Medical Humanities
January 6, 2025
Alex Dymock, Zoë Dubus
4 citations
This article argues that future research on psychedelics and sexuality must account for sexuality as culturally produced, historically contingent, and geographically specific. Drawing on three recent studies showing a positive connection between psychedelic use and sexual well-being, the authors contend that ignoring social and cultural contexts undermines reliability and efficacy. The psychedelics field has faced ethical dilemmas regarding sexual interactions in therapeutic and underground settings, yet clinical research rarely reports on sexuality. Gendered dynamics of sex and sexuality, and their impact on perceptions of therapeutic repair versus enhancement, have received scant attention. The article outlines key concerns and priorities for research in a post-#MeToo era.
Frontiers in Psychology
September 1, 2023
Zoë Dubus, Elise Grandgeorge, Vincent Verroust
3 citations
From the 1920s to the 1960s, French physicians administered mescaline, LSD, and psilocybin in highly controlled, anxious sessions often described by patients as torture, with only rare cases of recovery. The Sainte-Anne school dominated this research, framing hallucinogens as psychodysleptics (mind disruptors) rather than psychedelics, and using them as diagnostic tools within a biological, shock-oriented conception of therapy. Because researchers rarely determined optimal doses or attended to the administration context and patient relationship, clear therapeutic benefits were not demonstrated. These early negative representations continue to influence French health professionals' reluctance toward the current psychedelic renaissance.
Cygne noir
August 19, 2022
Zoë Dubus
3 citations
In 1966, French media began portraying LSD as a dangerous new drug causing prolonged psychoses, suicides, and youth rebellion. At the time, LSD was still primarily a medication and a tool for studying the brain, with thousands of scientific articles demonstrating its safety and therapeutic benefits. These successes received no media coverage in France, so the country discovered the substance with alarm. The vocabulary of madness dominated press coverage, framing LSD within a conceptual framework of insanity. The government quickly classified LSD as a narcotic, ending ongoing medical research. This case study illustrates how moral panics can impact scientific production on psychoactive substances.
Histoire médecine et santé
January 1, 2024
Zoë Dubus
Historiography, particularly in France, traditionally presents narcotics as uniformly dangerous, focusing on addiction, deviance, and societal risk, which obscures research into their therapeutic uses—uses that originally integrated these substances into Western practices. This article offers a critical analytical review of historical research on the 'career' of narcotics as medicines, a field dominated by Anglo-American literature and by medical professionals not trained in historical methods. It also identifies research paths to enrich understanding of the medical uses of these controversial substances.