Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
April 1, 2025
Manoj K Doss, Lilian Kloft, Natasha L Mason et al.
5 citations
In experienced users, ayahuasca acutely enhances recollection-based memory—the ability to recall specific details—without increasing false memories or affecting familiarity-based memory, a feeling of knowing. In an observational study of 24 Santo Daime members who had consumed ayahuasca over 500 times on average, participants completed a false memory task before and after taking a self-selected church dose. After ayahuasca, hit rates, memory accuracy, and recollection improved, while familiarity and false memory remained unchanged. The authors suggest that β-carboline activity in the brew may account for this recollection enhancement, which contrasts with past psychedelic research showing impaired recollection. Practice effects could not be ruled out, but multiple measures of false memory and metamemory did not improve across sessions.
Journal of Eating Disorders
December 4, 2025
Samuli Kangaslampi, Max Wolff, Manoj K. Doss et al.
1 citation
Psychedelics like psilocybin can trigger vivid memory-like experiences, but a recent case report claiming that two patients recovered dissociated traumatic memories during psilocybin treatment for anorexia nervosa may not have adequately considered alternative explanations. The cases do not necessarily show that psilocybin induces recovery of dissociated traumatic memories or could treat dissociative amnesia. The authors also caution against explicitly preparing patients for the emergence of forgotten material, as such suggestions warrant scrutiny.
Psychopharmacology
April 29, 2026
Anne-Fiona Griesfeller, Lotte Kooman, Lilian Kloft-Heller et al.
A scoping review of 53 sources found no coherent explanation for how psychedelics might recover repressed memories, nor consistent evidence that they do so reliably. Most publications focused on LSD, but few defined what they meant by repressed memory. Proposed mechanisms—psychoanalytical reductions of defensive memory blockades and neurobiological alterations of executive control—lacked empirical support. The review concludes that future work should provide clear definitions, test effects across multiple psychedelic substances, use placebo-controlled designs, and account for the potential occurrence of false memories.