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Journal of Humanistic Psychology

42 papers in the library · 4,391 citations · publishing 1965-2025

Papers

Patients’ Accounts of Increased “Connectedness” and “Acceptance” After Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Journal of Humanistic Psychology June 19, 2017 Rosalind Watts, Camilla Day, Jacob Krzanowski et al. 582 citations

In an open-label trial, 20 patients with treatment-resistant depression described their experiences six months after psilocybin treatment. They reported two main shifts: from feeling disconnected from themselves, others, and the world to feeling connected, and from avoiding emotions to accepting them. Patients contrasted psilocybin with conventional treatments like medications and short-term talking therapies, which they said reinforced disconnection and avoidance, whereas psilocybin encouraged connection and acceptance. The findings suggest psilocybin may work through a novel mechanism opposite to standard antidepressants and some therapies.

DOI: 10.1177/0022167817709585 Psychedelic-assisted therapy Treatment-resistant depression Major depressive disorder Psilocybin therapy +19

Self-Transcendence as a Human Phenomenon

Journal of Humanistic Psychology April 1, 1966 311 citations

Human existence is characterized by two distinct capacities: self-detachment and self-transcendence. Self-transcendence means that being human inherently involves pointing toward and being directed to something beyond oneself—other beings to encounter and meanings to fulfill. Viewing humans as closed systems is a grave misinterpretation; being human fundamentally means being open to the world. This self-transcending quality is ignored by motivational theories based on the homeostasis principle, which assume humans are primarily concerned with maintaining inner equilibrium and reducing tensions.

DOI: 10.1177/002216786600600201

Patient Experiences of Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Journal of Humanistic Psychology April 28, 2017 Alexander Belser, Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, Thomas Cody Swift et al. 305 citations

In psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for cancer patients with anxiety, participants commonly reported feelings of interconnectedness, emotional range, meaningful visual phenomena, and revised life priorities. Most described exalted joy, bliss, love, and transient distress, while some experienced lasting identity changes, synesthesia, catharsis, improved relationships, and forgiveness. The findings suggest psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy may effectively treat psychological distress in cancer patients.

DOI: 10.1177/0022167817706884 Psilocybin Interpretative phenomenological analysis Psychology Psychotherapist +4

Developing Guidelines and Competencies for the Training of Psychedelic Therapists

Journal of Humanistic Psychology June 29, 2017 Janis Phelps 215 citations

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy has shown positive effects on clinical symptoms and quality of life since the 1950s, but the focus on outcomes has led to neglect of therapist competencies. This review compiles six core therapist competencies from the psychedelic literature: empathetic abiding presence, trust enhancement, spiritual intelligence, knowledge of psychedelic effects, therapist self-awareness and ethical integrity, and proficiency in complementary techniques. It also delineates 12 fundamental curricular domains for training. With Phase 3 and expanded access programs for psilocybin- and MDMA-assisted therapies, competent therapists will be needed, especially if legal medical use is approved within 6 to 10 years.

DOI: 10.1177/0022167817711304 Psilocybin Psychology Context archaeology Psychotherapist +5

Cancer at the Dinner Table: Experiences of Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy for the Treatment of Cancer-Related Distress

Journal of Humanistic Psychology June 14, 2017 Thomas Cody Swift, Alexander Belser, Gabrielle Agin-Liebes et al. 187 citations

In psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for cancer patients with anxiety, participants described reconciling with death, acknowledging cancer's place in life, and emotionally uncoupling from the disease. The immersive and sometimes distressing psilocybin session led to spiritual or religious interpretations, a felt reconnection to life, reclaiming presence, and greater confidence about cancer recurrence. Patients also reported anxiety and trauma related to cancer and a perceived lack of emotional support. The findings suggest psychological mechanisms—such as emotional uncoupling and reconciliation with death—that may underlie large reductions in anxiety and depression observed in recent trials.

DOI: 10.1177/0022167817715966 Psilocybin Anxiety Psychotherapist Clinical psychology +8

Of Roots and Fruits: A Comparison of Psychedelic and Nonpsychedelic Mystical Experiences

Journal of Humanistic Psychology October 24, 2016 David B. Yaden, Khoa D. Le Nguyen, Margaret L. Kern et al. 125 citations

Religious, spiritual, or mystical experiences triggered by psychedelic substances are rated as more intensely mystical and produce a reduced fear of death, a greater sense of purpose, and increased spirituality compared to similar experiences arising through other means. These findings held even after controlling for gender, education, socioeconomic status, and religious affiliation. The results support the view that psychedelic-induced experiences are genuinely mystical and generally positive in outcome.

