Cosmology of belonging: The role of community in the therapeutic use of psychedelics.
Caroline Dorsen, Lola Noero, Michelle Knapp, Kristin A Arden, William E Rosa
Palliative & Supportive Care January 21, 2025 DOI: 10.1017/S1478951524001688 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Secondary qualitative analysis of ethnographic data Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 15 |
| Population | Facilitators of naturalistic psychedelic groups in the United States |
| Topics | Psychedelic-assisted therapy |
| Keywords | Belonging Community Ethnography Group process Group therapy Psychedelics Social support Group healing Ethnographic research Therapeutic communities |
| Citations | 5 |
| Key findings | Facilitators viewed community as essential to the motivation, dosing experience, and integration of psychedelic work, with themes of healing through community and naturally occurring psychedelic communities resembling group therapy. |
Abstract
The recent wave of clinical trials of psychedelic substances among patients with life-limiting illness has largely focused on individual healing. This most often translates to a single patient receiving an intervention with researchers guiding them. As social isolation and lack of connection are major drivers of current mental health crises and group work is expected to be an important aspect of psychedelic assisted psychotherapy, it is essential that we understand the role of community in psychedelic healing. To explore how psychedelic guides in the United States discuss the role of "community" in naturalistic psychedelic groups. This is a secondary qualitative data study of data from a larger modified ethnographic study of psychedelic plant medicine use in the US. Fifteen facilitators of naturalistic psychedelic groups were recruited via snowball sampling. Content analysis was used to identify themes. Participants viewed the concept of community as essential to every aspect of psychedelic work, from the motivation to use psychedelics, to the psychedelic dosing experience and the integration of lessons learned during psychedelic experiences into everyday life. Themes and subthemes were identified. Theme 1: The arc of healing through community (Subthemes: Community as intention, the group psychedelic journey experience, community and integration); Theme 2: Naturally occurring psychedelic communities as group therapy (Subthemes [as described in Table 2]: Belonging, authenticity, corrective experience, trust, touch). Results suggest that existing knowledge about therapeutic group processes may be helpful in structuring and optimizing group psychedelic work. More research is needed on how to leverage the benefit of community connection in the therapeutic psychedelic context, including size and composition of groups, selection and dosing of psychedelic substances in group settings, facilitator training, and role of community integration. Psychedelic groups may provide benefits that individual work does not support.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on psychedelic-assisted therapy, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patients’ Accounts of Increased “Connectedness” and “Acceptance” After Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression Patients with treatment-resistant depression enrolled in an open-label trial of psilocybin | 2017 | Qualitative study | n = 20 |
| LSD-assisted psychotherapy for anxiety associated with a life-threatening disease: A qualitative study of acute and sustained subjective effects Patients with anxiety associated with life-threatening diseases | 2014 | Prospective follow-up with qualitative content analysis | n = 10 |
| Patient Experiences of Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Adults aged 22 to 69 with clinically elevated anxiety associated with a cancer diagnosis | 2017 | Qualitative study | n = 13 |
| Psychedelic therapy for smoking cessation: Qualitative analysis of participant accounts Participants who completed a psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation pilot study | 2018 | Qualitative follow-up study using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis | n = 12 |
| The hidden therapist: evidence for a central role of music in psychedelic therapy Patients undergoing psychedelic therapy with psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression | 2018 | Qualitative study | n = 19 |
Citations in the library
Cited by 7
- The science of psychedelic medicine. Nature Medicine February 6, 2026
- Practitioner perspectives on extended difficulties and optimal support strategies following psychedelic experiences: a qualitative analysis. Harm Reduction Journal December 9, 2025
- Practitioner perspectives on extended difficulties and optimal support strategies following psychedelic experiences: A qualitative analysis Research Square May 13, 2025
- A Missing Voice? Peer Support Workers' Perceptions of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in Australia: A Cross-Sectional Survey. Brain and Behavior June 1, 2026
- Working with post-psychedelic difficulties: a meta-aggregation of users’ experiences and implications for counselling practice Counselling Psychology Quarterly September 27, 2026
and 2 more in the library
Cites 26
- Classic psychedelics: An integrative review of epidemiology, therapeutics, mystical experience, and brain network function. Pharmacology & Therapeutics May 1, 2019
- Therapeutic effects of classic serotonergic psychedelics: A systematic review of modern‐era clinical studies Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica October 30, 2020
- Towards an understanding of psychedelic-induced neuroplasticity. Neuropsychopharmacology 2023
- Classical psychedelics for the treatment of depression and anxiety: A systematic review. Journal of Affective Disorders November 1, 2019
- The Therapeutic Potentials of Ayahuasca: Possible Effects against Various Diseases of Civilization. Frontiers in Pharmacology March 2, 2016
and 21 more in the library