OPEN is a Dutch foundation that seeks to encourage interdisciplinary research into psychedelics.
On October 6 & 7, OPEN's second international conference took place in Amsterdam: the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research. In a sold out venue, over 400 researchers, students, therapists and scholars... Read more
An investigation into the psychiatric and neuropsychological status of long-term ayahuasca users found no association between the long-term use of ayahuasca in a religious context and any mental health deficits. Read more
We are happy to announce some of the speakers of our conference. At the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research 2012 you can hear Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, Dr. Matthew W. Johnson, Dr. Robin MacKenzie... Read more
OPEN is busy organising its second scientific conference on psychedelic research in the weekend of June 1-3: Mind Altering Science 2012. You can expect the latest results on research into MDMA, psilocybin, ayahuasca, LSD, ketamine ... Read more
In April 2011, over 300 people convened at the University of Amsterdam to attend the European Ayahuasca Research Symposium, a half-day seminar co-sponsored by The OPEN Foundation and MAPS. The Symposium brought... Read more
Two neuropsychologists from the University of Maastricht, Jan Ramaekers and Kim Kuypers, have been granted €200.000 from the NWO, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. This will allow them to buy plenty of pills for... Read more
Last month in Amsterdam we held the European Ayahuasca Research Symposium, a one-day lecture series exploring the current state of research into the medical, therapeutic, and spiritual uses of ayahuasca. Simon Powell, author of... Read more
The European Ayahuasca Research Symposium is a multidisciplinary series of lectures that focuses on current research being done in Europe. Experts from different disciplines will present their studies on ayahuasca’s effects on health... Read more
The LSD documentary night returns, this time to our hometown Amsterdam. This evening features two documentaries: Hofmann's Potion and LSD: Problem Child and Wonder Drug. Both documentaries offer a special view on one of... Read more
Psychedelic drug users throughout the ages have described their experiences as mind-expanding. They might be surprised, therefore, to hear that psilocybin – the active ingredient in magic mushrooms – actually decreases blood flow... Read more
After months of hard work, it is finally finished: our completely renewed website. A cleaner layout, improved navigation and many new features: search functionality, the option to view the website in English, a video library with recordings of OPEN... Read more
Will we be using Magic Mushrooms to fight depression? Or go to the pharmacy to get an LSD treatment to cure your smoking addiction? Labyrint TV aired an episode about groundbreaking research using psychedelics in psychiatric treatment. Watch here
This talk will describe recently completed fMRI and MEG research with psilocybin and MDMA. I will describe the methods and main results of these studies and discuss their potential implications, both for understanding how the drugs work... Watch here
This talk will describe several lines of research with psilocybin conducted by our laboratory at Johns Hopkins (Baltimore, USA). Completed study results to be presented include: the effects of different psilocybin doses on mystical experience... Watch here
Deficits in attentional functions are counted among the core cognitive symptoms in schizophrenic patients. Pharmacologic challenges with hallucinogens have been used as models for psychosis. In this talk I give an overview of... Watch here
This presentation analyzes from an anthropological perspective some of the ways that ayahuasca’s curative potentials have been portrayed in conventional psychiatry from the 1950s until today. Through considering seldom-cited and... Watch here
The Shipibo-Konibo people from the Peruvian Amazon are part of the Pano ethnolinguistic family. Distributed within more than one hundred villages, the inhabitants live along the Ucayali River and its tributaries, on both sides of... Watch here
The presentation starts with an overview of the research on the psychotherapeutic effects of ayahuasca and presents in details an investigation into the integration process of ayahuasca experiences. Eleven individuals... Watch here
The often used term ‘healing ritual’ for nearly all kinds of ayahuasca rituals (Santo Daime rituals, neo-shamanistic rituals and even do-it-yourself-rituals) attracts people searching for an alternative method for treatment. In this study, fifteen people with... Watch here
Dr. Passie completed his training as a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy as well as his academic work at the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich, in practice by Prof. Hans Carl Leuner in Göttingen and Hannover Medical School. Watch here
Psychedelic phenomenology deals with the phenomenal content of psychedelic tripping, thus phenomenology approaches psychedelics from the reverse direction of the scientific approach, because instead of looking at the structures of... Watch here
The Amazonian sacramental decoction, ayahuasca (containing an alkaloid once called telepathine by Westerners), has been used by indigenous shamans and healers for several millennia. Apparently, for the explicit purposes of accessing altered states... Watch here
Molecules of mysticism” are chemical substances that are able to induce mystical experience, increasing the feeling of closeness to the god (entheogens) or to other people (empathogens). It is quite likely, that every mystical experience is mediated... Watch here
How does the psychedelic experience affect the knowledge and motivation of the scientist? And what does this mean for academia in general? To answer such questions, this presentation will focus on the master's thesis... Watch here
In 2007, as part of the MA Cultural Anthropology, I have done research amongst the members of the Santo Daime church in Florianópolis (Brazil) and in The Hague. In their ceremonies they use ayahuasca, sometimes combined with cannabis... Watch here
It has become increasingly difficult to assist an individual to maintain long term recovery from substance abuse. This is frustrating to individuals, their families and also to service providers. The reason for this trend is not absolutely clear. Over... Watch here
After more than 40 years the first study employing LSD in psychotherapy is being conducted in Switzerland. 12 persons suffering from a life-threatening disease and an anxiety disorder are having the possibility to receive 200µg of LSD in a... Watch here
