Skip to content

Dark loops: contagion effects, consistency and chemosocial matrices in psychedelic-assisted therapy trials

Tehseen Noorani, Gillinder Bedi, Suresh Muthukumaraswamy

Psychological Medicine July 19, 2023 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291723001289 (opens in new tab)

Read Full Text
Relevant Not relevant

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Intervention Psychedelic-assisted therapy
Topics Psychedelic-assisted therapy
Keywords Sociality Causal inference Context archaeology Clinical trial Consistency knowledge bases Cognitive psychology Epistemology Artificial intelligence
Citations 49
Key points Argues that psychedelic-assisted therapy clinical trials breach key assumptions underlying causal inference due to chemosociality and proposes the concept of 'dark loops' to describe unrecorded social interactions affecting trial outcomes.

Abstract

Abstract What happens when an emerging programme of medical research overlaps with a surging social movement? In this article we draw on the anthropological term ‘chemosociality’ to describe forms of sociality born of shared chemical exposure. Psychedelic administration in the context of recent clinical trials appears to have been particularly chemosocial in nature. We argue that one consequence is that psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) clinical research trials tend to breach key assumptions underlying the logic of causal inference used to establish efficacy. We propose the concept of dark loops to describe forms of sociality variously emerging from, and impacting participant experiences in, PAT trials. These dark loops are not recorded, let alone incorporated into the causal pathways in the interpretation of psychedelic trial data to date. We end with three positions which researchers might adopt in response to these issues: chemosocial minimisation where research is designed to attenuate or eliminate the effects of dark loops in trials; chemosocial description where dark loops (and their impacts) are openly and candidly documented and chemosocial valorisation where dark loops are hypothesised to contribute to trial outcomes and actively drawn upon for positive effect. Our goal is to fold in an appreciation of how the increasingly-discussed hype surrounding psychedelic research and therapeutics continues to shape the phenomena under study in complex ways, even as trials become larger and more rigorous in their design.

Comparable studies

Other theoretical and historical papers on psychedelic-assisted therapy, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Theorizing that Psychedelic Assisted Therapy May Play a Role in the Treatment of Trauma-Induced Personality Disorders. 2024 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Learning to Let Go: A Cognitive-Behavioral Model of How Psychedelic Therapy Promotes Acceptance 2020 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Awe: a putative mechanism underlying the effects of classic psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy 2018 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Ethical and legal issues in psychedelic harm reduction and integration therapy 2021 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Towards psychedelic apprenticeship: Developing a gentle touch for the mediation and validation of psychedelic-induced insights and revelations. 2022 Theoretical or philosophical paper

Citations in the library

Cited by 40

and 35 more in the library

Cites 35

and 30 more in the library

Related reading

Explore topics

Psychedelic-assisted therapy