Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
March 23, 2022
Mitch Earleywine, Fiona Low, Brianna R. Altman et al.
31 citations
People with depressive symptoms consider it somewhat important that guides in psilocybin-assisted therapy have personally used psilocybin. In a survey of over 800 MTurk respondents with depressive symptoms, ratings for the importance of a guide who had used psilocybin exceeded the "somewhat important" level (50 on a 0–100 scale) and were higher than ratings for other guide qualities and for a cognitive behavioral therapist who shared demographics, had depression experience, or received personal therapy. People of color and those with prior therapy gave even higher importance ratings. Participants listed similar desired qualities—proper training and empathy—for both psilocybin guides and CBT therapists. The findings suggest that guides who have used psilocybin and inform clients might enhance therapy's antidepressant effects for some clients.
Journal of Psychopharmacology
December 4, 2023
Maha N. Mian, Brianna R. Altman, Fiona Low et al.
8 citations
A new 32-item scale, the Protective Strategies for Psychedelics Scale (PSPS), measures strategies people use to reduce harm when taking psychedelics. Two factors emerged: long-term preparation (mood, setting, scheduling) and short-term preparation (social context, health, other substances). The scale showed excellent reliability and was strongly correlated with existing protective behavior scales for cannabis and alcohol, and moderately with lifetime psychedelic use. The authors call for further validation in diverse samples.
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
January 22, 2023
Fiona Low, Mitch Earleywine
3 citations
Brief written educational materials of about 300 words significantly increased how credible people found both cognitive behavioral therapy and psilocybin-assisted therapy for depression, with a large effect size. Asking participants to imagine open-mindedness before reading further boosted credibility ratings for psilocybin-assisted therapy, with a medium effect. These simple, low-cost strategies could help improve how patients view treatments. The findings suggest that even short informational texts can shape treatment perceptions, and that priming open-mindedness may be especially useful for newer or less familiar therapies.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
July 11, 2024
Alyssa B. Oliva, Mitch Earleywine, Fiona Low et al.
In a survey of 635 adults in the United States, the importance people place on having a therapist of the same gender or same race differs by the type of therapy and by the participant's own race and gender. For both cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT), racial and ethnic minority participants and female participants rated a same-gender practitioner as more important than did White or male participants. A same-gender CBT therapist was rated as more important than a same-gender PAT guide.