Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 26, 2026
Malin V. Uthaug, Jack G. Allocca, Martha Havenith et al.
A new construct called Pivotal Physical States (PiPS) is proposed as the bodily counterpart to Pivotal Mental States (PiMS). PiMS theory holds that psychedelics and stressors like fasting and hypoxia can trigger transformative mental states via serotonin receptor activation, enhancing cognitive flexibility and learning. The paper argues that these same stressors also induce profound bodily changes through the peripheral serotonin system and other somatic mechanisms, creating 'pivotal states' spanning the mind–body continuum. This dual action may enable psychological and physiological recalibration in positive or negative directions depending on moderators. The authors call for empirical validation of PiPS to guide integrated research and therapeutic applications.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 12, 2026
Zuzana Postránecká, Matyáš Lucký, Viktor Mravčík et al.
Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) shows cautious clinical potential for treating substance use disorders, but the evidence remains heterogeneous and largely from observational, open-label, or historical studies rather than strong randomized controlled trials. In the Czech Republic, recent developments include ketamine-assisted psychotherapy initiatives, inclusion of PAP in national addictology guidance, publication of national psychiatry guidelines for psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, and a 2025 legislative reform introducing psilocybin for medical use from January 2026. Broader integration will require clearer indications, accredited training, longitudinal outcome monitoring, and transparent communication of benefits and risks.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 10, 2026
Sina Susanna Schüttler, John Nathaniel Parker, Daniel Münster
As ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) moves into clinical practice, ethical challenges arise around access, consent, and therapeutic integrity. Interviews with 16 physicians and clinical psychologists in Norway, conducted before the country's August 2025 approval of ketamine reimbursement for treatment-resistant depression, revealed three key themes: access to care was inequitable due to cost, geography, and restrictions on public communication; informed consent was complicated by ketamine's unpredictable effects, requiring flexibility and experiential familiarity; and therapeutic integrity depended on maintaining psychotherapy alongside ketamine, with risks of fragmented care and unrealistic expectations. The principlist framework helped structure these issues but could not fully capture systemic factors like funding and biomedical consent norms.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 2, 2026
Brandon Reynante, Jack Buchanan
Music has been integral to psychedelic experiences across history, from shamanic rituals to modern psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT), yet standardized protocols for its use are lacking. This interdisciplinary review compared musical features in three contexts: modern PAT, traditional entheogenic rituals, and musically-induced peak experiences. Conflicting features emerged: PAT music peaks with simplicity, consistency, and slow tempo; ritual music uses simple forms with rhythmic complexity, subtle variations, and fast tempo; peak-experience music is complex, surprising with large dynamic changes, and fast. These differences likely stem from music's assumed role and the associated non-ordinary state of consciousness.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
May 29, 2026
Alex Hood, Gary Elkins
A systematic review of 25 studies found that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) produces a large reduction in anxiety symptoms within groups (Hedge's g = 0.96) and a small reduction compared to control groups (Hedge's g = 0.48). However, the studies varied widely in psychotherapy format, dosing, session structure, and outcome timing, and high heterogeneity persisted even after accounting for these differences. The authors conclude that PAP shows promise for treating anxiety across different diagnoses but caution that variability in study quality, design, sample representativeness, and high heterogeneity limit confidence in the findings. More rigorous trials with diverse populations are needed.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
April 15, 2026
Jean C. Vélez Rodríguez, Yanice Duquesne-Maldonado, Julián M. Hernández Torres et al.
In a convenience sample of 343 adults in Puerto Rico recruited online, 52.6% reported having used psilocybin (magic mushrooms) at least once. Most users considered the substance non-addictive (61%) and safe (57%), and 88% reported pleasant or very pleasant experiences. Curiosity was the most common motivation (43%). Factors associated with higher odds of use included male sex, bisexual or non-heterosexual identity, non-Christian religious affiliation, and higher scores on openness and agreeableness; identifying as gay was associated with lower odds. The authors caution that these findings are preliminary and not generalizable to the broader population.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
March 30, 2026
Emma Yuanqi Gu, Natalia M. Irvine, Megan E. Miller et al.
