Background: Psychedelic experience is a phenomenon that has become increasingly important in recent years. It is the subject of much research. The therapeutic potential of psychedelic substances and psychedelic experience for mental disorders, but also for addiction disorders, is interesting. This is a phenomenon that goes deep into history. Psychedelic substances were sought for altered states of consciousness during shamanic rituals. In recent history, these are substances that are often associated with the name Albert Hofmann in connection with the discovery of the effects of LSD. These are substances that are relatively safe and do not have the potential to be addictive, and are therefore of great scientific interest. Aim: The aim of this thesis is to understand the psychedelic experience and its influence on attitudes to the use of addictive substances, as well as the importance of the respondents themselves to this experience. The main goal is to describe the influence of psychedelic experience on attitudes to the use of addictive substances. How is the change taking place, whether the respondents themselves are aware of it and how they perceive it. Sample: The research group consists of 5 respondents who were selected by the method of intentional selection and the method of snowball....

Background: Ayahuasca is a South American psychoactive brew that contains Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Research has experienced a resurgence of interest in exploring the potential of these substances in the last decade. Thus, the aim of this review was to systematically review studies that used a placebo-controlled design to explore the neural correlates and psychedelic experience induced by DMT and ayahuasca. Method: The search was conducted using the Web of Science and Scopus databases to select studies published between January 2000 and February 2022 that used neuroimaging techniques and recruited healthy participants. Thus, 7 papers were selected. Results: Ayahuasca alters electrical activity in the brain by decreasing spectralpower in all EEG frequency bands, predominantly in the alpha band. DMT caused a spatially widespread decrease in alpha bands and a more modest decrease in beta bands. Ayahuasca caused an increase in the flow of information in the brain from posterior regions to more frontal regions and an increase in scores in all the Hallucinogen Rating Scale (HRS) subscales. Ayahuasca decreased connectivity in the Default Mode Network (DMN) and increases connectivity between DMN and the salience network. Conclusion: Ayahuasca and DMT can reliably produce profound changes in perception, emotions, and sense of self. Moreover, the decrease in the alpha band, the alteration of information flow between posterior and frontal regions, and the decrease in connectivity in the DMN could be the keystone understanding the neural correlates and the psychedelic experience induced by DMT andayahuasca.

