Psymposia

04/10/2022

Spotted in Paris. If you haven’t already, listen to Power Trip—the podcast we co-produced with NYMag about abuse in underground and above ground psychedelic spaces. Link is in bio.

28/06/2022

New video and podcast! Link to YouTube and podcast in bio.

This talk was presented live by Dr. Brian Pace and Dr. Neşe Devenot at the UW–Madison Transdisciplinary Center for Research in Psychoactive Substances. This talk was presented on April 28 as part of the "Psychedelic Humanities" speaker series, organized by Dr. Lucas Richert.

Public discourse concerning psychedelics and the emerging industry in psychedelic-assisted therapy has extended beyond the potential benefits of novel treatments for specific mental health disorders to claims that widespread psychedelic use may tilt social relations towards more egalitarian norms. Researchers and media outlets have pointed to several recent studies which present data asserting that classical psychedelics can reduce authoritarianism, increase liberal views, and deepen nature-relatedness.

Taken together, these studies are cited to promote a vision of drug-assisted social progress. Yet counter examples abound of psychedelic-experienced individuals expressing views explicitly opposed to egalitarianism and liberal politics. Moreover, acceptance of psychedelics by institutions and aspirational business and celebrity figures has only increased right-wing psychedelic interest in recent years.

This presentation highlights the numerous contemporary and historical cases where the use of psychedelics failed to reduce authoritarian tendencies in users, or even facilitated adoption of authoritarian views. We demonstrate that psychedelics can catalyze change in political or religious belief, but not in a consistent direction. Instead, we propose that many transformative experiences—including those induced by psychedelics—can challenge and radically shift a person’s worldview, and that extra-pharmacological factors influence the character of change in ideology or political belief.

03/05/2022

Meaghan Buisson's friends are collecting donations to insulate her from the precarity she's experienced in the wake of her abuse during her participation in an M**A for PTSD trial. Anything you can contribute helps: https://www.gofundme.com/f/get-on-team-meaghan?utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1

"Meaghan’s story is one of resilience, courage, and incredible strength. She fought to extricate herself from her therapists' psychological hold and escaped Cortes Island, then fought to make sure what happened to her never happens to anyone else. Despite everything that has happened to her, she finds ways to be kind, generous, and hopeful.

The Financial Impact
Meaghan is a certified and highly sought-after wilderness guide. Her work involves leading small groups of people on expeditions into the wild on the West Coast of Canada. Since the end of the trial, she has cobbled together enough to survive by taking guiding contracts when she's able to work.

However, the five unrelenting years of advocacy to bring about accountability, combined with her ongoing severe trauma symptoms and other medical sequelae, have taken a toll. Meaghan is stuck in a vicious cycle - forcing herself to work to make ends meet comes at the cost of her health, and her health problems cost her her ability to work enough to make ends meet. She needs to stop and recuperate, and she needs our help.

What Now?
The goal of this fundraiser is to provide her with financial support to cover her living expenses and the cost of therapy so that she can focus her time and energy on healing without worrying how she'll pay for her basic necessities. I'm hopeful that together, we can give her at least a year. If we can exceed the target amount, it would also help her pay for the costs associated with caring for her wonderful PTSD support dog and companion, Zoey, and potentially extend their financial runway beyond just the next year. This is also about letting her know that she isn’t alone and that people - lots of people - care about her and what happened to her.

How Can I Help?

- If you can contribute financially, any amount will help. Really.

- Whether or not making a financial contribution is an option for you, you can also help Meaghan by sharing this GoFundMe page in your networks (but please don't tag her as I am trying to avoid overwhelming her)

- You can help ease the burden of raising awareness about what happened to her by sharing the media coverage of her story.

- Finally, please hit the Contact button if you'd like to send a note of support or encouragement but can't afford to make a donation and leave a comment here. I won't be able to reply to most e-mails, and I will be filtering out negative ones, but you can be sure that positive words will find their way to her."

Meaghan Buisson’s story is the stuff nightmares are made of. She is a world-record holding athlete … Sarah McNamee needs your support for Get on Team Meaghan

27/01/2022

On Plus Three #46 - Part One: Right Wing Psychedelia, we discuss Brian Pace and Neşe Devenot's recently published paper: "Right-Wing Psychedelia: Case Studies in Cultural Plasticity and Political Pluripotency" 

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Abstract: Recent media advocacy for the nascent psychedelic medicine industry has emphasized the potential for psychedelics to improve society, pointing to research studies that have linked psychedelics to increased environmental concern and liberal politics. However, research supporting the hypothesis that psychedelics induce a shift in political beliefs must address the many historical and contemporary cases of psychedelic users who remained authoritarian in their views after taking psychedelics or became radicalized after extensive experience with them.

We propose that the common anecdotal accounts of psychedelics precipitating radical shifts in political or religious beliefs result from the contextual factors of set and setting, and have no particular directional basis on the axes of conservatism-liberalism or authoritarianism-egalitarianism. Instead, we argue that any experience which challenges a person's fundamental worldview—including a psychedelic experience—can precipitate shifts in any direction of political belief.

We suggest that the historical record supports the concept of psychedelics as “politically pluripotent,” non-specific amplifiers of the political set and setting. Contrary to recent assertions, we show that conservative, hierarchy-based ideologies are able to assimilate psychedelic experiences of interconnection, as expressed by thought leaders like Jordan Peterson, corporadelic actors, and members of several neo-Nazi organizations.

16/12/2021

Lost your 🍄🤑🔥📉 shirt? You can buy one of ours 👉

shop.psymposia.com (all colors available)

07/12/2021

Power Trip episode 2 is live!