People who use opioids and participate in online Reddit communities for opioid recovery often report positive experiences with psychedelics, describing symptom relief for anxiety, depression, and PTSD, along with enhanced mood, inner peace, emotional healing, and shifts in perspective. These experiences were linked to reprocessing trauma and disrupting negative thought cycles, supporting long-term recovery by fostering emotional resilience and clarity. However, concerns about the risks of self-administered psychedelic use were noted. The findings are exploratory due to the unique sample and context of an internet forum.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
March 26, 2026
Aly Shah Aziz
Adolescent treatment-resistant mental health disorders are increasing worldwide, and standard medications and therapy often fail. Classic psychedelics like psilocybin, LSD-25, and DMT, given within psychedelic-assisted therapy, have shown strong effectiveness in adults with refractory conditions, but adolescents have been excluded from trials. Safety concerns in adolescents are justified but must be weighed against limitations in current evidence, which is observational and underpowered for long-term outcomes. Adult studies indicate low physiological toxicity, minimal dependence risk, and a wide therapeutic index, but these findings cannot be directly applied to developing adolescents. This commentary advocates for cautious, ethically grounded research with these compounds in adolescents who have not responded to other treatments.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
March 9, 2026
Lajos Horváth
This paper extends Sartre's concept of enchanted consciousness by integrating insights from psychedelic research. It first examines contradictions in Sartre's mescaline experiment and limits of his phenomenological analysis of hallucination. Then it argues that Benny Shanon's typology of ayahuasca hallucinations, grounded in phenomenological cognitive psychology, reveals aspects of enchanted consciousness Sartre missed. The phenomenon of double bookkeeping from phenomenological psychiatry illustrates delusional world characteristics. Comparing pathological double bookkeeping with psychedelic bookkeeping expands the idea of enchanted consciousness. Finally, Sartre's views on hallucination are updated, defining captivated consciousness through psychedelic double bookkeeping.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
March 9, 2026
Noah N. Barr, Briony Larance, Matthew J. Schweickle et al.
A survey of 106 adults who had a meaningful psychedelic experience found that increases in feelings of connectedness—to oneself, others, and the world—were linked to reduced fear of death and death avoidance. Participants reported these changes when comparing the three months before and after the experience. Greater connectedness in all three domains was associated with less fear of death, but only connectedness to self and others was tied to lower death avoidance. The intensity of the mystical experience was also related to greater connectedness and less fear of death, but not to death avoidance. The authors call for further research to clarify causality and whether these changes reflect adaptive acceptance or denial.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
March 9, 2026
Genís Ona, Sidsel Marie
Ibogaine, a psychedelic alkaloid, has a history before its 1960s anti-addictive discovery that involves colonial appropriation, early pharmaceutical research, and commodification. During French colonial rule, ibogaine-containing plants from the Congo Basin were classified and appropriated. In 1900, ibogaine was isolated from Tabernanthe iboga, leading to early French scientific research on its effects. Throughout the 20th century, ibogaine was commercialized in several pharmaceutical products, including Dragées Nyrdahl, Grains des Anémiques, Syséros, Viris Lucet, Ibobiose, and Iperton. Evidence shows ibogaine was used in Mexico in 1913 for substance use disorder, challenging the dominant account of its anti-addictive discovery. Indigenous medicinal knowledge from the Congo Basin critically shaped subsequent scientific understanding.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
March 1, 2026
Yvan Beaussant, Candace Oglesby, Kim Roddy et al.
BIPOC therapists see both opportunities and barriers to engaging in psychedelic-assisted therapies (PAT). Opportunities include increasing diversity in the field, fostering safety and trust for clients of color, and providing culturally attuned care for trauma rooted in systemic oppression. Barriers include financial and geographic inaccessibility of training, exclusionary training environments, stigma around psychedelics, and the extractive nature of current Western therapeutic models. Participants recommended culturally responsive training, mentorship, financial support, and community education. Most participants were African American/Black, which may limit transferability. The work highlights the need for intentional efforts to create equitable, culturally informed care.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
February 19, 2026
Sophie Sarrassat, Suzannah Hill
People who have used psychedelics for mental health issues sometimes seek therapy afterward to integrate the experience. Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy, a model that views the mind as composed of distinct sub-personalities or 'parts,' may help. Interviews with four individuals who used IFS therapy for psychedelic integration revealed that integration is a challenging, time-consuming transformational process. Participants found IFS helpful because it provides a language to describe internal experiences, treats those experiences seriously, and emphasizes self-love, though they cautioned that it is possible to lose sight of one's core self. The therapeutic relationship was also important. The findings suggest IFS can support psychedelic integration, but more diverse research is needed.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
January 6, 2026
Tobias Erny, Elba Yatziri Cano Montenegro, Joern Barth et al.