DOI: 10.1177/0022167816674625 Mysticism Spirituality Religious experience Socioeconomic status +8

Development of a Psychotherapeutic Model for Psilocybin-Assisted Treatment of Alcoholism

Journal of Humanistic Psychology October 16, 2016 Michael P. Bogenschutz, Alyssa A. Forcehimes 96 citations

Research into the clinical value of classic hallucinogens and other psychedelics has increased markedly in the past two decades. Effective experimental and clinical use requires psychotherapeutic models tailored to the disorder and integrated with the drug's pharmacological effects. This paper provides an overview of the history of psychedelic-assisted treatment, reviews known therapeutic mechanisms, and considers the purposes of psychotherapy in research and clinical contexts. The authors describe a therapy model they developed for a trial of psilocybin-assisted treatment for alcoholism and discuss advantages and disadvantages of alternative models, emphasizing the need for research to determine the most effective approaches for established indications.

DOI: 10.1177/0022167816673493 Psilocybin Psychotherapist Hallucinogen Context archaeology +4

Peak Experiences: Some Empirical Tests

Journal of Humanistic Psychology July 1, 1978 85 citations

Most people report having had a peak experience, but some are more oriented toward peaking than others. Peakers are more likely to say their lives are very meaningful, to think about life's purpose, to feel they know that purpose, and to spend time meditating. They also rate themselves higher on personal talents and capabilities. Peakers value material possessions, high pay, job security, fame, and having many friends less than nonpeakers do, but they value working for social change, solving social problems, and helping people in need more. These differences are not explained by education, age, employment, sex, or marital status. The findings support Maslow's idea that peaking is associated with self-actualization and affects values.

DOI: 10.1177/002216787801800307

Psychedelic Psychotherapy: Insights From 25 Years of Research

Journal of Humanistic Psychology September 29, 2016 William A. Richards 70 citations

After a dormant period of more than two decades, investigations with psychedelic substances such as psilocybin, DMT, LSD, and MMDA have resumed in the United States and Europe. Drawing on 25 years of clinical research experience, the author discusses the cartography of inner space, the therapeutic potential of transcendental states of consciousness, the entelechy of the interpersonally grounded psyche, the importance of integration in drug-free therapy sessions, the roles of expectation, religious education and faith, the role of music, and future research directions.

DOI: 10.1177/0022167816670996 Psilocybin Psychotherapist Consciousness Psyche +7

Altered Beliefs, Attitudes, and Behaviors Following Near-Death Experiences

Journal of Humanistic Psychology July 1, 1998 Gary Groth‐marnat, Roger Summers 66 citations

People who have had a near-death experience (NDE) report significantly more lasting changes in beliefs, attitudes, and values than those who faced similar life-threatening situations without an NDE. These changes, corroborated by close associates, include increased concern for others, reduced death anxiety with a strengthened belief in an afterlife, heightened transcendental and paranormal awareness, less interest in material possessions, greater self-worth, and deeper appreciation of nature. The depth of the NDE correlates with the extent of change. The findings strongly suggest that the NDE itself, not merely surviving a life-threatening event, drives these transformations.

DOI: 10.1177/00221678980383005 Afterlife Paranormal Phenomenon Social psychology +7

A Qualitative Exploration of Relational Ethical Challenges and Practices in Psychedelic Healing

Journal of Humanistic Psychology September 16, 2021 Margo A. Jackson, Joseph G. Ponterotto, Bill Brennan et al. 53 citations

Practitioners who have administered MDMA and psilocybin in underground (extralegal) healing contexts face unique relational ethical challenges, including client nudity, the use of touch, and the belief that therapists must continue their own psychedelic experiences. Interviews with 23 practitioners revealed descriptive themes of these challenges and prescriptive themes of helpful practices. Some challenges are unique to psychedelic work, while others represent psychedelic-specific takes on standard ethical considerations like transference and supervision. The findings have implications for training psychedelic psychotherapists and regulatory decisions.

