Psilocybin may help people with treatment-resistant PTSD from sexual abuse by enabling retrieval of repressed traumatic memories, allowing conscious awareness and reconciliation. Analysis of two individuals' narratives after a weeklong group psychedelic retreat showed that recovering unresolved memories led to re-narration of identity and life story. The findings suggest memory and self-narrative are crucial in psychedelic-assisted therapy for trauma, beyond the drugs' commonly acknowledged therapeutic effects. Continued research into these dynamics is advocated.
A new edited collection, Expanding Mindscapes: A Global History of Psychedelics, shifts focus from the dominant narrative of 1960s American psychedelia to neglected international episodes. The book's 20 chapters, organized into three parts, trace how psychedelic knowledge and culture flowed across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas, blending with local contexts. Chapters explore diverse topics, including Jean-Paul Sartre's mescaline experiments in 1930s France and the use of LSD research at Sainte-Anne Hospital in postwar France to critique ingrained problems in French psychiatry, such as its emphasis on biology over social factors and detached over compassionate approaches.
Howard Becker's early sociological work on drug use—studying how people learn to become marijuana users and how social context shapes LSD experiences—remains relevant for today's psychedelic research. While clinical trials show therapeutic promise, sociological perspectives on naturalistic psychedelic use are underdeveloped. This paper revisits Becker's concept of a "drug-using subculture" to analyze contemporary psychedelic retreats, where participants collectively "learn to get high." The author argues that studying these retreats as social spaces can inspire a renewed sociology of psychedelics for the 21st century, bridging gaps between clinical research and real-world, non-clinical use.