Journal of Psychedelic Studies
July 1, 2019
Jamilah R. George, Timothy I. Michaels, Jae Sevelius et al.
222 citations
The resurgence of psychedelic science for treating psychiatric conditions like depression, PTSD, and addiction owes much to indigenous healing practices, yet the contributions of indigenous people, ethnic and racial minorities, women, and other disenfranchised groups are often overlooked in the mainstream narrative. This review first highlights the traditional role of psychedelic plants and summarizes the history of psychedelic medicine, then explores historical and sociocultural factors that have led to unequal research participation and treatment. It recommends broadening the Western medical framework to include a cultural focus and inclusive approaches for future treatment development and dissemination.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
July 30, 2019
Tehseen Noorani
112 citations
This commentary examines the push to turn psychedelics into regulated medications within healthcare systems, a process known as medicalization. Drawing on ethnographic research from 2014 onward and examples from psychiatry and drug development, the author situates medicalization in its political, economic, and cultural contexts without taking a normative stance. The piece argues that psychedelic science has been focused on medicalization from the start, leading to a crisis over identity and values. Scaling up psychedelic-assisted therapy may undermine safety and efficacy. Medicalization could hinder decriminalization and legalization efforts by incentivizing diluted treatments and framing illicit use as abuse.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
October 5, 2018
Elizabeth M. Nielson, Jeffrey Guss
104 citations
Clinical research on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is advancing in the USA, with psilocybin and MDMA in FDA-approved trials. In the 1950s and 1960s, researchers' and clinicians' personal use of psychedelics was considered a potential confound, contributing to a 20-year research hiatus. Currently, no empirical research exists on personal use by current academic researchers and clinicians; its influence is undocumented and undertheorized. This paper explores the history of personal use, its potential impact on therapy and research, and argues that training for psychedelic-assisted therapy cannot fit neatly into modern psychopharmacology or psychotherapy frameworks. It contends that scientific exploration of therapists' firsthand psychedelic experience on therapy outcomes is feasible, timely, and necessary.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
July 30, 2019
Monnica T. Williams, Sara Reed, Ritika Aggarwal
87 citations
Psychedelic drugs combined with psychotherapy can help people change, and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy is being studied for posttraumatic stress disorder by reducing fear of traumatic memories and increasing trust and compassion without blocking access to difficult emotions. However, research has largely excluded people of color, leaving important questions unaddressed. At the University of Connecticut, a study site in a MAPS-sponsored, FDA-reviewed Phase 2 open-label multisite trial focused on providing culturally informed care to ethnic minority participants.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
December 13, 2019
Evgenia Fotiou
83 citations
Anthropology can help decolonize psychedelic science by recognizing Indigenous worldviews as equal partners alongside scientific inquiry. While the discipline has colonial roots, it has contributed to understanding Indigenous knowledge systems, and recent calls to decolonize theory and methodology—especially the ontological turn—offer ways to engage meaningfully with those worldviews. At this point in the psychedelic renaissance, the current biomedical model should be revised to be more inclusive, not abandoned, but its privileged position should be given up. Decolonization requires allowing multiple perspectives to coexist and contribute equally to future efforts.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
December 27, 2019
76 citations
The psychedelic science movement, while promising, reproduces the same social inequalities found in the broader healthcare system. Indigenous knowledge of plant medicines is being adapted into Western medical models that are resource-intensive and likely inaccessible to the socioeconomically disadvantaged. People of color and women are underrepresented in leadership roles, and few people of color participate in psychedelic studies. This piece introduces a special issue on diversity, equity, and accessibility in psychedelic medicine.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
February 4, 2021
R. Andrew Yockey, Keith A. King
64 citations
About 9.68% of US adults aged 18 and older have used psilocybin at some point in their lives, based on pooled 2015–2018 national survey data from over 168,000 people. Lifetime use varied by demographics, drug use history, and sexual identity; people identifying as bisexual reported higher rates of use. Nearly two-thirds of those who had ever used LSD, methamphetamine, or heroin also reported psilocybin use. These findings can guide harm reduction strategies and public health messaging.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 1, 2019
Michael Winkelman
63 citations
Psychedelics, especially psilocybin, may have played a central role in the development of religion. The human serotonergic system responds more strongly to these substances than chimpanzees' receptors do, suggesting they were environmental factors affecting hominin evolution and contributing to the emergence of ritual capacities, shamanism, and altered consciousness. Evidence from fungiform petroglyphs, rock artifacts, and mythologies worldwide supports prehistoric use of psilocybin mushrooms, which continued into historic religious traditions, visible in sculpture, art, and scriptures. Although new entheogenic combinations appeared, complex societies generally restricted entheogens to elite spiritual practices and punished widespread consumption.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
January 16, 2023
Anna Lutkajtis, Jules Evans
58 citations
Nine out of thirty participants (30%) at a legal psilocybin truffle retreat in the Netherlands spontaneously reported post-experience integration challenges, including mood fluctuations, 'post-ecstatic blues', disconnection from community, re-experiencing symptoms, spiritual bypass, and perceived lack of support. These challenges were transient, occurring immediately after the psychedelic effects wore off and resolving over days or weeks. Integration challenges were correlated with positive after-effects such as long-term remission of significant health conditions. The experiences align with the 'spiritual emergency' phenomenon, suggesting such challenges may be integral to transformative potential. The findings have implications for psychedelic integration, harm reduction, and future research.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