A 52-year-old woman with Parkinson's disease who was becoming less responsive to standard treatment took daily low doses of ibogaine hydrochloride (up to 75 mg) for 80 days. After treatment, she showed substantial improvements in motor symptoms, quality of life, fatigue, and depression, as measured by validated clinical scales. However, her sleep quality declined, possibly due to ibogaine's stimulant effects. She also reported fewer freezing episodes, better mobility, more energy, and greater optimism. No adverse events occurred. This first case study using validated instruments suggests ibogaine may alleviate Parkinson's symptoms, but larger controlled trials are needed.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
November 20, 2025
Óscar Véliz‐garcía, Marcos Domic‐siede
Among 4,810 Latin American adults from six countries, the most common first psychedelic macrodose was psilocybin mushrooms (57.6%), followed by LSD (33.3%) and MDMA (17.5%). Most used these substances for recreation (70.5%), with spiritual (21.6%) and therapeutic (5.2%) motivations less frequent. Consumption typically occurred in social settings, especially with friends (65.7%), and 9.1% used them alone. Psilocybin was linked to introspection and well-being, ayahuasca to mystical states, and MDMA to heightened empathy. Familiar environments were associated with more positive experiences. Although 86.3% continued use, the main reason for stopping was lack of opportunity, not negative outcomes.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
November 18, 2025
Joseph T. la Torre, Ariana Kam, Todd Youngs et al.
Long-term participants in ayahuasca spiritual communities in the United States describe these groups as spaces for healing trauma, addiction, and psychological distress, offering belonging and cultural identity. These communities blend Western biomedical views of psychedelics with entheogenic spiritual frameworks, creating a hybrid healing paradigm centered on ritual, music, and shared intention. Members often move from self-focused healing toward relational growth and altruistic action, becoming facilitators and stewards. They navigate interpersonal tensions that foster emotional growth and operate in a legal grey zone, balancing risks of practice and identity. Joining such a community requires careful discernment regarding values, group dynamics, and safety. U.S. ayahuasca communities differ from individualized clinical psychedelic models by emphasizing community, spirituality, and mutual transformation.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
October 17, 2025
J. Adler, Isa Gucciardi
A transpersonal counseling model called Depth Hypnosis Spiritual Counseling can help psychotherapists and counselors prepare clients for and integrate experiences with psychedelic substances. The model combines earth-based spiritual traditions that originally used psychedelic plants as medicine with practices from Transpersonal Psychology, Buddhist Psychology, hypnotherapy, Applied Shamanism, and Integrated Energy Medicine. Key aspects include setting intentions, managing expectations, attending to set and setting, and addressing regulation. Integration work covers challenges, peak experiences, and adverse experiences. The approach aims to support healing potential and insight gained from psychedelic encounters.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
September 11, 2025
Ron Shore, K. Dobson, Nina Thomson et al.
A scoping review of 77 pre-clinical studies (1962–2021) found that psilocybin has a strong safety profile with no evidence of biological toxicity, even at very high doses. Most studies (64) used rodents, and 51 studies administered psilocybin, 30 psilocin, and 4 whole mushroom extracts. Effects included acute arousal, dose-dependent sedation, reduced fear conditioning at low doses, reduced aggression, improved valence, acute disruption of working memory, rescuing of deficits from chronic stress, and improved learning when combined with repeated environmental exposure after drug effects resolved. Study quality varied: only 43 studies reported housing conditions, and 17 failed to report sample size.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
September 8, 2025
Stephen Kagan
Narratives of DMT experiences show consistent patterns linking the types of entities encountered to the environments in which they appear. Analyzing online accounts of experiences from smoking N,N-dimethyltryptamine, the study identified different entity types and charted their frequency across various environments. Some environments had unique mixtures of dominant and less common entity varieties. The findings provide a framework for understanding the progression of these extraordinary experiences and may assist therapeutic, spiritual, and exploratory uses by revealing predictable relationships between the content of psychedelic experiences.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
September 4, 2025
Giordano Novak Rossi, Rishma S. I. Khubsing, Eline Haijen et al.
