RCT · 2026
DMT plus harmine lowered embarrassment during a karaoke task in 28 healthy men
- Original title
- Combined DMT-harmine formulation reduces negative self-referential emotions during social self-evaluation: a randomized placebo-controlled trial in healthy volunteers.
- Authors
- Aicher HD, Dornbierer J, Caflisch L, et al.
- Journal
- Psychopharmacology, 2026
- Molecules
- DMT, Other
- Conditions
- Healthy volunteers
- Participants
- 28
- Evidence grade
- Moderate
- Source
- Read the original paper
The question
Can an ayahuasca-inspired formulation of DMT combined with harmine change painful self-focused emotions such as embarrassment and shame?
What they did
Twenty-eight healthy men took part in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study, meaning each person received every condition in random order and neither they nor the researchers knew which was which at the time. The three conditions were 100 mg harmine plus 100 mg DMT, harmine alone, and placebo. Participants completed a karaoke task in which they listened to recordings of their own singing and to other people’s vocal tracks (one poor, one good), then rated their emotions. Ratings covered how pleasant, unpleasant, embarrassing and funny the recordings felt, plus a questionnaire called the Experiential Shame Scale.
What they found
Compared with placebo, the DMT-plus-harmine combination significantly reduced embarrassment when people heard their own singing (estimated difference -16.83, p = .001). It did not change embarrassment ratings for the other people’s recordings (bad track: -4.38, p = .628; good track: 2.14, p = .894). The combination also lowered the overall shame scale score (p = .019) and its emotional subscale (p = .009). Harmine on its own did not differ significantly from placebo on any of these measures.
The fine print
The study included only 28 healthy male volunteers, so the results may not apply to women or to people with mental health conditions. Effects were measured during the drug session itself, with no information in the abstract about whether anything lasted. The karaoke task is a laboratory stand-in for real-world shame, not a clinical outcome, and blinding is hard to maintain when a substance produces noticeable effects. This summary is based on the abstract alone.
What it means
In a small lab study, a DMT-harmine combination temporarily reduced self-directed embarrassment and shame in healthy men, which the authors suggest is worth testing in people with psychiatric conditions.
Evidence grade: Moderate. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial, but small (28 people), all healthy men, and it measured only short-term emotional responses in a lab task.
This summary is based on the study’s published abstract.