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Therapeutic Potential of the Plant Salvia Divinorum

Peter H. Addy, PhD, LPC, LMHC
July 30, 2020
Salvia Divinorum Research

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The short version: This is the recording of my 2017 MAPS Psychedelic Science conference talk on Salvia divinorum’s possible clinical uses. Most of the evidence is from animal research and is genuinely limited, but it points toward depression, substance use, and some chronic pain as areas worth studying. It is not a treatment.

Most people who ask about Salvia divinorum’s therapeutic potential are really asking a narrower question: does the fact that it works on the kappa opioid system mean anything for depression or chronic pain?

That’s the question I took up at MAPS’ Psychedelic Science conference in 2017. People ask me whether Salvia is useful a lot, in interviews, at conferences, in psychotherapy sessions. How can we adapt Salvia divinorum or salvinorin A to a Western medical context to treat DSM mental health disorders? The honest answer is that I don’t know. What I can do is walk through what the scientific evidence to date suggests.

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, 2017

Most of the research is in rodents or non-human primates, which makes it limited by definition. Within those limits, it suggests salvinorin A and related compounds could be worth investigating for depression, substance use, and some types of chronic pain. The video walks through the animal behavioral pharmacology of salvinorin A and how that research might, someday, translate to relieving human suffering within a Western medical paradigm.

If you want the fuller picture, including how salvinorin A actually works, how its dissociation-like effects compare to other psychedelics, and why its abuse potential appears low, I’ve pulled it all together in my main piece on Salvia divinorum in psychotherapy.

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Peter H. Addy, PhD, LPC, LMHC is a Portland-based licensed psychotherapist specializing in psychedelic-informed and harm-reduction psychotherapy, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, and chronic pain. His research background includes postdoctoral work at Yale School of Medicine on psychedelic substances. Learn more about my practice →

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