Swiss Psilocybin Consciousness Studies

Record summary

Franz Vollenweider and colleagues in Zurich conducted controlled human studies of psilocybin and related psychedelic states, examining subjective experience, cognition, neurochemistry, and models of psychosis. These experiments are useful for comparing altered-state phenomenology with mystical experience, anomalous perception, and claims of expanded consciousness. The studies generally support pharmacological and neural explanations of measured effects, while leaving subjective meaning and long-term interpretation open. Exact protocols, doses, participant screening, and outcome measures must be checked paper by paper.