Human cultures have used classic psychedelics for healing purposes for millennia, emphasizing their subjective effects. In the 21st century, research has been revived to investigate the therapeutic effects of these substances. These substances show promising results in the treatment of various mental-related disorders such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and others, necessitating ethical considerations and guidelines for researchers, psychotherapists, and policymakers. The subjective effects of the psychedelic experience that these substances evoke, such as the feeling of oneness and interconnectedness, infallibility, the sense of reduced one's self-importance, the encounter with the "ultimate" reality or with God, radically distinguish them from typical psychiatric medications such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). In their essay "Ethics and Ego Dissolution: the Case of Psilocybin", William R. Smith and Dominic Sisti argue that the special properties of psychedelics entail certain novel risks that warrant "enhanced" informed consent that is "one that is more comprehensive than what may be typical for other psychiatric medications". They emphasize the unique effects of these substances, including 1) the potential for significant personality changes, 2) the short duration of treatment, and 3) the potential for profound and transformative experiences. They highlight the importance of explicitly addressing these potential changes as part of the informed consent process to ensure patient understanding, autonomy, and well-being. This current paper substantially complements Smith and Sisti's work by discussing in more detail the differences between psychedelics and typical psychiatric medications with respect to informed consent. I first support their arguments and then further argue that there are three other critical reasons why psychedelics should not be treated like other psychiatric medications that should be considered when discussing the enhancement of informed consent and disclosure. 1) potential changes in ethical values, 2) set and setting, and 3) suggestibility. To clarify my argument, I propose a distinction between changes in worldview and ethical values induced by the psychedelic experience and emphasize their differential impact on individuals undergoing psychedelic therapy. I introduce the term "ethical limbo", characterized as a state of uncertainty or ambiguity regarding the ethical implications or consequences of a particular action, decision, or situation due to conflicting ethical values, to highlight a potential risk of the psychedelic experience that should be considered in informed consent. Finally, I address potential objections to my arguments before concluding the paper and addressing some limitations of the research.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2017-11-14T11:55:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 João Antônio Pentagna de Moraes.pdf: 1404168 bytes, checksum: f08e09c0bd2e4dd2782eaee952cc8d9f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-11-14T11:55:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 João Antônio Pentagna de Moraes.pdf: 1404168 bytes, checksum: f08e09c0bd2e4dd2782eaee952cc8d9f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-10-30 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Fundação São Paulo - FUNDASP / The present work explores the concerns that have arisen in the field of clinical psychology, precisely in the ethical and political implications of the psychoanalytic unconscious. Research problem: how does that thing, which we call unconscious, work? It begins with 4 vectors: the psychedelic experience, the artistic process, psychoanalysis and philosophy. In psychedelia, we point out the dangers, the misunderstandings, the alienating fascinations, the bankruptcies of the surface, as well as the power of new assemblages between bodies that produce sages, auditions, ways of life. In other words, multiple effects on the production of an experimental unconscious that boils with micro-perceptions, but also requires a program, an activity to sustain exploration. In the artistic process, the Van Gogh case is taken. His letters and pictures are examined in an attempt to evaluate the conditions that inflamed, accelerated, and those that paralyzed his creation, making him ill. It is possible to notice that if, on the one hand, the painter's desire suffered control of the gregarious forces of the family and of the capital, on the other hand, it was involved and composed of elements which were immanent in his environment: the mistral wind, the sun, the wheat fields, the sunflowers, the dead painters. There arises another power of the unconscious: precisely virtuality. In the third vector, two concepts of psychoanalysis are problematized: the perverse-polymorph (codified by the structural logic) and the Principle of nirvana (mortified by the repetition of the same.), considering its consequences for analytical theory. A micropolitical and vitalistic unconscious is then outlined. Finally, in the passage through fluctuations of mood and confused ideas, in the work on the affections, the body without organs emerges as a conceptual personage, a theme buried in the psychoanalytic institutional history with its conception of desire based on lack and negativity. In the last vector, which has been called philosophical, even though it concerns more specifically the transcendental empiricism of Gilles Deleuze, the aim is to trace the obscure genesis of this potential body before it even appears, considering the conditions in which it comes, examining the possibility of using it as a measure determinable by its procedural exercise, implicated in the incessant evaluation of our compositions. Ethical virtue of the unconscious / O presente trabalho explora inquietações surgidas no campo da psicologia clínica, precisamente nas implicações éticas e políticas suscitadas pelo inconsciente psicanalítico. Problema de pesquisa: como funciona isso que chamamos de inconsciente? Parte-se de 4 vetores: a experiência psicodélica, o processo artístico, a psicanálise e a filosofia. Na psicodelia, apontam-se os perigos, os mal-entendidos, as fascinações alienantes, as falências da superfície, bem como a potência de novos agenciamentos entre corpos que produzem vidências, audições, modos de vida. Ou seja, efeitos múltiplos na produção de um inconsciente experimental, que fervilha com micropercepções, mas também exige um programa, uma atividade para sustentar a exploração. No processo artístico, toma-se o caso Van Gogh. Examinam-se suas cartas e quadros, na tentativa de avaliar as condições que inflamavam, aceleravam, e aquelas que paralisavam a criação, fazendo-o adoecer. Percebe-se como o desejo do pintor, se, por um lado, claudicava pelo controle de forças gregárias da família e do capital, por outro, envolvia-se e se compunha com elementos imanentes ao seu meio: o vento mistral, o sol, os campos de trigo, os girassóis, os pintores mortos. Surge outra potência do inconsciente: precisamente, a virtualidade. No terceiro vetor, problematizam-se 2 conceitos da psicanálise: o perverso-polimorfo (codificado pela lógica estrutural) e o Princípio do nirvana (mortificado pela repetição do mesmo), considerando suas consequências para a teoria analítica. Esboça-se, então, um inconsciente micropolítico e vitalista. Enfim, na passagem por flutuações de ânimo e ideias confusas, no trabalho sobre os afetos, emerge como personagem conceitual o Corpo sem Órgãos, tema soterrado na história institucional psicanalítica com sua concepção de desejo fundada na falta e na negatividade. Busca-se, então, no último vetor que se chamou filosófico, porém mais especificamente diz respeito ao empirismo transcendental de Gilles Deleuze, traçar a obscura gênese deste corpo potencial, antes mesmo dele aparecer, atentando para as condições em que ele advém, examinando a possibilidade de utilizá-lo como medida determinável por seu exercício processual, implicada na incessante avaliação de nossas composições. Virtude ética do inconsciente

Background: Psilocybin is today the most studied psychedelic substance in neuroscience for its psychotomimetic and therapeutic effects. One of the institutions in the Czech Republic that studies this substance is the National Institute of Mental Health, where a clinical evaluation of its effects and safety is underway. The action and safety of this substance is examined here in terms of acute intoxication, but also in terms of long-term effects. Aim: To determine how volunteers perceive the experience with psilocybin administered in a controlled experimental study environment and whether they have experienced any afterglow effects after the cessation of acute intoxication for 28 days after administration, as well as how these effects occur and how long they persist. Methods: Data was obtained using semi-structured interviews. The research group consists of 20 interviews with 10 healthy volunteers of the clinical study at NUDZ. Interviews were conducted on day 28 after administration of an active dose of psilocybin or placebo. A qualitative thematic analysis of these interviews was performed in order to identify topics within the framework set by the research questions. Results: The results showed that for the respondents, the experience with the active dose of psilocybin was significant in terms of...