DOI: 10.1177/00221678211045265 MDMA Psilocybin Psychology Competence human resources +3

Peak Experience Tendencies

Journal of Humanistic Psychology July 1, 1982 53 citations

A new measure called the Peak Scale was developed to assess the tendency to have peak experiences. People who report peak experiences also often report intense happiness, but they are even more likely to report transcendent and mystical cognitive experiences, suggesting peak experiences are primarily cognitive events involving positive affect. Those reporting peak experiences are more likely to live by Being-values like truth, beauty, and justice. Self-actualizing individuals are more likely to report peak experiences, though the relationship is weak. Overall, results align with Maslow's theory.

DOI: 10.1177/0022167882223011

Integration in Psychedelic-Assisted Treatments: Recurring Themes in Current Providers’ Definitions, Challenges, and Concerns

Journal of Humanistic Psychology April 2, 2022 47 citations

Integration therapy, a key part of psychedelic-assisted treatment, helps people make sense of their psychedelic experiences after the drug's effects wear off. In interviews with 30 integration therapists, 19 themes emerged reliably. Therapists commonly defined integration as a bridge between the psychedelic experience and daily life, expressed concern about nonresponsive clients, and worried about the commercialization of psychedelic psychotherapy. They viewed integration as a process that starts before substance use, never ends, makes sense of the experience, creates behavioral change, is personalized, and makes the individual whole. Many also discussed client resistance, unrealistic expectations, power differentials, the need for connections to other providers, and self-care. The findings may help standardize integration therapy and inform future research.

DOI: 10.1177/00221678221085800

Participant Reports of Mindfulness, Posttraumatic Growth, and Social Connectedness in Psilocybin-Assisted Group Therapy: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis

Journal of Humanistic Psychology June 12, 2021 Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, Eve Ekman, B. Anderson et al. 47 citations

In a qualitative study of nine gay cisgender men diagnosed with HIV before 1996 and experiencing significant trauma symptoms, psilocybin-assisted group therapy helped participants shift from habitual, evaluative thinking to mindful, experiential awareness. During psilocybin sessions, individuals processed and released previously avoided feelings such as grief and shame, and accessed positive emotions including joy, gratitude, love, care, and compassion. The treatment also supported meaning-making and posttraumatic growth across psychological, relational, and spiritual dimensions, as participants integrated past traumas into their life narratives. These findings suggest that combining group therapy with psilocybin may enhance trauma processing by reinforcing social cohesion, safety, trust, and belonging.

DOI: 10.1177/00221678211022949 Psilocybin Mindfulness Interpretative phenomenological analysis Psychotherapist +6

Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy Practices and Human Caring Science: Toward a Care-Informed Model of Treatment

Journal of Humanistic Psychology April 23, 2021 Andrew Penn, Janis Phelps, William E. Rosa et al. 37 citations

Psychedelic therapies combine a healing environment, psychotherapy, and psychedelic medicine to treat depression and PTSD. This article uses Jean Watson's nursing theory of human caring science to describe essential caring qualities in psychedelic therapy. It maps these qualities onto traits of a psychedelic therapist articulated by Janis Phelps, illustrating them with qualitative data from a psilocybin-assisted therapy study. The resulting nursing-informed philosophical framework helps examine trust between patient and therapist, therapeutic openness, mutual learning, the influence of therapists' spiritual practices, optimizing healing environments, and physical care during sessions. The article aims to identify themes and generate hypotheses for future nursing-informed psychedelic psychotherapy research.

DOI: 10.1177/00221678211011013 Psilocybin Psychotherapist Watson Psychology +2

A Social History and Analysis of the Lsd Controversy

Journal of Humanistic Psychology October 1, 1983 Roy F. Baumeister, Kathleen S. Placidi 31 citations

LSD use evolved from a tool for self-exploration, curiosity, and spiritual insight to a recreational pursuit focused on fun. Early users sought personal and existential revelations, but opposition grew as LSD became a symbol of generational conflict, political dissent, and threats to traditional values. LSD use declined because changing social conditions among youth demanded a drug experience LSD could not provide, and shifts in users' attitudes and preparation altered the nature of the experience. The review discusses how drug preference relates to social conditions, attributional biases about drugs, and parallels between the behaviors of LSD proponents and opponents.

