Recent research published in journals Advances in neuropsychopharmacology and biological psychiatry suggest that adults with a history of childhood abuse or neglect may experience lasting mental health improvements when taking psychedelics in a group setting. This study shows that when these substances are taken with a therapeutic mindset during organized ceremonies and electronic dance music events, they tend to reduce symptoms of trauma and feelings of shame, while simultaneously increasing a sense of connectedness to others.
Child abuse includes physical, mental, or sexual abuse, as well as physical and emotional neglect. These adverse experiences often lead to lasting psychological challenges later in life. When trauma occurs early in development, it tends to cause deep disruptions in a person’s sense of self, emotional regulation, and relationships with others.
This set of symptoms is often recognized as complex post-traumatic stress disorder. People with this condition frequently experience intense internalized shame, a persistent feeling of being fundamentally flawed or inadequate. They also tend to suffer from emotional numbness and instability, and experience a deep sense of disconnection from society and themselves.
Psychedelic drugs have shown promise in alleviating some of these deep-rooted psychological problems. Substances like psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, and MDMA reliably alter a person’s perception of reality. They often dissolve the normal boundaries of the self, allowing people to experience intense emotional release and feel an unusual sense of closeness to others.
Most clinical studies focus on people taking psychedelics in highly controlled laboratory or clinical settings. However, many people use these substances in natural group settings, such as guided spiritual ceremonies or electronic dance music events known as raves.
“Organized group ceremonies, raves, festivals, and other electronic dance music events are common settings for naturalistic psychedelic use in groups,” said lead author CJ Healy, a clinical psychologist in private practice in New York City who specializes in childhood trauma. “Furthermore, rituals and raves share certain deliberate psychosocial, cultural, and environmental characteristics, such as being usually held overnight, involving rhythmic, trance-inducing music, having a prosocial atmosphere that promotes bonding, emotional vulnerability, and connection, involving collective experiences of altered states of consciousness, and including other elements of ritual.”
The similarities between these seemingly disparate environments led scientists to investigate their curative potential. “Because ceremonies and raves are not only common settings for psychedelic use, but are unique and distinctive in many ways, we wondered whether they functioned as semi-structured, naturalistic containers for socially mediated therapeutic experiences with psychedelics for people who choose to use psychedelics in these settings,” Healy explained.
Both environments foster radical acceptance and shared vulnerability, which may complement the psychological effects of psychedelic drugs. “Group psychedelic experiences may be particularly therapeutic for people with a history of childhood abuse, especially given that abuse is an inherently relational form of trauma that influences the development of a person’s sense of self and the way they experience and interact with others, especially in settings where social attitudes such as acceptance, tolerance, connectedness, vulnerability, and authenticity are implicitly or explicitly promoted,” Healy added.
To explore these questions, the authors developed a prospective longitudinal study. This means following the same group of participants over a period of time to observe changes. They recruited adults who had experienced childhood abuse and who planned to use hallucinogens at upcoming ceremonies or raves. All participants were required to report treatment intent, meaning they explicitly planned to use the drug for psychological healing or personal growth.
The final sample included 85 participants, with an average age of approximately 36 years. The majority identify as white and straight, but a significant portion identify as LGBTQ. Approximately 36% of participants attended an organized ceremony, and the remaining 64% attended a rave or dance music festival.
Scientists asked participants to complete three separate online surveys. The first study was completed in the month leading up to the scheduled psychedelic experience. This baseline assessment measured participants’ childhood trauma history, current trauma symptoms, internalized shame, and feelings of social and general connectedness.
Participants completed a second survey within 2 days of their psychedelic experience. The questionnaire asked about the physical environment, the type of drug used, and the estimated dose. The most common substances reported were psilocybin mushrooms, ayahuasca, MDMA, and LSD.
In this second survey, participants also answered questions about their acute subjective experiences while under the influence of drugs. The researchers measured several specific psychological states. These include ego dissolution, which is the feeling of losing one’s sense of separate identity, and oceanic infinity, which refers to a sense of bliss that refers to oneness with the wider world.
