Frontiers in Public Health
October 7, 2026
Kenton Bartlett, Lisa L. Gezon, Walter D. Ward et al.
The modern United States faces significant public health challenges, including a mental health crisis and healthcare systems with numerous shortcomings. At the same time, emerging research on psychedelic substances demonstrates their robust applications for health and well-being, as well as their nuanced risks. While regulators explore how psychedelics can be incorporated into existing...
Anthropology of Consciousness
December 1, 2025
T. Reuter, Fanicy Sears, Lisa L. Gezon
Psychedelic research has opened unexpected avenues for advocacy. This paper explores the intersection of advocacy and an ethnographic study on psychedelic integration in the Southeast United States. Mental health professionals aim to make information about the safe use of psychedelics more accessible, even in a legal climate where these substances are illegal and enforcement has historically...
Anthropology of Consciousness
August 27, 2025
Lisa L. Gezon, Kenton Bartlett
1 citation
ABSTRACT The interplay between psychedelic use, mental health, and spiritual, religious, or ‘mystical’ experiences continues to be investigated through clinical research. While many studies focus on general mechanisms underlying these compounds, analysis of real‐life accounts from individuals is underrepresented. To fill that gap, this ethnographic study explores the question of how members of...
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
May 27, 2024
Lisa L. Gezon
7 citations
This qualitative ethnographic study of a psychedelic integration group in the Southeastern United States contributes to an understanding of the role of supportive communities in processing psychedelic experiences. This article proposes the concept of ‘social efficacy’ to capture the importance of social relationships to the efficacy of psychedelics. Social efficacy refers to a source of...
July 7, 2023
Neil Carrier, Lisa L. Gezon
This chapter focuses on drugs in spiritual and religions contexts, considering their role in altered states of consciousness, divination and healing. The first part of the chapter presents the sub-discipline of ethnobotany and its contribution to anthropological ideas about hallucinogenic plant substances and their wider connection of drugs to shamanism and the spirit world. It also discusses...
International Journal of Yoga Therapy
2021
Dawn Wells Neely, Lisa L. Gezon
Scholarship on the use of contemplative practices in educational settings is overwhelmingly positive: Theoretical and philosophical pieces tout the benefits of meditation, while research reveals many positive outcomes. Based on their practice of classroom yoga, the authors found that yoga, as a contemplative mind-body practice, helped students transition from busy lives to focus on the learning...