Journal of Humanistic Psychology
April 2, 2022
Mitch Earleywine, Fiona Low, Carmen Lau et al.
47 citations
Integration therapy, a key part of psychedelic-assisted treatment, helps people make sense of their psychedelic experiences after the drug's effects wear off. In interviews with 30 integration therapists, 19 themes emerged reliably. Therapists commonly defined integration as a bridge between the psychedelic experience and daily life, expressed concern about nonresponsive clients, and worried about the commercialization of psychedelic psychotherapy. They viewed integration as a process that starts before substance use, never ends, makes sense of the experience, creates behavioral change, is personalized, and makes the individual whole. Many also discussed client resistance, unrealistic expectations, power differentials, the need for connections to other providers, and self-care. The findings may help standardize integration therapy and inform future research.
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 Psychoactive Drugs
June 21, 2023
Fiona Low, Mitch Earleywine
15 citations
Grief can become problematic or impairing, and while treatments for prolonged grief disorder exist, they have room for improvement. In a survey of 363 recreational psychedelic users who had experienced a bereavement, retrospective reports showed improvements in grief symptoms after the psychedelic experience, with a large effect size. Emotional breakthroughs during the experience were linked to greater symptom improvement, whereas challenging experiences were associated with less improvement. These findings suggest that psychedelic-assisted therapy could be a promising alternative for treating grief symptoms.
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.
J Psychoactive Drugs
October 30, 2024
Mitch Earleywine, Genevieve S. Falabella, Alyssa B. Oliva et al.
3 citations
This study examined how acute psychedelic experiences relate to changes in dysfunctional attitudes and subsequent improvements in wellbeing. Participants who underwent psychedelic sessions showed reductions in dysfunctional attitudes, such as rigid negative beliefs, in the post-acute period. These changes were associated with increased wellbeing, suggesting that shifts in cognitive patterns may mediate the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics. The findings indicate that the acute psychedelic reaction can trigger lasting psychological changes that contribute to enhanced wellbeing.
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.
Journal of psychoactive drugs
May 22, 2026
Fiona Low, Mitch Earleywine
A taxonomy of intentions set by psychedelic users in naturalistic settings is established through a retrospective, mixed-methods, cross-sectional survey. The most common intentions focus on self-discovery, personal growth, healing, and mental health. Intentions related to mental health, self-expansion, and physical health are associated with greater subjective effects—including mystical experiences, emotional breakthroughs, and challenging experiences—as well as improved well-being and reductions in dysfunctional attitudes. Recreational intentions are unrelated to reductions in dysfunctional attitudes and correlate negatively with changes in well-being. Intentions that are specific, relevant, and integrated after the experience correlate with improvements in well-being, while flexible intentions unexpectedly covary with worse outcomes. Specific, relevant, integrated intentions focused on self-discovery and mental health may offer the most benefits.
Journal of psychoactive drugs
October 8, 2025
Samantha G Gomez, Fiona Low, Mitch Earleywine
People who have used psychedelics are more willing to volunteer for psychedelic research studies, which may bias findings and limit generalizability. In a survey of 702 MTurk participants, psychedelic use predicted willingness to join unpaid surveys, longitudinal surveys, and an unpaid administration study. No demographic characteristics consistently predicted volunteering. Offering payment might help recruit a more diverse sample. Reaching individuals with less psychedelic experience is important for understanding clinical implications.