September 19, 2019
Logan Neitzke‐spruill
58 citations
The concept of set and setting—non-pharmacological factors like mindset and environment that shape psychedelic experiences—has seen little theoretical development since its mid-20th-century popularization. Bridging set and setting theory with social psychology and sociology of medicine, this review argues that race contributes to both set and setting. Psychosocial factors that drive racial differences in mental health also create meaningful differences in set, while the character of race relations in the United States provides a distinct cultural setting for racialized users, whether in therapy or naturalistic contexts. Racial identification may thus influence how psychedelic experiences are framed and interpreted, with implications for clinical protocols, practitioner education, and diverse patient needs.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
May 27, 2021
Petter Grahl Johnstad
53 citations
Challenging psychedelic experiences, or 'bad trips,' involve a broader range of characteristics than previously recognized. Based on interviews with 38 participants and a survey of 319 participants (median age 33, 81% male) recruited from online communities, confusion emerged as an important aspect alongside the near-ubiquitous fear. Despite often dramatic narratives, participants were convinced the experience had positive long-term consequences. Meditation practice had paradoxical effects on challenging experiences, suggesting a fruitful area for further research.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
March 12, 2021
Jerry B. Brown
53 citations
The Immortality Key argues that ancient Greek religious rituals, particularly the Eleusinian Mysteries, involved a psychedelic sacrament that may have influenced early Christian Eucharist. The book reports the first direct chemical evidence of entheogen use in the Mysteries, based on archaeochemical analyses and obscure archaeological discoveries in Spain. It proposes that the kykeon potion consumed by initiates contained hallucinogenic ergot, building on earlier research by Ruck, Wasson, and Hofmann. The work also suggests continuity between pagan psychedelic practices and early Christianity, drawing on visits to museum collections, catacombs, and Vatican archives.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
November 16, 2023
Danelle Jones
48 citations
A book review interprets Marc B. Aixalà's exploration of how therapists can support clients who have undergone psychedelic experiences, especially when the therapist was not present during the session. Aixalà, a psychologist and psychotherapist, draws on his decade of work with ICEERS, training in Holotropic Breathwork and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy, and involvement in clinical trials for psilocybin and treatment-resistant depression. The review focuses on his principles for integration therapy, which aims to ensure safety and efficacy for clients using non-ordinary states of consciousness to address PTSD, anxiety, depression, and end-of-life distress.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
September 1, 2019
Sam Gandy
44 citations
Psychedelics used in supportive settings can produce enduring increases in well-being, life satisfaction, life meaning, mindfulness, and prosocial behaviors in healthy individuals, partly by modulating neuroplasticity. The experience often increases personality trait openness and nature relatedness, which correlates with psychological well-being and pro-environmental behavior. Mystical-type experiences from high doses appear to mediate long-term benefits. The review also discusses microdosing research and proposes future studies on psychedelics as ecotherapy agents.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
March 26, 2018
Michael Winkelman
42 citations
Psychedelic entity experiences, such as those induced by ayahuasca and DMT, share fundamental similarities with conceptions of spirit guides, divinities, angels, demons, and other mythical beings. These experiences arise from innate psychological modules and operators—such as animacy detection, social role inferences, and mind reading—that also underlie ordinary cognitive inferences and supernatural thought. The physiological effects of psychedelics release these innate modules, and the concept of a phantasy mode of consciousness explains how unconscious causal mechanisms produce accounts of encounters with non-human beings. DMT's extensive interaction with the receptorome accounts for the powerful sense of ontological certainty these experiences evoke.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
September 16, 2022
Ada Kałużna, Marco Schlosser, Emily Gulliksen Craste et al.
41 citations
Both ego-dissolution and connectedness during a psychedelic experience are associated with a higher chance of therapeutic improvement, but they affect people differently. Ego-dissolution tends to trigger psychological change that typically does not last beyond the psychedelic experience, while connectedness can be more sustained and is linked to several positive, potentially therapeutic feelings. A mixed-methods systematic review of 15 studies (2,182 participants) synthesized findings from four databases. The results suggest that emphasizing ego-dissolution during preparation and connectedness during integration may improve psychedelic therapy models, with broader implications for mental health practice.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
March 29, 2019
Tom Wolff, Simon Ruffell, Nigel Netzband et al.
41 citations
In a study of nine foreign tourists at an ayahuasca retreat in Peru, the typical structure of spontaneously reported experiences included personal preparation, physical symptoms, visual phenomena, cognitive and emotional phenomena, reactions within the psychedelic world and ordinary reality, and appraisal of the process. Emotional reactions ranged from pleasant (psychotherapeutic target emotions and hedonistic emotions) to unpleasant. For most participants, the presence of psychotherapeutic target emotions seemed to involve unpleasant emotions in the same session, possibly as transitional emotional states. This suggests psychodynamic processes, such as activation of emotional conflicts, can occur spontaneously during ayahuasca intake in this setting. Some participants attributed symbolic meaning to visionary content, more likely among psychotherapeutically motivated clients. The setting and expectations about native wisdom may influence experiences and interpretations.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
August 29, 2017
Eduardo Ekman Schenberg, Maria Angélica de Castro Comis, João Felipe Morel Alexandre et al.
