Most people with alcohol use disorder (AUD) are aware of psychedelic research and would be willing to try psychedelic therapy, but their openness depends heavily on expecting it to succeed. In a mixed-method study of 112 participants from two non-psychedelic clinical trials and 10 patients from addiction outpatient services, 62.5% knew about psychedelic research and 64.3% were willing to join a psychedelic therapy trial. Willingness was strongly linked to higher expectations of research success, not to age or knowledge alone. Interviews revealed a spectrum of attitudes shaped by perceived therapeutic potential, fears of addiction or loss of control, personal and societal experiences with substances, and media exposure. Expectation of benefit was central to openness.
A brief mindful body scan meditation may reduce the influence of environmental cues on behavior in people with alcohol use disorder (AUD), according to a pilot experiment. Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) measures how much contextual cues affect goal-directed actions, and a larger PIT effect is thought to contribute to relapse in AUD. In a randomized within-subjects design, 27 AUD participants and 35 healthy controls listened to either a guided body scan meditation or nature sounds (control). No overall differences in PIT effect emerged between groups or conditions, but a significant interaction showed that AUD participants had a smaller PIT effect after the body scan. These preliminary results suggest mindfulness may alter cue reactivity in AUD, though further research is needed.