That's an Old Story

Lily visits the Ecuadorian Amazon to work on a project when something terrible happens to her. She barely escapes and makes it home alive. But it’s what happens next that really sets the course of her life. Meanwhile, the psychedelic renaissance is really starting to take off.

https://www.psymposia.com/powertrip/

🍄🏴

Cover Story is a new investigative podcast from New York Magazine. The first season, Power Trip, uncovers the secrets and exposes the darkest corners of the psychedelic renaissance through a twisted, deeply personal tale at the intersection of mind, body, and control. Power Trip is a co-production o...

06/12/2021

If you caught the debut episode of Cover Story: Power Trip last Tuesday and you want more before episode two drops tomorrow, check out "Power Tripping," Psymposia’s weekly deep-dive into the Power Trip podcast, co-produced by & Psymposia.

https://www.psymposia.com/powertrip/

Cover Story is a new investigative podcast from New York Magazine. The first season, Power Trip, uncovers the secrets and exposes the darkest corners of the psychedelic renaissance through a twisted, deeply personal tale at the intersection of mind, body, and control. Power Trip is a co-production o...

02/12/2021

After working on this project and investigating cases and patterns of psychedelic abuse for two years, we’re live. Power Trip is the first season of New York Magazine's new investigative podcast series, Cover Story, and explores the dark underbelly of the psychedelic renaissance.

Episode 1: I See a Sh*tshow

After years of experimenting with drugs, Lily discovers the psychedelic underground. It’s a world of shamans and guides - people illegally practicing psychedelic therapy to treat trauma. Their secret mission is make this treatment more widely available in order to “promote the evolution of humankind.” But what will they overlook to get there?

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New episodes of Power Trip drop Tuesdays. Each Sunday Psymposia will release a discussion about the episode on the Plus Three podcast. You can listen wherever podcasts are available.

Starting Sunday (12/5), you can follow our coverage of Power Trip at psymposia.com/powertrip. Here you will be able to find episodes of the show, our discussions, transcripts, supporting documents, and additional reading.

If you support the show and our work, please consider becoming a donor on Patreon or visit psymposia.com/donate to make a one-time donation. Psymposia is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and donations are tax deductible.

Power Trip is a co-production of New York Magazine, Vox Media Podcast Network, and Psymposia. It’s co-created, produced, and reported by David Nickles and Lily Kay Ross. It’s hosted by iO Tillett Wright. Senior producers are Marianne McCune, Whitney Jones. It’s also produced by Tarkor Zehn and Liza Yaeger. Our Executive Producer and Editor is Hanna Rosin. Music by Lynx Demuth and John Ellis. Cover Story’s theme music is by Santigold. Sound design by Mike Cruz, and technical production by Sharif Youssef.

Photo: Lily Kay Ross (center) pictured with Neşe Devenot (right) and a Horizons attendee. Photo-Illustration: by The Cut

28/09/2021

Let's Talk About Psychedelic Therapy Abuse - A Thread 🧵(Read the full thread on Twitter @ psymposia): https://twitter.com/psymposia/status/1442586944077062149

06/08/2021

While COMPASS has issued a response defending the validity of its patents, one of the co-inventors says the patent examiner’s opinion is probably “a valid one.”

https://www.psymposia.com/magazine/compass-pathways-psilocybin-patent-questioned-by-uk-patent-examiner/

While COMPASS has issued a response defending the validity of its patents, one of the co-inventors says the patent examiner’s opinion is probably “a valid one.”

08/07/2021

Livestream - Tonight at 6pm ET: Dave Rubin Courts Right Wing Psychedelic Billionaire Christian Angermayer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34l6Ofuebuo

The Psymposia team breaks down Atai Life Sciences' founder & COMPASS Pathways investor Christian Angermayer's recent appearance on The Rubin Report

25/06/2021

Tomorrow, June 26, don't miss Earth and Fire offering their perspectives on "The Shulgin’s Pioneering Psychedelic Research" in celebration of the release of Dr. Shulgin's new book, "The Nature of Drugs: History, Pharmacology, and Social Impact."

https://synergeticpress.com/blog/consciousness-and-psychedelics/event-legacy-sasha-ann-shulgin/

Join City Lights , Synergetic Press, and Transform Press for a 2-day virtual symposium on June 26-27 celebrating the Shulgin legacy.

31/05/2021

What's in store for psychedelic healthcare?

They Told Their Therapists Everything. Hackers Leaked It All.

Vastaamo ran the largest network of private mental-health providers in Finland...If the scale of the attack was shocking, so was its cruelty.

wired.com/story/vastaamo-psychotherapy-patients-hack-data-breach/

A mental health startup built its business on easy-to-use technology. Patients joined in droves. Then came a catastrophic data breach.

28/05/2021

From the fine folks at Entheogenesis Australis comes the "Reference Guide to Psilocybe subaeruginosa"

https://www.entheogenesis.org/reference-guide-for-psilocybe-subaeruginosa

If you're having trouble identifying P. subaeruginosa in the wild, this resource should be an important stepping stone in this journey.

10/05/2021

MKULTRA has entered popular culture, becoming the butt of jokes, television plot points, and the darling of internet conspiracy theorists. At the very least, the secrecy that still surrounds MKULTRA, or the CIA’s post-9/11 programs, sows distrust of governments, and medical professionals. At worst, it gives credence to online conspiracies, like Pizzagate, that end up having real world consequences. Meanwhile, the families of the victims continue to suffer. And continue to fight for justice and recognition.

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/187-uncover/episode/15811777-s8-e6-never-too-late-to-say-sorry

MKULTRA has entered popular culture, becoming the butt of jokes, television plot points, and the darling of internet conspiracy theorists. At the very least, the secrecy that still surrounds MKULTRA, or the CIA’s post-9/11 programs, sows distrust of governments, and medical professionals. At worst...