P S Y C H O S P I R I T U A L | Riverstyx Foundation

PSYCHOSPIRITUAL

The psychological experiences that have been most dismissed in Western Culture are the states we deem ‘mental illness,’ especially anxiety and depression, as well as the ecstatic and mystical states of primary religious experience. In both cases, we have systematically pathologized the sensations from deep within our own bodies and those from beyond ourselves, which are resultantly experienced as aberrant, painful, and meaningless suffering. When we reject these callings, not only do they fester and aggravate, but we equally deprive ourselves of a possible source of psychic fulfillment.

Since 2008, RSF has been funding research into the class of compounds known as ‘psychedelics’ as among the most promising tools for reinstilling access to vital and often repressed parts of our psychic lives. Psychedelics lower our perceptual filters and can provide meaningful expression to relinquished and unbidden material within ourselves and the world around us, allowing them to speak to us through the language of images, archetypes, and emotions, bypassing the defensive or socially conditioned mind.

RiverStyx Psychospiritual Programs

Clinical Psychedelic Research

Clinical Research - With Major Funding from RSF

PSILOCYBIN RESEARCH

Psilocybin for Cancer Anxiety - Johns Hopkins (2008 / year of first funding)
Psilocybin for the Treatment of Alcoholism - NYU (2012)
Psilocybin for the Treatment of Smoking Cessation - Johns Hopkins (2015)
Psilocybin for the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder - Johns Hopkins (2016)
Psilocybin for Major Depression Multi-Site (2018)
Psilocybin/LSD for the Treatment of Opiate Use Disorder - Johns Hopkins, UBC, UW Madison (2019)
Psilocybin for Home Hospice Patients - Dana-Farber/Harvard University (2020)
Psilocybin for Physicians with COVID Related Burnout - University of Washington (2021)
Psilocybin for the Treatment of Alzheimers - Johns Hopkins (2022)
Psilocybin for Environmental Leaders & Activists with Professional Burnout - Bend, Oregon (2024)

MDMA RESEARCH

MDMA for PTSD / MAPS Phase 2 (2009)
MDMA for Anxiety Related to a Life-Threatening Illness (2015)
MDMA for PTSD MAPS/Phase 3 (2018)

IBOGAINE & AYAHUASCA RESEARCH

Ayahuasca for Complex Grief and Bereavement Support - (Spain/ICEERS - 2017)
Ibogaine for Opiate Use Disorder (Spain/ICEERS- 2019)

PRE-CLINICAL / PHYSIOLOGICAL:

Psychedelics for Inflammatory Illness / Rheumatoid Arthritis - LSU (2022)
Xyrem/GHB for Cluster Headache - Liden University (2024)

Psychedelics and Spirituality

Spirituality Research Funded by RSF

Psilocybin for Religious Leaders - Johns Hopkins / NYU (2015)
Psilocybin for Long-Term Meditators - Johns Hopkins (2015)
Roland R. Griffiths Professorship in Psychedelic Research on Secular Spirituality and Well-Being (2023)

Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research Initiated/Supported by RiverStyx

Subjective effects of psilocybin for cancer anxiety "Cancer at the Dinner Table"
Subjective effects of psilocybin for smoking cessation
Subjective effects of psilocybin for alcoholism
Subjective effects of MDMA for the treatment of PTSD + End of Life Distress
Subjective effects of psilocybin in Religious Leaders (in progress)
Subjective effects of psilocybin on OCD (in progress)

* It is Riverstyx policy that it does not cover University overhead for research projects

Grantee Partners

Ah, mon cher, for anyone who is alone without God and without a master, the weight of days is dreadful. Hence, one must choose a master, God being out of style.

-Albert Camus