NEW STUDY — Folks planning a psychedelic experience this year sought for a $250 entirely online Yale research study!

[YalePsychedelicStudy]

***This post has been approved by the moderators***
The Powers Lab at Yale University is recruiting people who are planning to use a psychedelic this year for a fully online study that measures how psychedelics affect basic perception and learning using brief games and questionnaires!

WHAT THE STUDY INVOLVES:

4-5 ~2 hour (though you can take breaks) sessions at your computer over 1-6 months

Signing a consent form and completing an eligibility survey

For the first session only: 2 extensive Questionnaires about psychedelic and other drug use, mental health, how you think, and any unusual sensory experiences you’ve had.

For all sessions:

A shorter questionnaire about your mental health and sensory experiences.

4 online games (10-25 minutes each)

A few debriefing and quality-control questions.


WHAT YOU GET FOR PARTICIPATION:

$50 via Amazon.com (US) gift card for every timepoint for a total of $250

Helping the medical and scientific community understand the therapeutic and side effects of psychedelics!


WHAT IS NEEDED TO PARTICIPATE:

A Computer (not smartphone or tablet)

Stable internet

Good headphones,

A private, distraction-free space,

Plan and ability to safely use a serotonergic psychedelic (see this list for examples) before October of 2026

No serotonergic or atypical (ketamine/PCP/DXM, MDMA/MDA, salvia, ibogaine, scopolamine, muscimol) psychedelic use in the past 6 weeks

Willingness to abstain from other serotonergic or atypical psychedelic use (besides the single planned session) until the final time point is completed (1 month after your next serotonergic psychedelic use)

No psychoactive drug-use the day of the study (besides nicotine or caffeine or – on your dosing day – the serotonergic psychedelic)


HOW TO START:

Open the link below to the REDCap survey — you’ll start on the consent and automatically move through the screening survey, questionnaires, and games. https://redcap.research.yale.edu/surveys/?s=7AHLLM8MTY9JXW38


FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT US AND THE STUDY:

Questions and concerns are welcomed by post comments and/or emails to maximilian.greenwald@yale.edu or messages to YalePsychedelicStudy (email gets MUCH faster replies!)

Personal identifying information is not needed — while an email address is needed for payment, , you do not need to use your primary email address (eg. can use autoforwarding)

Link to the Powers Lab website: About the Powers Lab

Link to the main researcher’s bio at Yale Medical School: Maximillian Greenwald

 

[blig-blug]

No [...] psychedelic use in the past 6 weeks

Is such a thing possible?

Now seriously, best luck! I participated in the first one and it took some time but did get paid (unlike for most online studies), so I can vouch for that aspect of it.

 

[YalePsychedelicStudy]

Is such a thing possible?

Now seriously, best luck! I participated in the first one and it took some time but did get paid (unlike for most online studies), so I can vouch for that aspect of it.

Thank you so much! We only need, like, 10 more people! And thank you for your patience with the payment! I never would have guessed that the infrastructure for something as basic as paying our participants in a timely fashion would be soooooo terrible at a place like Yale

Max

 

[Transform]

No serotonergic or atypical (ketamine/PCP/DXM, MDMA/MDA, salvia, ibogaine, scopolamine, muscimol) psychedelic use in the past 6 weeks

I would have to guess that harmine/harmaline might well be included on this list. If so, that's scuppered my chances of involvement. Oh well.

 

[YalePsychedelicStudy]

I would have to guess that harmine/harmaline might well be included on this list. If so, that's scuppered my chances of involvement. Oh well.

If you took harmine alone (without accompanying DMT) then that's OK!

 

[blig-blug]

If you took harmine alone (without accompanying DMT) then that's OK!

It's obviously for you to decide, but if this is based in the idea that harmalas just activate DMT, that idea is mistaken. At low doses they aren't psychedelic at all, but at higher doses they alter consciousness in a quite psychedelic way, even if not in the same way as classical psychedelics. Just in case you weren't aware of this, given that the literature on Ayahuasca often focuses on DMT and reduces harmalas to a mere MAOI.

 

[YalePsychedelicStudy]

It's obviously for you to decide, but if this is based in the idea that harmalas just activate DMT, that idea is mistaken. At low doses they aren't psychedelic at all, but at higher doses they alter consciousness in a quite psychedelic way, even if not in the same way as classical psychedelics. Just in case you weren't aware of this, given that the literature on Ayahuasca often focuses on DMT and reduces harmalas to a mere MAOI.

Wow! Transparently I did not know this - you have me pegged on this one! Since it looks like there is not solid evidence of it having classic psychedelic pharamcodynamics and (as you describe) it is not classically considered a "psychedelic" (though the term is pretty murky) I will make the call that recent harmine use is OK. The criteria already have some blind-spots (eg. Amanita muscaria, holotropic breathing) so I'll maintain the line I've drawn so far.

Thank you for this fascinating new fact!

Max