Psychedelic Terminology Preference in the 2024 National Survey Investigating Hallucinogenic Trends (NSIHT).
Journal of psychoactive drugs March 16, 2026 Faith E Lyons, Karilynn M Rockhill, Evelyn J Fox et al.
Adults who used a psychedelic in the past year most prefer surveys that use specific substance names (e.g., psilocybin, ayahuasca) over umbrella terms. In a cross-sectional survey of 2,306 respondents, specific substance names received the highest preference (median rank 3; 24.3% ranked first), followed by "psychedelics" (median rank 3; 19.4%). Terms like "hallucinogen," "medicines," and "entheogens" ranked lower. Preferences were consistent across age, education, and experience levels. The findings offer recommendations for terminology in future survey development.