39 citations
Patients with substance-related disorders who received ibogaine in a treatment program reported intense physical discomfort and a psychologically challenging experience, along with heightened memory retrieval—especially about past drug use—and vivid, dreamlike visions. The experience shared some features with other psychedelics but also differed markedly. The authors propose that ibogaine's subjective effects may function as simulations of threat and danger, drawing on an evolutionary theory of dreaming.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
February 5, 2024
Alesha Wells, Merciana Fernandes, Lisa Reynolds
37 citations
A systematic review of 29 studies from 2012-2022 found that knowledge of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) is low among health professionals, patients, and the public. Belief in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics ranged from mixed to positive, with male gender, younger age, and personal psychedelic experience or knowledge predicting more favorable views. Most studies reported strong endorsement of further research. Consistent concerns emerged about legal status, funding, access, side effects, and implementation. The review indicates a need for more research to clarify safety and guide implementation in public health settings, and recommends prioritizing education for health professionals and the public.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
July 15, 2021
Zoe W. Jahn, Joel Lopez, Sara de la Salle et al.
36 citations
About 15.9% of the U.S. population over age 12 had used a hallucinogen at least once, and 2.0% had used one in the past year. Lifetime use was most common among non-Hispanic White and multi-racial individuals, while Black/African Americans reported the lowest rates. Past-year use was highest among White and multi-racial groups aged 12–34 and among White individuals aged 35–49. Hispanic individuals showed higher past-year use in the 12–17 age group but lower use in the 26–49 range. Black/African Americans had the lowest past-year use among 12–25 year olds. Adults 50 and older reported the lowest past-year use overall.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
April 1, 2017
Rafael G. Dos Santos, José Carlos Bouso, Jaime E. C. Hallak
36 citations
Ibogaine, a naturally occurring hallucinogenic alkaloid, may reduce drug craving and withdrawal. A systematic review of human studies identified eight relevant papers: seven open-label case series and one randomized, placebo-controlled trial. The case series suggest that one or a few ibogaine treatments can significantly reduce withdrawal, craving, and drug self-administration in dependent individuals, with effects lasting from 24 hours to weeks or months. However, the clinical trial found no significant effects of noribogaine on opiate or opioid withdrawal. Given the need for fast-acting, sustained treatments for opiate and cocaine dependence, further controlled trials of ibogaine and noribogaine are warranted.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
January 15, 2021
Anna Lutkajtis
32 citations
Psychedelic-induced mystical experiences, particularly encounters with seemingly autonomous entities, may have therapeutic value. While empirical research is limited, qualitative studies and anecdotal reports indicate these encounters can produce profound and lasting positive after-effects. The article argues for exploring the therapeutic potential of entity encounters and proposes three possible mechanisms by which they might mediate the therapeutic effects of the psychedelic mystical experience.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
May 6, 2021
Federico Cavanna, Carla Pallavicini, Virginia Milano et al.
31 citations
During the COVID-19 pandemic, people who had used psychedelic drugs at least once in their lives reported higher positive affect and personality traits linked to resilience, such as greater openness and lower conscientiousness, compared to those who had not. Among 5,618 participants (average age 29, 72% female), 32% reported lifetime psychedelic use. The number of past psychedelic experiences predicted higher scores on a measure of plasticity. No evidence linked lifetime psychedelic use to impaired mental health indicators. Other psychoactive drugs showed opposite associations with mental health.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
September 21, 2023
James Davies, Brian A. Pace, Neşe Devenot
29 citations
Psychedelic medicine is promoted as a novel solution to the mental health crisis, but the psychedelics industry adopts profit-driven approaches similar to those that undermined earlier antidepressants like SSRIs. The liberatory rhetoric of psychedelic medicalization actually promotes individualized treatments for distress, distracting from systemic changes needed to address root causes like inequality, precarity, exploitation, and ecological collapse. Through mechanisms of depoliticization, productivization, pathologization, commodification, and de-collectivization, the industry aligns with neoliberal ideology rather than disrupting the psychopharmaceutical status quo. The authors conclude that psychedelics must decouple from neoliberal incentives to achieve durable improvements in well-being.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
April 1, 2017
Eduardo Ekman Schenberg, Maria Angélica de Castro Comis, João Felipe Morel Alexandre et al.
29 citations
A treatment combining the psychedelic alkaloid ibogaine with cognitive-behavioral therapy led to improvements in craving, personal relationships, quality of life, and self-efficacy among people with substance use disorders, including cocaine dependence. These secondary outcomes were assessed through semi-structured interviews and qualitative content analysis. The findings support the therapeutic potential of ibogaine-assisted psychotherapy for treating substance use disorders, particularly for psychostimulants like cocaine and crack cocaine, for which effective treatments are lacking.