Research
Papers I keep coming back to, and what I take from each one. I am not a researcher. I read this work the way a practitioner does, looking for what holds up in a room with a real person in it.
Depression & Anxiety
Psilocybin-assisted therapy for treatment-resistant depression in the NHS (the PsiDeR trial)
What really stood out to me in this study is who the participants were. These were people with diagnosed depression who had already tried conventional treatments without achieving adequate relief. And yet, after a single psilocybin treatment, a significant number experienced meaningful improvement. To me, this is incredibly important. It forces us to look honestly at where traditional approaches are failing and ask whether we have been overlooking something that humanity has understood for thousands of years. What I find especially fascinating is that we keep coming back to plant medicine. Psilocybin mushrooms have existed in nature long before modern psychiatry, and humans have worked with these medicines across cultures for generations. Modern science is now beginning to investigate what traditional and Indigenous practices have understood for a very long time. For me, this isn't about saying that conventional medicine has no value. It's about recognizing that it may not be the only path to healing — and that perhaps we need to become more open to approaches that have been with us for thousands of years. Another part of this study that I found particularly significant was the finding that this treatment could be delivered safely outside of a hospital setting, in a community environment with trained professionals and appropriate support. I think this is a huge distinction. If we are going to talk about the future of psychedelic medicine, I don't necessarily believe that these ancient medicines need to be turned into something that belongs exclusively inside hospitals or under the same framework as pharmaceutical drugs. Psilocybin mushrooms are part of nature; they don't need to be "invented," manufactured, or legitimized by modern medicine to have existed. What we do need is responsible access, appropriate settings, education, screening, preparation, professional support, and integration. To me, the question shouldn't simply be, "How do we legalize this?" but rather, "How do we create a safe and responsible framework for working with something that has been part of human history for thousands of years?"
Nature Medicine / King's College London, 2026→Integration
Efficacy and safety of psilocybin for the treatment of substance use disorders: A systematic review
What an incredible review. This article brings together 16 studies and gives us a much broader picture of the emerging evidence, with particularly encouraging findings in alcohol and tobacco use disorders. What stood out to me most is that the research continues to support something I emphasize in my own work: psilocybin itself is not the whole treatment. It can be a powerful catalyst, but the therapeutic process surrounding the experience is essential. Proper preparation, intention, psychological support, mindfulness, nervous-system stabilization, awareness of thought and behavioral patterns, and integration are all important parts of creating meaningful and lasting change. I often describe psilocybin as a catalyst or a "reset button" — it may create an opportunity to see ourselves and our patterns differently, but we still have to do the work afterward. This is also why I strongly believe psychedelic experiences should not be approached recreationally when the intention is therapeutic change. The potential comes from the combination of the medicine, the therapeutic framework, preparation, appropriate setting, professional support, and integration. The research is still developing, but these 16 studies provide another important piece of evidence showing why psilocybin-assisted therapy deserves serious scientific attention.
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2025→Depression & Anxiety
Trial of Psilocybin versus Escitalopram for Depression
This is the study people quote at me most often, usually to say psilocybin beat the antidepressant. On the trial's own primary measure, it did not. The two came out close. What I find useful sits elsewhere. The psilocybin group moved faster, and the secondary measures — wellbeing, how people described themselves weeks later — separated further than the depression score did. That gap between what a scale catches and what a person actually reports is most of my work. Read it before someone quotes it to you.
New England Journal of Medicine, 2021→Microdosing
Adults who microdose psychedelics report health related motivations and lower levels of anxiety and depression compared to non-microdosers
What stands out to me about this study is the sheer scale of it. We're looking at 8,703 people from 84 countries, including more than 4,000 people who were actively microdosing, with psilocybin being the substance reported by the vast majority of microdosers. Among participants who reported mental-health concerns, the microdosing group showed statistically lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress compared with non-microdosers. As a psychedelic-assisted therapist, I find these findings significant because they add to a growing body of research showing a measurable association between microdosing and improved mental-health outcomes. For me, the real message is that the signal is strong enough — and the number of people reporting benefits is large enough — that it deserves serious, rigorous scientific investigation rather than dismissal.
Scientific Reports, 2021→Microdosing
Self-blinding citizen science study of microdosing
Nearly two hundred people microdosed themselves, half of them unknowingly on placebo. Both halves improved by about the same amount. I send this to everyone who arrives certain that microdosing is the answer. Not to talk them out of it — expectation doing real work is not nothing — but so they know what they are buying. If most of the benefit is what you bring to it, that changes how you set the thing up, and it changes what you do when it stops helping. The design is worth reading on its own. They ran the whole trial out of people's kitchens.
eLife, 2021→Safety
The Challenging Experience Questionnaire
From my perspective as a psychedelic-assisted therapist, I rarely use the term "bad trip" with my one-on-one clients. I believe that labeling an experience as a "bad trip" can sometimes come from a limited understanding of how psychedelic therapy works. A single psychedelic session can bring years of unresolved emotions, trauma, unconscious patterns, and material that has never been fully processed to the surface within just a few hours. That can be intense, uncomfortable, and challenging — but challenging does not necessarily mean harmful or negative. With the right preparation, support, and skilled facilitator, I encourage clients to move through the discomfort rather than immediately trying to stop or judge the experience. I often describe it as walking through a dark corridor before reaching the light: what initially feels overwhelming can become deeply meaningful once it is processed and integrated. This is why I prefer the language of a "challenging experience" rather than a "bad trip." The goal is not to avoid difficult emotions, but to create a safe and supportive environment where a person can meet them, understand them, and ultimately move through them.
Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2016→
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