Journal Club
Join us for our first Journal Club of the year! For this edition, we will be discussing the paper “Extended difficulties following the use of psychedelic drugs: A mixed-methods study” by Evans et al. (2023). While there may be significant mental health benefits to the use of psychedelics in psychotherapy and for personal and spiritual development, the use of psychedelics may lead to long-term mental health problems in some individuals. Examples include anxiety, existential struggle, social disconnection, depersonalization and derealization. What do we know about potential risk factors involved, and which areas should be explored by future research? APRA member Emily Duckett will present this Journal Club, followed by a group discussion.
Why attend a Journal Club?
During Journal Clubs we discuss scientific publications related to psychedelics, dissect their contents and have an in-depth discussion about the methodology and implications of the research. Not only is it very insightful (and fun!) to do this in group form; it also helps improve your literacy of scientific publications. All levels of knowledge are welcome. You do not need to be an expert in the topics that are discussed – “no stupid questions” is the motto!
Abstract
Long-term adverse experiences following psychedelic use can persist for weeks, months, or even years, and are relatively unexplored in psychedelic research. Our convergent mixedmethod study gained quantitative and qualitative data from 608 participants who reported extended difficulties following psychedelic experiences. Data was gathered on the context of use, the nature and duration of the challenges they experienced (including a written description of these), plus a range of possible risk factors and perceived causes. The most common forms of extended difficulty were feelings of anxiety and fear, existential struggle, social disconnection, depersonalization and derealization. For approximately one-third of the participants, problems persisted for over a year, and for a sixth, they endured for more than three years. It was found that a shorter duration of difficulties was predicted by knowledge of dose, drug type and lower levels of difficulty reported during the psychoactive experience, while a narrower range of difficulties was predicted by taking the drug in a guided setting. Implications for psychedelic harm reduction are discussed.
Location
CREA Amsterdam (Nieuwe Achtergracht 170) Room 2.13.
Entry
APRA membership is required to attend Journal Clubs. Not a member yet, but curious to attend? Send us a message.