Personal use of psychedelics among therapists may be common, study finds

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Feb 27 2023

Whether personal use of psychedelics is appropriate among psychedelic therapists, a new study finds that it may be common. The study is published in the peer-reviewed journal Psychedelic Medicine.

Experiential learning is common in psychotherapy. Psychedelic therapy is a practice that uses psychedelics such as psilocybin as an adjunct to psychotherapy. Some contend that having personal experience with psychedelics is essential to understanding the effects of these substances and being an effective psychedelic therapist, although there are no data that support this contention, psychedelics remain Schedule I controlled substances, and use outside of approved research settings is illegal in the United States, United Kingdom, and elsewhere

Jacob Aday, PhD, from the University of California, San Francisco, and coauthors surveyed psychedelic therapists involved in a trial of psilocybin to treat major depressive disorder. The vast majority of the respondents reported personal experience using psychedelic compounds.