Both a single ayahuasca ceremony and a single breathwork session led to lasting improvements in cognitive flexibility, emotion regulation, positive affect, and sleep quality over three months. Improvements in cognitive flexibility appeared before changes in emotion regulation, partially supporting the idea that cognitive shifts may drive later emotional gains. The two treatments did not differ in their overall benefits, and the role of participants' experience and motivation remains unclear. The findings suggest that both practices can promote psychological well-being, but further research is needed to clarify the mechanisms and temporal order of these effects.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
July 4, 2025
W. Hwang, Yuhan Kong, Ken A. Fujimoto et al.
Attitudes toward psychedelics strongly predict actual use among college students, explaining 85.6% of the variance in lifetime use. Male, sexual-minority, older, and non-religious students, as well as those who had used other substances, held more positive attitudes, which in turn made them more likely to have used psychedelics. Lifetime psychedelic use was directly associated with better mental health. A new 12-item Psychedelic Attitudes Scale (PAS) was validated in a sample of 466 liberal arts college students and showed good psychometric properties.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
June 17, 2025
Kevin Rebecchi
A 34-year-old autistic woman with lifelong aphantasia—the inability to form visual mental images—experienced vivid, manipulable mental imagery for the first time after consuming psilocybin truffles. The effect persisted beyond the drug's acute psychedelic phase. Her score on the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire rose from a baseline of 16 before intake to 80 afterward; at 12 months it was 59, and at 33 months it increased to 68, slightly above the population average. The case aligns with prior work on psilocybin's effects on brain connectivity and neuroplasticity. It suggests psilocybin may modulate mental imagery in congenital aphantasia and encourages viewing aphantasia as cognitive diversity rather than a disorder.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
May 16, 2025
Oskar Enghoff, Margit Anne Petersen, Søren Holm et al.
People who have used psychedelics, whether therapeutically or non-therapeutically, and those who have never used them all strongly prefer online sources for information about psychedelics. Different groups show distinct patterns in where they get information and what types of content they access, indicating varied online social learning environments for consumption practices. Online content influences both current and potential future use, even as public attention increasingly focuses on psychedelic therapy. Public health institutions could use these online channels to engage with the psychedelic resurgence.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
May 13, 2025
Caroline Hayes
A fictional story, Cornutopia, by British-Nigerian author Irenosen Okojie, offers a critical outsider's perspective on the enthusiasm surrounding psychedelic research. The protagonist, a young Black woman, participates in a psychedelic clinical trial and has a negative experience, leaving her in worse condition than before. The narrative highlights issues of bias, patient vulnerability, and mistrust of healthcare professionals, which is significant given calls for greater diversity in trials and the potential role of race in set and setting. Based on themes in the story, recommendations are made to improve researchers' awareness of barriers to inclusion for ethnic minorities and to address possible racial differences in therapy outcomes.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
April 17, 2025
Jacob T. Dines
Psychedelic and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy are emerging as new treatment models for mental illnesses like PTSD and depression, as well as for improving well-being. Mindfulness and loving-kindness meditation also enhance emotional regulation and psychological well-being. This narrative and theoretical review explores the convergence of these therapies, highlighting their overlapping neurobiological, psychological, and phenomenological effects. Both modalities influence the amygdala, hippocampus, and default mode network, and may improve psychological flexibility, empathy, and neuroplasticity. Integrating meditation with psychedelic or MDMA-assisted therapy could stabilize insights gained during altered states, promote sustained benefits, and reduce distress during therapy. Future research should examine structured protocols combining these approaches.