Consciousness and contemplative science – Team Simonsson & Osika
We explore the psychiatric benefits and risks associated with psychedelic use and various mind-body techniques, collaborating with colleagues in Sweden and internationally. Our research also examines how music and environments—both built and natural—impact well-being, as well as how different mindsets influence sustainable behaviour.
Ongoing projects
Psilocybin-containing mushrooms as a natural solution to reduce headache frequency and severity: a co-twin control study
The aim of this project is to evaluate cross-sectional & longitudinal associations between naturalistic psychedelic use and headache frequency and severity, taking familial confounding into account by utilizing a co-twin control design.
Funded by Ekhaga Foundation.
Genetic and environmental contributions to psychiatric risks and benefits of psychedelic use in vulnerable populations
The aim of this project is to investigate the genetic & environmental contributions to psychiatric risks and benefits of psychedelic use in vulnerable populations. It’s an international collaboration with researchers from Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United States.
Funded by Norrsken Mind.
The pivotal transition from adolescence to young adulthood in a turbulent time
This project focuses on health of young individuals transitioning from adolescence to young adulthood within the STARS cohort, a unique study monitoring both mental and physical health on >2000 individuals since the age of 13. Besides that they experienced the COVID-19 pandemic-related stressors, many of them are now also expressing worries related to gang crime, terrorism, war, economic hardships and/or the climate crisis.
The research aims to investigate the complex interplay between physiological and psychosocial dynamics, accentuated by the current turbulent times.
Funded by FORTE.
Playbook for New Health and New Urban Patterns
Medical progress creates and interplays with demographic changes in society. An aging population, diminishing birth rates and climate change demands new perspectives and collaborations in creating new urban pattern to address these challenges.
The project is a collaboration between architects, urban developers, researchers in health and wellbeing, and expertise in emerging lifestyles and innovation. The result will be a playbook allowing municipalities to plan in a new way.
Funded by FORMAS.
Dwelling vulnerability in a changing climate: Indoor heat exposure and public health
This programme aims to fill the gaps in knowledge regarding the role that different building characteristics play in personal temperature exposure and visualise these problems on interactive maps for wider public, which is important for improving heat epidemiology, preparing prevention programmes. Funded by FORTE.
Team members
Walter Osika
Senior Research SpecialistOtto Simonsson
Assistant ProfessorAffiliated researchers
- Ellen Svensson, PhD Student, Stockholm University, Department of Philosophy
- Eva Bojner Horwitz, Professor, Royal College of Music and researcher at Karolinska Institutet, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society
- Kaja Korošec, Postdoc, Royal College of Music
- Giorgio Grossi, Docent, Karolinska Institutet, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society
- Kristina Elfhag, Researcher, Karolinska Institutet, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society
Collaborations
Trustworthy & Ethical AI lab at CSS - Advancing Ethical, Transparent, and Sustainable AI for Societal Benefit Across Healthcare, Education, and Governance
The Trustworthy & Ethical AI Lab, or TEA Lab, is an interdisciplinary research collaboration between experts in a wide range of fields including medicine, philosophy, psychology and social sciences that aims to advance ethical, transparent and sustainable AI applications. The purpose of the new TEA Lab is to study AI integrated medical decision-making based on the EU Ethics Guidelines for Trustworthy AI (AI HLEG). Since the foundations of Trustworthy AI is grounded in its adherence to ethical principles based on fundamental rights, our work will be rooted in the four ethical principles of respect for human autonomy, prevention of harm, fairness and explicability.
Research support
- Karolinska Institutet
- Swedish Research Council for Health Working Life and Welfare (FORTE)
- Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS)
- Olle Engkvist Foundation
- Ekhaga foundation
- Norrsken Mind
Selected publications
Assessing Trustworthy AI in Times of COVID-19: Deep Learning for Predicting a Multiregional Score Conveying the Degree of Lung Compromise in COVID-19 Patients.
Allahabadi H, Amann J, Balot I, Beretta A, Binkley C, Bozenhard J, Bruneault F, Brusseau J, Candemir S, Cappellini LA, Chakraborty S, Cherciu N, Cociancig C, Coffee M, Ek I, Espinosa-Leal L, Farina D, Fieux-Castagnet G, Frauenfelder T, Gallucci A, Giuliani G, Golda A, van Halem I, Hildt E, Holm S, Kararigas G, Krier SA, Kuhne U, Lizzi F, Madai VI, Markus AF, Masis S, Mathez EW, Mureddu F, Neri E, Osika W, Ozols M, Panigutti C, Parent B, Pratesi F, Moreno-Sanchez PA, Sartor G, Savardi M, Signoroni A, Sormunen HM, Spezzatti A, Srivastava A, Stephansen AF, Theng LB, Tithi JJ, Tuominen J, Umbrello S, Vaccher F, Vetter D, Westerlund M, Wurth R, Zicari RV
IEEE Trans Technol Soc 2022 Dec;3(4):272-289
"It is more Important than food sometimes"; Meanings and Functions of Music in the Lives of Autistic Adults Through a hermeneutic-phenomenological Lense.
