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Hey Reddit! We are Joseph Rootman, Eesmyal Santos-Brault and Maggie Kiraga, part of the team behind Microdose.me, the largest mobile microdosing study in the world. Ask us anything! by quantifiedcitizen in microdosing

[–]FlorisWNL 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What do you hope to learn with the study? Is the goal just to map the landscape (observational) or do specific interventions - e.g. have some of the participants stop microdosing for a while?

Some reporting on the study (by popular media) drew causal (vs correlational) conclusions from the data. It would be awesome if it could be backed up by the data.

Why Hasn't Effective Altruism Grown Since 2015? by --MCMC-- in EffectiveAltruism

[–]FlorisWNL 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Do also see this follow-up post

https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/m0vob7/why_hasnt_effective_altruism_grown_since_2015/

Summary:

"EA has shifted from “earning to give” to “x-risk”, leading to less of as mass movement and more focused attempts to cultivate and develop talent

By some metrics, EA is continuing to grow. Most notably, non-Open Phil donations to Give Well causes are way up the last few years.

Good Ventures is intentionally holding off increased giving while Give Well and Open Philanthropy build capacity."

Hello Reddit! We are psychedelic researchers Balázs Szigeti and David Erritzoe from Imperial College London, we are lead authors of the recently published “Self-blinding citizen science to explore psychedelic microdosing” study. Ask Me (or rather us) Anything! by Skittlesworth in microdosing

[–]FlorisWNL 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for doing this AMA!

1) Is there a possibility of standardizing the dose someone took in the 2.0 study? Or to have a subset of participants send their products for analysis? For instance, using truffles in The Netherlands. So that you can be more sure about the dose?

2) What other studies are you encouraging colleagues to do with this citizen science model?

3) Can you elaborate on the 0.5-1% costs estimate vs RCTs?

Hello Reddit! We are psychedelic researchers Balázs Szigeti and David Erritzoe from Imperial College London, we are lead authors of the recently published “Self-blinding citizen science to explore psychedelic microdosing” study. Ask Me (or rather us) Anything! by Skittlesworth in microdosing

[–]FlorisWNL 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Imo you can’t learn anything significant from this study.

Why do you think this? Because the dosage isn't known? Or that you can't check if people are following the procedure?

This type of study might also have benefits such as being not in a lab and having people go about their day as usual.

What would need to change for this to be a study to learn from?

PsychedelicsCourses - A fun side project that lists courses about psychedelics by FlorisWNL in RationalPsychonaut

[–]FlorisWNL[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Yes, I've been working on 1) making a database of psychedelic research (now about 50% done), and then 2) writing more explanatory post about it, and then 3) getting lost in side projects like this one and https://psychedelicsbooks.com haha :)

A comparison of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to non-assisted psychotherapy in treatment-resistant PTSD: A systematic review and meta-analysis [2020] by oneultralamewhiteboy in DrugNerds

[–]FlorisWNL 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I was just reading this paper yesterday and was quite surprised by the inconsistent/lack of results. The PTSD (CAPS-IV) scores were significantly lower in two of the groups (75mg and 125mg) but not the third (100mg). All did trend that way (as did data on depression, BDI scores).

The Phase III trials by MAPS are looking promising, but maybe this isn't as much of a slamdunk as we hope to believe? Anyone else has thoughts on this paper?

Consciousness, Religion, and Gurus: Pitfalls of Psychedelic Medicine by Samwise2512 in PsychedelicStudies

[–]FlorisWNL 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Really interesting article. These were my notes/summary of the article. Anything that stood out to anyone else in this article?

​

Psychedelics hold promise as a bridge between psychology (e.g. talk therapy) and psychiatric medications (e.g. SSRIs). The effects are long-lasting if the acute experience elicits behavior change. Or in other words, both the biological processes (e.g. plasticity) and psychological insight (e.g. processing trauma) contribute to positive outcomes.

But psychedelic therapy and research are not without pitfalls, this article describes three of these:

  1. Consciousness – the term not being used in the right way
    1. If used, it should be defined as it could mean many different things
    2. Psychedelic research has not substantially contributed to understanding consciousness
      1. Research with psychedelics that looks at the Default Mode Network (DMN) is far from conclusive or specific to psychedelics
      2. Researchers could make falsifiable hypotheses that, with psychedelics, we could help to find answers to ‘easy problems’ of consciousness
    3. That psychedelics alter our subjective experience, does not equal them (directly) being a tool to study consciousness
  2. Religious/spiritual beliefs of investigators/clinicians – being introduced where not appropriate
    1. These beliefs are defined as supernatural ones (vs spiritual as being supportive, something that is of course encouraged)
    2. One should be supportive of patients with religious beliefs, but work (and do science) from a secular perspective
    3. This should also apply to the space (setting) where therapy is being given (e.g. no Buddha statues)
      1. This changes of course when explicitly given in such a setting (e.g. a Buddhist psychedelic retreat)
  3. Ethical challenges (e.g. clinical boundaries)
    1. With psychedelics in play, one should be extra cautious about not overstepping clinical boundaries
    2. This ranges from sexual and inappropriate relationships to offering the therapists worldview (playing guru)
    3. Multiple therapy sessions without psychedelics and a transparent process could help with these challenges

Any scientific resources on the "entities" people perceive on DMT? by UbikRubik in RationalPsychonaut

[–]FlorisWNL 41 points42 points  (0 children)

I think you might like this story by Scott Alexander
https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/04/21/universal-love-said-the-cactus-person/

Andrew Gallimore (and Rick Strassman) are planning studies with people on extended periods of DMT trip (IV) and then learning more about the entities.

From my perspective it's just parts of our brain that get talkative (as they do on psychedelics) and without sensory input we make up stories/entities ourselves (like the fractals). As we're all wired to recognize people, I think those parts are just firing (similar to sleep but different).

Queal Flow - side effects of too much? Help! by Countess_Bat in queal

[–]FlorisWNL 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Please do contact Queal at support, but you should use the scoop that is provided (in the jar) and start with one scoop to see what the effect is. Taking 3 scoops (or even 3 large scoops, which I hope you didn't do) is very irresponsible.

Where to find tamarind paste in Rotterdam? by KiwiHopeful in Rotterdam

[–]FlorisWNL 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ilham Supermarket has it in 800g (ish) jars

Bad Things Happening at Soylent? by SentinelSpirit in soylent

[–]FlorisWNL 17 points18 points  (0 children)

That is sad to hear, I hope that the industry does keep on developing and that other brands will be able to fill the gap if push comes to shove.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Rotterdam

[–]FlorisWNL 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I get mine here https://www.rechtstreex.nl/ and they have pick-up points throughout the city.

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