Reading the crowd: attitudes toward psychedelics and psychedelic therapies among attendees at a conference
Zachary Bosshardt, Jessica L. Maples‐keller, Deanna M. Kaplan, Barbara O. Rothbaum, Sarah Eisenacher, Kim Dupree Jones, Tanja Mletzko, George H. Grant, Boadie W. Dunlop, Ali John Zarrabi, Roman Palitsky
Psychedelics. December 17, 2024 DOI: 10.61373/pp024r.0040 via OpenAlex
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractAttendees at a conference on psychedelics and spiritual care generally agreed that microdosing may have benefits and expressed modest concern about potential harm from therapeutic psychedelic use. Among 178 survey respondents, 40.2% agreed or strongly agreed that psychedelics could be harmful therapeutically, while 30.7% were unsure. A subset of 32 psychedelic care facilitators reported using psychedelics to treat a wide range of diagnoses with diverse psychotherapy approaches and endorsed a need for cultural adaptations in psychedelic treatments.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Survey Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 178 |
| Population | Attendees at an academic conference on psychedelics and spiritual care |
| Keywords | Reading process Psychology Philosophy Linguistics |
| Key finding | Conference attendees generally agreed that microdosing may have benefits and showed modest concern about therapeutic harm from psychedelics, while facilitators reported diverse practices and a need for cultural adaptations. |
Abstract
Social attitudes, policy, and perceptions of psychedelics are currently undergoing considerable change. Growing public salience of psychedelics has been accompanied by the emergence of conferences focused on psychedelic education and dialogue. Attendees at such events compose an important group of stakeholders in psychedelic science and practice; their views of psychedelics can be valuable for understanding the current status of this emerging field. For this study, a survey was administered to attendees ( N = 178) at an academic conference focused on two topics: psychedelics and spiritual care. The survey queried attitudes toward psychedelics in emerging research domains: 1) the potential benefits of microdosing and 2) potential for harm with psychedelics use. A subset of attendees who were facilitators of psychedelic care ( n = 32) were also asked about their facilitation practices and their beliefs concerning aspects of psychedelic facilitation. Participants generally agreed that microdosing may have benefits (M = 3.90, where 4 = Probably, SD = 0.95) and modest concern (40.2% ( n = 72) agreed or strongly agreed and 30.7% ( n = 55) respondents “not sure”) that psychedelics could be harmful when used therapeutically. Descriptive analyses of a subset of psychedelic care facilitators also characterized harms observed during psychedelic care. Psychedelic care facilitators reported that they used psychedelics to treat a wide range of diagnoses, employing diverse psychotherapy modalities, and endorsed a need for cultural adaptations among psychedelic treatments.