Korošec K, Osika W, Bojner-Horwitz E
J Autism Dev Disord 2024 Jan;54(1):366-378
Uncovering associations between interest in One Health and pre-existing conditions and behaviours: Evidence from a UK survey.
Pöllänen E, Yeung TY, Arroyo J, Park HW, Formella C, Osika W
One Health 2024 Jun;18():100732
Effects of an eight-week, online mindfulness program on anxiety and depression in university students during COVID-19: A randomized controlled trial.
Simonsson O, Bazin O, Fisher SD, Goldberg SB
Psychiatry Res 2021 Nov;305():114222
Association Between Lifetime Classic Psychedelic Use and Hypertension in the Past Year.
Simonsson O, Hendricks PS, Carhart-Harris R, Kettner H, Osika W
Hypertension 2021 May;77(5):1510-1516
Prevalence and associations of challenging, difficult or distressing experiences using classic psychedelics.
Simonsson O, Hendricks PS, Chambers R, Osika W, Goldberg SB
J Affect Disord 2023 Apr;326():105-110
Adolescent Psychedelic Use and Psychotic or Manic Symptoms.
Simonsson O, Mosing MA, Osika W, Ullén F, Larsson H, Lu Y, Wesseldijk LW
JAMA Psychiatry 2024 Jun;81(6):579-585
More green, less depressed: Residential greenspace is associated with lower antidepressant redemptions in a nationwide population-based study.
Stenfors CUD, Rådmark L, Stengård J, Klein Y, Osika W, Magnusson Hanson LL
Landscape and Urban Planning, 2024; 249. 105109
Megastudy testing 25 treatments to reduce antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity.
Voelkel JG, Stagnaro MN, Chu JY, Pink SL, Mernyk JS, Redekopp C, Ghezae I, Cashman M, Adjodah D, Allen LG, Allis LV, Baleria G, Ballantyne N, Van Bavel JJ, Blunden H, Braley A, Bryan CJ, Celniker JB, Cikara M, Clapper MV, Clayton K, Collins H, DeFilippis E, Dieffenbach M, Doell KC, Dorison C, Duong M, Felsman P, Fiorella M, Francis D, Franz M, Gallardo RA, Gifford S, Goya-Tocchetto D, Gray K, Green J, Greene J, Güngör M, Hall M, Hecht CA, Javeed A, Jost JT, Kay AC, Kay NR, Keating B, Kelly JM, Kirk JRG, Kopell M, Kteily N, Kubin E, Lees J, Lenz G, Levendusky M, Littman R, Luo K, Lyles A, Lyons B, Marsh W, Martherus J, Maurer LA, Mehl C, Minson J, Moore M, Moore-Berg SL, Pasek MH, Pentland A, Puryear C, Rahnama H, Rathje S, Rosato J, Saar-Tsechansky M, Almeida Santos L, Seifert CM, Shariff A, Simonsson O, Spitz Siddiqi S, Stone DF, Strand P, Tomz M, Yeager DS, Yoeli E, Zaki J, Druckman JN, Rand DG, Willer R
Science 2024 Oct;386(6719):eadh4764
Linking internal and external transformation for sustainability and climate action: Towards a new research and policy agenda
Wamsler C, Osberg G, Osika W, Herndersson H, Mundaca L.
Global Environmental Change Volume 71; 2021 November; 102373
Meaning-making in a context of climate change: supporting agency and political engagement.
Wamsler, C., Osberg, G., Panagiotou, A., Smith, B., Stanbridge, P., Osika, W., & Mundaca, L.
Climate Policy, 2022, 23(7), 829–844.
Doctoral theses
Korosec, K. (2024). The roles of music in the well-being of autistic adults. Karolinska Institute.
Simonsson, O. (2020). Meditative practices-correlates and consequences for political attitudes. Doctoral dissertation, University of Oxford.
Osika, W. (2007). Self-perceived Psychological Health and Vascular Changes in Childhood. Sahlgrenska Academy, Gothenburg University,
Bojner Horwitz, E. (2004). Dance/movement therapy in fibromyalgia patients: aspects and consequences of verbal, visual and hormonal analyses. Uppsala. University.
Elfhag, K. (2003). Rorschach personality characteristics in obesity, eating behaviour and treatment outcome. Karolinska Institutet.
Grossi, G. (1999). The stress of unemployment: Coping patterns, psychological and physiological responses and implications for health. Stockholm University.