PLoS ONE
March 7, 2024
Sean M. Viña
14 citations
Lifetime classic psychedelic use is independently linked to lower psychological distress, but household size alters that relationship. Larger households are associated with higher distress, and this negative effect is amplified among psychedelic users. Three-way interactions show that the harmful association between household size and distress is strongest for psychedelic users who are married, divorced, or widowed. The findings suggest that social context—particularly household composition—moderates the potential health benefits of psychedelic use, with married and formerly married individuals in larger households experiencing the worst outcomes.
J Psychoactive Drugs
November 7, 2024
Sean M. Viña
6 citations
Both lifetime classic psychedelic use and religious attendance are associated with lower psychological distress, but their interaction is complex. Among people who have used psychedelics, higher religious salience (the personal importance of religion) is linked to greater distress, weakening the protective effect of religion alone. However, individuals who both attend religious services frequently and report high religious salience show the lowest distress levels of any group. The findings come from a large U.S. survey of over 458,000 respondents conducted between 2008 and 2019.
Psychoactives
May 12, 2026
Sean M. Viña
Analyzing 2008–2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health data, lifetime psychedelic use is not independently linked to lower odds of missing needed mental health treatment after accounting for psychological distress. However, psychedelic exposure weakens the link between distress and missed care: as distress rises, those who have used psychedelics—especially men—show a smaller increase in unmet treatment needs compared to non-users. Among women, only MDMA shows a similar buffering effect. The findings indicate that psychedelic use does not uniformly improve care engagement but reveals gendered patterns in how distress leads to disengagement, with women experiencing diminished benefits despite comparable distress levels.
Discov Ment Health
November 27, 2025
Sean M. Viña
A community-centered approach to psychedelics emphasizes the importance of social and communal contexts in shaping psychedelic experiences and their outcomes, rather than focusing solely on individual use or clinical settings. The work argues that integrating community support, shared rituals, and collective meaning-making can enhance benefits and reduce risks associated with psychedelic substances. This perspective challenges individualized models and calls for greater attention to cultural and relational dimensions in psychedelic research and practice.