstitial cystitis, chronic pain, and other chronic and recurring conditions to sign up and participate in a year-long Internet-based survey, called PROCAIM. PROCAIM was developed under a grant from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to UCLA researchers to study

• the effectiveness of complementary and alternative therapies and
• the interactions among stress and coping, pain, and treatment outcomes

This is a web-based study composed of surveys that will recur at intervals over one year!

TO ENROLL
Log in to our web site: http://www.procaim.org. Register as a New User. Select clinic name: MAPS - Psychedelic Studies Read and sign the Consent Form. After you sign the form with your email address, you can begin to answer the first in a series of questionnaires. The system will send you email reminders at the time of each scheduled follow-up for one year.

For further information about PROCAIM, please contact: Deborah Ackerman, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator: Andrew Newberg, M.D. Co-Investigators: Avrum Goodblatt, BA, Nancy Wintering, MSW

The purpose of this online survey is to obtain information about spiritual experiences and how they relate to various belief systems. We are asking you to provide information regarding spiritual experiences that you may have had, religious feelings you may have, and how they relate to each other. You will also be asked questions about your existential experiences and beliefs. We anticipate that completing this web site will take approximately 30 minutes. Psychedelics ("hallucinogens") are asked about near the end of the survey — Here’s an opportunity to contribute information about the entheogenic effects of psychedelics into a more general survey of spiritual experiences! Click here to learn more and to participate.

Have you seen posters, ads in the newspaper, or on TV directed at people who use ecstasy? What do you think of them? People who are using ecstasy or who have used it in the past can complete a survey on their attitudes on ecstasy–misuse campaigns. The survey can be found on the internet, at http://www.xtc-survey.net, and there are two versions, one in English and one in German. The survey takes 10 to 12 minutes, and all responses are completely anonymous.

Healthy male and female CLUB DRUG USERS (age 18-55) needed for brain imaging scans at the New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. Earn up to $700. Call (212) 568-6850 for more information.

This is a research project based at the University of Hawaii that has been commissioned to survey and document innovations resulting from the use of psychoactive plants. We are particularly interested in the intentions, experiences, and life-changing experiences involving politics, philosophy, healing, spirituality, environmental awareness, and altered images of the future.

Our research team consists of an ethnobotanist, a philosopher, and a political scientist. We are now beginning surveys, interviews, and group discussions in Hawaii; but our website invites the global community affiliated with psychoactive plants to contribute their knowledge through a survey on our website. We may also be contacted by phone for interviews to gather more in depth information.

To see our brochure and survey, please visit: http://www.psychoactiveknowledge.org

Dr Harry Sumnall (LJMU, UK), Dr Jon Cole (University of Liverpool, UK), and Dr Fiona Measham (University of Lancaster, UK) have launched an exploratory study investigating Salvia Divinorum use. Please note that this study is only currently open to over 18s.

Despite Salvia Divinorum being legally controlled in several countries and discussions on legal status taking place elsewhere, there have been few investigations of its use. This research aims to find out about how people are using Salvia and to make a brief assessment of the types of effects they report. Survey results will be shared with health professionals, policy makers, and other scientists at conferences and in scientific journals.

If you have used Salvia Divinorum at least once in the past then please consider taking part.

It should take, at most, 30 minutes to complete the survey, which should be done in one sitting.

Please go to http://www.survey.ljmu.ac.uk/salvia to begin

Data is submitted to a secure server. The introductory page fully explains the study aims and also offers advice and points to consider about the use of the internet to collect potentially sensitive data.

For further information please email: h.sumnall@ljmu.ac.uk . You can see my current research profile at: http://www.cph.org.uk/harrysumnall

Dr Harry Sumnall
Reader in Substance Use
Research Directorate
Centre for Public Health
Liverpool JMU
5th Floor Kingsway House
Hatton Garden
Liverpool
L3 2AJ
UK

tel: +44 151 231 8096
fax: +44 151 231 8020
email: h.sumnall@ljmu.ac.uk

This research is intended to shine some light on how Ayahuasca is being used in North America. There have been numerous studies on Ayahuasca use in Latin America but, as yet, little is known about its use in North America. 

This study focuses on how the Ayahuasca experience influences your life and how you use it in your life. The questionnaire doesn’t ask about your visions when you drink Ayahuasca. Instead, it focuses on your intentions before and your experience after.

I am being guided in this research by my own personal experience of Ayahuasca. I’m a psychologist who has worked in research and has had a private psychotherapy practice for over thirty-five years. My intention is to publish the research results. This research is being conducted via personal networks of kindred spirits.

Simply place your completed questionnaires in the stamped envelope addressed to me and mail it. Your participation is completely confidential. There is no way to identify you.

To participate in this study please download this PDF and mail it to:

Thank you for your participation.
           
Rachel Harris
4 Skyfield Drive
Princeton, NJ 08540
609-466-3302
rachelharrisphd@gmail.com