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Predictors of attitudes toward psychedelics among psychologists in the USA

Jason B. Luoma, Brian Pilecki, Alan K. Davis, Sarah M. Smith

Drugs Education Prevention and Policy September 4, 2022 DOI: 10.1080/09687637.2022.2117022 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Cross-sectional survey Peer reviewed
Population Psychologists
Topics Addiction
Keywords Legalization Clinical psychology Psychotherapist
Citations 13
Key findings Psychologists' attitudes toward psychedelics are associated with gender, age, region, religious affiliation, knowledge, and personal or peer experience, but not with addiction treatment training.

Abstract

As evidence for psychedelic-assisted therapy accumulates, legalization becomes more likely. As a result, there is an increasing need for psychologists to become educated about psychedelics and their therapeutic effects as they will play an important role in disseminating this treatment. Therefore, understanding psychologists’ current attitudes toward psychedelics is integral in informing dissemination and implementation efforts. In this article, we examined associations between individual difference variables and psychologists’ attitudes toward psychedelics, including age, gender, region, religious affiliation, personal experience with psychedelics, friends’ or loved ones’ experiences with psychedelics, level of training in addiction treatment, and knowledge of psychedelics. Results indicated that participants who were men, lived in West or Northeast regions of the USA, were younger, had greater knowledge of risks and benefits of psychedelics, were religiously unaffiliated, or had direct or indirect (i.e. through peers) experience with psychedelics reported more positive attitudes toward psychedelics. The only variable not associated with more positive attitudes was previous addictions treatment training. These findings suggest that psychologists are not monolithic in their attitudes toward psychedelics. Furthermore, these findings can help inform potential paths for improving attitudes toward psychedelics among psychologists, such as by emphasizing the importance of using case studies in public education efforts.

Comparable studies

Other cross-sectional and survey studies on addiction, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Persisting Reductions in Cannabis, Opioid, and Stimulant Misuse After Naturalistic Psychedelic Use: An Online Survey Online survey respondents 2020 Cross-sectional survey
The users of Novel Psychoactive Substances: Online survey about their characteristics, attitudes and motivations International users of novel psychoactive substances recruited via bluelight.org 2016 Cross-sectional online survey n = 619
User perceptions of the benefits and harms of hallucinogenic drug use: A web-based questionnaire study Users of hallucinogenic drugs who completed a web-based questionnaire 2010 Cross-sectional survey n = 600
Psychological and neuropsychological assessment of regular hoasca users. Regular hoasca users from a U.S. branch of União do Vegetal and matched non-user controls 2016 Cross-sectional study n = 57
Client and counselor attitudes toward the use of medications for treatment of opioid dependence. Counselors and clients from outpatient, methadone, and residential drug treatment programs 2007 Cross-sectional survey n = 1,459

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Addiction Psychedelic-assisted therapy