DOI: 10.1177/0022167883234003 Cognitive dissonance Social psychology Exhibitionism Curiosity +3

Do Drugs Have Religious Import? A 40-Year Retrospective

Journal of Humanistic Psychology April 1, 2004 Huston Smith, Charles Grob, Robert Jesse et al. 29 citations

Huston Smith revisits his influential article on whether drugs have religious import. Drawing on personal experience, he discusses how psychedelic experiences have shaped religious traditions and contemplative practices, citing the ancient Vedic tradition, the Eleusinian mysteries, and the contemporary Native American Church. He reflects on why the 1960s psychedelic movement failed to produce lasting social change, critiques current drug policy and culture, and emphasizes the role of elders in society.

DOI: 10.1177/0022167804263209 Mysticism Psychedelics Entheogens Hallucinogens +16

Psychedelics as a Training Experience for Psychedelic Therapists: Drawing on History to Inform Current Practice

Journal of Humanistic Psychology June 23, 2021 Elizabeth M. Nielson 26 citations

As psychedelic-assisted therapy with psilocybin expands, hundreds of therapists need training, yet current programs do not include a personal psilocybin experience. The last such training with a similar compound occurred in the Spring Grove LSD Training Study (1969–1974). This article examines archival data from that study to guide modern training efforts, suggesting that incorporating nonordinary states of consciousness may benefit therapist preparation.

DOI: 10.1177/00221678211021204 Psilocybin Psychotherapist Training meteorology Consciousness +7

Traumatic and Mystical Experiences

Journal of Humanistic Psychology December 18, 2014 24 citations

Mystical experiences and traumatic experiences share deep structural similarities, both involving an encounter with nothingness. The comparison, though requiring caution, goes beyond surface-level phenomenology to reveal a common root in the subject's confrontation with absence or threat. This perspective can enhance understanding of posttraumatic growth and spiritual crisis, offering a unified framework for interpreting transformative experiences that arise from extreme states.

DOI: 10.1177/0022167814563143

Current Status and Future Trends in Psychedelic (LSD) Research

Journal of Humanistic Psychology October 1, 1965 Robert E. Mogar 23 citations

Since LSD's discovery in 1943, extensive research has documented its powerful effects on brain processes and autonomic functions, including lowered arousal thresholds and heightened sensory sensitivity. These psychopharmacological changes align with clinical findings of pronounced perceptual, affective, and ideational alterations. However, beyond these broad patterns, results have been inconsistent and often contradictory, even in simpler animal species. Methodological problems—especially in human studies—such as organic complexity, measurement shortcomings, individual differences, lack of adequate theoretical models, and non-drug variables like set and setting, have hindered progress. Additionally, a medico-legal-social controversy has obscured empirical questions and inhibited objective investigation.

DOI: 10.1177/002216786500500204 Psychology Epistemology

Scaling Up: Multisite Open-Label Clinical Trials of MDMA-Assisted Therapy for Severe Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Journal of Humanistic Psychology June 23, 2021 Julie B. Wang, Jessica Lin, Leah Bedrosian et al. 22 citations

MDMA-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT) can be scaled across multiple clinic sites while maintaining high treatment fidelity. In an open-label study across 14 North American sites, cotherapist dyads were trained in a manualized protocol and administered three experimental sessions to participants with severe PTSD. Adherence to the therapy protocol was high across both dyads and sites. PTSD symptom severity, measured by the CAPS-5, decreased substantially after three sessions at 18 weeks. MDMA was well tolerated. These results indicate that the benefits of MDMA-AT for PTSD can be achieved in a multi-site, real-world clinical setting.

DOI: 10.1177/00221678211023663 Psychedelic therapy PTSD Treatment Trauma therapy Mental health treatment +15

Body Posture and the Religious Altered State of Consciousness

Journal of Humanistic Psychology July 1, 1986 F. Goodman 21 citations

Experiments with student volunteers showed that adopting postures from religious rituals, such as those used in Pentecostal services, produced physical changes and self-reported experiences similar to those observed in religious altered states of consciousness. Earlier experiments had inconsistent results, which the author hypothesized was due to neglecting posture as a component. In five subsequent experimental series, ritual postures from ethnographic literature yielded striking agreement between ethnographic data and subjects' self-reports, while neutral control postures did not. The method allows investigation of religious altered states without relying on religious dogma.

DOI: 10.1177/0022167886263006 Psychology