Conducting Qualitative Research With Psychedelic Psychopharmacologists: Challenges of Co-Production in an Era of Interdisciplinarity

A qualitative researcher recounts their experience working with a pharmacology team that had conducted an open-label clinical trial using psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to help long-term cigarette smokers quit. The smoking outcomes were promising and accompanied by other positive life changes. The researcher led a retrospective qualitative project to identify participants' perceptions of the mechanisms behind these changes. This case study describes challenges faced when collaborating across physical and social sciences, situates the work within the intellectual history of psychopharmacology, and offers practical suggestions for interdisciplinary co-production.

Study at a glance

Abstract

From 2013 to 2015, I worked as a postdoctoral research fellow with a team of pharmacologists experimenting with psilocybin, an illegal psychoactive compound found in psychedelic mushrooms. The team had conducted an open-label clinical trial with long-term cigarette smokers, using psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to help them quit. The smoking outcomes were very promising, occurring alongside many other profound positive life-changes. The team wanted to investigate further the mechanisms of change by which the study led to its effects. With my PhD training in qualitative research but little knowledge of psychopharmacology, I spearheaded a retrospective qualitative research project to identify participants’ perceptions of the mechanisms of change. This case study describes the challenges I experienced through my involvement with the pharmacology team and some of the solutions that emerged. The distance between collaborating physical scientists and social scientists ebbs and flows, and I begin by situating our interdisciplinary project in the context of the recent intellectual history of psychopharmacology. I then offer a twin analysis of working on the topic as a qualitative researcher and working in a team with pharmacologists. The case study ends with practical suggestions for getting the most out of interdisciplinary co-production.