The researchers also measured emotional breakthroughs, the experience of releasing difficult emotions or the occurrence of sudden psychological insight. Finally, they assessed interpersonal intimacy and a concept known as communitas. Community refers to a deep sense of humanity, togetherness, and bonding shared among a group of people.
The third and final survey was submitted approximately two months after the psychedelic experience. In this follow-up study, participants’ trauma symptoms, internalized shame, and feelings of connectedness were measured again. Scientists compared these final scores to baseline scores to look for lasting psychological changes.
Data showed significant improvement in all measured areas at 2 months. Participants reported reduced symptoms of standard post-traumatic stress disorder and complex post-traumatic stress disorder. They also experienced a significant reduction in internalized shame and reported feeling more connected to themselves, others, and the world.
Mr Healy said the magnitude of these improvements was very encouraging. “The effect sizes of treatment effects reported by participants, reductions in symptoms of PTSD and complex PTSD (CPTSD), feelings of internalized shame, and increases in sense of connectedness to self, others, and the world were all in statistically large ranges, suggesting that people tend to experience very meaningful improvements in these areas,” he said.
These psychological improvements were equally observed among participants who attended ceremonies and those who attended raves. Specific settings did not appear to alter the overall positive results. Both types of collaborative environments appeared to support participants’ psychological recovery.
The researchers also found that the intensity of participants’ acute subjective experiences strongly predicted long-term improvement. Participants who reported higher levels of emotional breakthrough, psychological insight, ego dissolution, oceanic infinity, and communitas tended to experience the greatest reductions in trauma symptoms and shame.
“There were two main findings in our study,” Healy summarized. “First, people with a history of childhood abuse report, on average, PTSD symptoms, complex PTSD (CPTSD) symptoms, internalized shame, and higher levels of connectedness with themselves, others, and the world after using psychedelics for therapeutic purposes in organized group ceremonies, raves, and other electronic dance music events.”
“And second, the amount and extent of these therapeutic effects that people experience is directly related to the strength and quality of various subjective aspects such as personal and social psychedelic experiences, oceanic boundless experiences, ego disintegration, psychological insight, emotional breakthroughs, group cohesion/bonds, and interpersonal intimacy,” Healy said.
Interestingly, although the estimated dose of the psychedelic drug predicted the intensity of acute subjective experiences, dose alone did not directly predict long-term mental health improvements. This pattern suggests that the physical effects of drugs simply open the door to deep psychological experiences. “These findings not only provide evidence that psychedelics can help treat childhood trauma, but also help us understand how psychedelics work in therapy,” Healy added.
Although these findings are promising, this study has several limitations that are worth considering. The most important limitation is the lack of a control group. Because all study participants took a hallucinogen, researchers cannot definitively prove that the drug itself caused the improvement in symptoms.
This improvement may be partially explained by a placebo effect. The placebo effect means that just expecting a treatment to work makes you feel better. You may also benefit from simply participating in collaborative communal events, such as raves and ceremonies, without using mind-altering substances. Future studies could address this issue by including participants who attend the same event but do not take psychedelics.
Another limitation is that this study relied entirely on self-reported data. Participants completed a questionnaire about their symptoms, which may introduce bias. They also self-reported the type and dose of drugs they used, which can be inaccurate in natural settings where drugs are not tightly regulated.
Future studies may benefit from incorporating biological markers or behavioral tasks to more objectively measure psychological changes. Scientists can also use anonymous drug tests to verify the exact substances and dosages involved in these nature experiences. Following participants over a longer period of time, such as six months or a year, could also help determine whether these mental health benefits are durable.
The study, “Acute subjective effects of psychedelics in naturalistic group settings prospectively predict long-term improvements in trauma symptoms, trait shame, and connectedness in adults with a history of childhood maltreatment,” was authored by CJ Healy, Aaron Frazier, Stephen Kirsch, Anna Sanford, Albert Garcia-Romeu, McWelling Todman, Jeremy Varon, and Wendy D’Andrea.
