Navegando por Autor "Tófoli, Luís Fernando"

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Low-dose LSD and the stream of thought: Increased Discontinuity of Mind, Deep Thoughts and abstract flow
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2021-10-28) Wießner, Isabel; Falchi, Marcelo; Fontes, Fernanda Palhano Xavier de; Maia, Lucas Oliveira; Feilding, Amanda; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes; Mota, Natália Bezerra; Araujo, Draulio Barros de; Tófoli, Luís Fernando
Rationale: Stream of thought describes the nature of the mind when it is freely roaming, a mental state that is continuous and highly dynamic as in mind-wandering or free association. Classic serotonergic psychedelics are known to profoundly impact perception, cognition and language, yet their influence on the stream of thought remains largely unexplored. Objective: To elucidate the effects of LSD on the stream of thought. Methods: In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study, 24 healthy participants received 50 μg lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) or inactive placebo. Mind-wandering was measured by the Amsterdam Resting State Questionnaire (ARSQ), free association by the Forward Flow Task (FFT) for three seed word types (animals, objects, abstract words). ARSQ and FFT were assessed at +0 h, +2 h, +4 h, +6 h, +8 h and +24 h after drug administration, respectively. Results: LSD, compared to placebo, induced different facets of mind-wandering we conceptualized as “chaos” (Discontinuity of Mind, decreased Sleepiness, Planning, Thoughts under Control, Thoughts about Work and Thoughts about Past), “meaning” (Deep Thoughts, Not Sharing Thoughts) and “sensation” (Thoughts about Odours, Thoughts about Sounds). LSD increased the FFT for abstract words reflecting an “abstract flow” under free association. Overall, chaos was strongest pronounced (+2 h to +6 h), followed by meaning (+2 h to +4 h), sensation (+2 h) and abstract flow (+4 h). Conclusions: LSD affects the stream of thought within several levels (active, passive), facets (chaos, meaning, sensation, abstractness) and time points (from +2 h to +6 h). Increased chaos, meaning and abstract flow at +4 h indicate the utility of a late therapeutic window in psycholytic therapy.
A quantitative textual analysis of the subjective effects of ayahuasca in naïve users with and without depression
(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2023-11) Cruz, Lucas; Bienemann, Bheatrix; Fontes, Fernanda Palhano Xavier de; Tófoli, Luís Fernando; Araujo, Draulio Barros de; Mograbi, Daniel Correa
Ayahuasca is a brew with psychoactive properties that has been used as an entheogen for centuries, with more recent studies suggesting it is a promising treatment for some clinical disorders. Although there is an emerging scientific literature on its effects, to the best of our knowledge no study has explored the self-reported experiences of first-time ayahuasca users with quantitative textual analysis tools. Accordingly, the current study aimed to analyze the subjective experience of naive individuals with depression and healthy controls after consuming ayahuasca. For this purpose, responses from a subsample of participants from a previous clinical trial to open-ended questions regarding their experience with ayahuasca underwent textual analysis. Data from nine patients with treatment-resistant depression and 20 healthy individuals were included, and quantitative textual analysis was performed using IRaMuTeQ 0.7 alpha 2 and R 3.1.2. The analysis identified five clusters: alterations in the state of consciousness, cognitive changes, somatic alterations, auditory experiences, and visual perceptual content. Additionally, findings suggest specific features of the experience of people with depression with ayahuasca, such as increased aversive bodily reactions. The results are consistent with previous findings indicating central axes of the psychedelic experience, and may inform therapeutic approaches using ayahuasca
Rapid antidepressant effects of the psychedelic ayahuasca in treatment-resistant depression: a randomized placebo-controlled trial
(2018-06-15) Palhano-Fontes, Fernanda; Barreto, Dayanna; Onias, Heloisa; Andrade, Katia C.; Novaes, Morgana M.; Pessoa, Jessica A.; Mota-Rolim, Sergio A.; Osório, Flávia L.; Sanches, Rafael; Santos, Rafael G. dos; Tófoli, Luís Fernando; Silveira, Gabriela de Oliveira; Yonamine, Mauricio; Riba, Jordi; Santos, Francisco R.; Silva-Junior, Antonio A.; Alchieri, João C.; Galvão-Coelho, Nicole L.; Lobão-Soares, Bruno; Hallak, Jaime E. C.; Arcoverde, Emerson; Maia-de-Oliveira, João P.; Araújo, Dráulio Barros de
Background Recent open-label trials show that psychedelics, such as ayahuasca, hold promise as fast-onset antidepressants in treatment-resistant depression. Methods To test the antidepressant effects of ayahuasca, we conducted a parallel-arm, double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial in 29 patients with treatment-resistant depression. Patients received a single dose of either ayahuasca or placebo. We assessed changes in depression severity with the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and the Hamilton Depression Rating scale at baseline, and at 1 (D1), 2 (D2), and 7 (D7) days after dosing. Results We observed significant antidepressant effects of ayahuasca when compared with placebo at all-time points. MADRS scores were significantly lower in the ayahuasca group compared with placebo at D1 and D2 (p = 0.04), and at D7 (p < 0.0001). Between-group effect sizes increased from D1 to D7 (D1: Cohen's d = 0.84; D2: Cohen's d = 0.84; D7: Cohen's d = 1.49). Response rates were high for both groups at D1 and D2, and significantly higher in the ayahuasca group at D7 (64% v. 27%; p = 0.04). Remission rate showed a trend toward significance at D7 (36% v. 7%, p = 0.054). Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first controlled trial to test a psychedelic substance in treatment-resistant depression. Overall, this study brings new evidence supporting the safety and therapeutic value of ayahuasca, dosed within an appropriate setting, to help treat depression. This study is registered at http://clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02914769).
The history of writing reflects the effects of education on discourse structure: implications for literacy, orality, psychosis and the axial age
(Elsevier, 2020-10-01) Pinheiro, Sylvia; Mota, Natália Bezerra; Sigman, Mariano; Fernández-Slezak, Diego; Guerreiro, Antonio; Tófoli, Luís Fernando; Cecchi, Guillermo; Copelli, Mauro; Ribeiro, Sidarta Tollendal Gomes
Background: Graph analysis detects psychosis and literacy acquisition. Bronze Age literature has been proposed to contain childish or psychotic features, which would only have matured during the Axial Age (∼800-200 BC), a putative boundary for contemporary mentality. Method: Graph analysis of literary texts spanning ∼4,500 years shows remarkable asymptotic changes over time. Results: While lexical diversity, long-range recurrence and graph length increase away from randomness, short-range recurrence declines towards random levels. Bronze Age texts are structurally similar to oral reports from literate typical children and literate psychotic adults, but distinct from poetry, and from narratives by preliterate preschoolers or Amerindians. Text structure reconstitutes the “arrow-of-time”, converging to educated adult levels at the Axial Age onset. Conclusion: The educational pathways of oral and literate traditions are structurally divergent, with a decreasing range of recurrence in the former, and an increasing range of recurrence in the latter. Education is seemingly the driving force underlying discourse maturation

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Navegando por Autor "Tófoli, Luís Fernando"