Welcome back to The Drop In, DoubleBlind’s newsletter serving up news, culture, and independent journalism about psychedelics straight to your inbox.

We’re kicking off today with a story about how scientists are beginning to predict the intensity of a person’s ayahuasca experience. Yes, you read that correctly. That means science can reveal where on the experiential spectrum, ranging between terror and bliss, we will land after consuming the plant brew. How is that even possible? You’ll have to read on to find out.

If you keep scrolling, you’ll find pieces on religious leaders and psychedelics, healing your eco-anxiety with psychedelic therapy, and how to get your parents interested in mushrooms.

Stay grounded friends 🌳✊🏽,
Mary Carreón
Editor-in-Chief

Want orgasms so powerful they leave you breathless, wrapped in a days-long afterglow of awe, gratitude, and sheer wonder at the beauty of existence? 

Then try MV.Health’s award-winning penis vibrator, Tenuto 2.  

 It’s a vibrator designed for both partners. It gives stronger, longer-lasting erections AND simultaneously stimulates the penis, perineum, and vulva giving you both more powerful orgasms.    

(Yes, it’s even clinically proven to help with sensitive sexual issues like ED and performance anxiety.)     

 And right now, MV.Health is offering a 50% discount right now! 

Good sex matters. So instead of random impulse buys, get something to support your best sex life, so you both can live your best lives.  

Make your orgasms more psychedelic with 50% off Tenuto 2 today. 

An EEG study finds that ayahuasca produces distinct shifts in brain activity, and that baseline rhythms may help forecast how strongly people respond.

Ayahuasca, the Indigenous plant brew from the Amazon Rainforest, is known to produce potent psychedelic experiences. For some, these experiences can be extremely overwhelming physically, mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually. But why is it that some people barely trip, while others see god, demons, Gaia, or all of the above? Researchers say the answer to that question is (at least partly) held in a person’s resting brain waves.

A new study published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology tracked electrical brain activity before study participants consumed ayahuasca and after the psychoactive constituents of the brew (primarily DMT) kicked in. The findings suggest that ayahuasca reshapes neural rhythms in real time and that baseline brain patterns may help forecast emotional and bodily reactions.

Ayahuasca and other forms of DMT are psychedelic research darlings and are currently being studied as possible treatments for severe depression. But because the brew — a mixture of Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis — can dramatically alter perception, clinicians are eager to understand exactly how it works biologically and whether patient responses can be anticipated in advance.

To investigate, researchers led by Natan Silva-Costa and Jéssica Andrade Pessoa at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte recruited 50 healthy adults who had never consumed ayahuasca before. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either the active brew or a carefully engineered placebo designed to mimic its color, taste, and mild physical effects.

The team used electroencephalography, or EEG, to measure brain wave activity. Volunteers rested in a dim hospital room, listening to a standardized playlist of instrumental and soft-vocal music, PsyPost reports. Researchers recorded five minutes of baseline brain activity prior to participants consuming their respective teas, and then repeated the recordings two and four hours later.

The contrast between groups was blatant. Compared to the placebo group, those who consumed ayahuasca reported strong visual distortions, emotional intensity, and a pronounced sense of transcending time and space. Many also described feelings of unity and encounters with what they perceived as a “sacred presence.”

Participants’ thinking patterns shifted, too. Instead of day-to-day rumination, spontaneous thoughts became highly visual and personally meaningful. The authors characterized this mental state as “chaotic and meaningful mind-wandering,” according to PsyPost.

Those effects tracked closely with noticeable brain changes. The researchers observed a widespread drop in alpha waves, which are typically associated with relaxed wakefulness, across the brain. Because alpha activity typically helps suppress visual imagery during relaxed states, the decrease may explain the vivid internal visuals — or, “eyelid movies” — the study participants described.

At the same time, the team detected increases in slow delta waves near the front of the brain. Delta waves are linked to deep, inward processing. They also observed elevated theta activity, often associated with memory, imagination, and dream-like states. There was also higher beta activity, a faster rhythm tied to active thinking and alertness. One particularly notable finding involved theta rhythms: Lower theta activity was associated with stronger feelings of mystical unity and profound thought, according to the study’s authors.

Perhaps most clinically relevant is that participants’ baseline brain activity predicted parts of their later experience. Individuals who started with lower theta activity reported stronger interoception, meaning greater awareness of internal bodily sensations such as heartbeat and breathing. Meanwhile, lower baseline beta activity was linked to more positive emotional responses during the session.

The researchers point out that the tightly controlled hospital environment in which the study occurred differs from traditional ceremonial settings and that the powerful subjective effects of ayahuasca made full blinding difficult to achieve in the study. The issue, which is often described in psychedelic research as “functional unblinding,” remains one of the biggest issues and challenges with placebo-controlled psychedelic studies. The researchers also noted that some participants became sleepy, particularly in the placebo group, and that one key questionnaire was administered two days post-experience, which may have affected recall.

Even so, the findings point toward a potentially practical future tool for psychedelic research. If simple EEG scans can reliably forecast who is likely to have intense emotional or bodily responses to ayahuasca, clinicians could better tailor preparation and monitoring in psychedelic therapy.

As psychedelic research booms, so does the hype cycle surrounding small, underpowered studies that often get reported as breakthrough findings. But some observers warn the field may be overselling early data in ways that could ultimately backfire.

In our Friday feature, Patrick Maravelias takes a hard look at the science and breathless media coverage shaping today’s psychedelic narrative. The piece unpacks why many drug studies struggle with funding and scale, how journalists (sometimes knowingly) amplify weak findings, and why the movement may need to recalibrate its messaging if it hopes to secure lasting policy wins.

Update your subscription here to get the full story in your inbox on Friday!

Think explosive mind-body-spirit orgasms are just for women? Meet Molto, the first ultra-slim, bendable prostate vibrator. Yes, a prostate vibrator that elicits sensations that ripple through your body like a cosmic wave.

In the words of one very satisfied customer, “An orgasm bomb is one way to describe it - it started in one area but expanded in every direction.” It’s designed by urologists and supports prostate wellness through targeted stimulation. Prostate wellness never felt this good.

For a limited time, you can save 50% during MV.Health’s sitewide sale. Just click the link below to explore a whole new dimension of pleasure.

Experience full-body orgasms with this prostate vibrator today.