Norrsken Mind, through our predecessor organisation Osmond Foundation, funded an epidemiological research program by Karolinska Institutet researchers Otto Simonsson, PhD and Walter Osika, MD PhD, investigating the link between the use of classic psychedelics and different somatic disorders
Research into the therapeutic effects of classic psychedelics on mental health has soared over the last decades. However, still very little is known about long-term physical health outcomes of classical psychedelic use. A new line of research using large data sets of the US population, has recently uncovered that adults who had used a classic psychedelic at least once in their lifetime had significantly lower odds of being obese as well as significantly lower odds of having had hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease in the past year.
Recent publications:
- Mellner, C., Dahlen, M., & Simonsson, O. (2022). Association between lifetime classic psychedelic use and sick leave in a population-based sample. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(18), 11353.
- Simonsson, O., & Goldberg, S. B. (2022). Linkages between Psychedelics and Meditation in a Population-Based Sample in the United States. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 1-8.
- Simonsson, O., Hendricks, P. S., Carhart-Harris, R., Kettner, H., & Osika, W. (2021). Association Between Lifetime Classic Psychedelic Use and Hypertension in the Past Year. Hypertension, 77(5), 1510-1516.
- Simonsson, O., Osika, W., Carhart-Harris, R., & Hendricks, P. S. (2021). Associations between lifetime classic psychedelic use and cardiometabolic diseases. Scientific reports, 11(1), 1-5.
- Simonsson, O., Sexton, J. D., & Hendricks, P. S. (2021). Associations between lifetime classic psychedelic use and markers of physical health. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 35(4), 447-452.
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The current project will analyze datasets from the United Kingdom and Sweden in order to replicate and further build on the previous findings.
Norrsken Mind is co-funding this research program, which is now fully funded.
