Dr David Luke

Events | Irish Doctors for Psychedelic Assisted Therapy We will keep you posted on upcoming educational events in the field of psychedelic medicine.

Really excited to be returning to Dublin for Samhain for the 2nd IMBAS Psychedelic Research Conference organised by Irish Doctors for Psychedelic Assisted Therapy @IdPat7 & the Psychedelic Research Group, Trinity College Dublin. I'll be talking Ecodelia & the Art of Lichenthropy www.idpat.ie/events

Will be giving a short talk tonight for Numinous Ways on Entity Encounters in Psychedelic Experience.. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dr-david-l...

... and here digitalcommons.ciis.edu/advance-arch...

Frontiers | This is your brain on death: a comparative analysis of a near-death experience and subsequent 5-Methoxy-DMT experience Introduction: Much research has focused on the modelling of the near-death experience (NDE) by classical and atypical psychedelics, whereas no study has yet ...

I also like this proposal "Systematic interviews with LBD patients who have experienced SP-induced hallucinations prior to their diagnosis,.. could provide valuable insights into these phenomenological similarities and differences" which we emulate here doi.org/10.3389/fpsy...

Congrats on this research, good to see a more nuanced approach, exploring phenomenology, when comparing psychedelic experiences to organic disorders. Looking at the specifics rather than gross factors (e.g., complex hallucinations) it would seem there are more dissimilarities than similarities, no?

The potential synergistic effects between psychedelic administration and nature contact for the improvement of mental health - Sam Gandy, Matthias Forstmann, Robin Lester Carhart-Harris, Christopher T... Therapeutic psychedelic administration and contact with nature have been associated with the same psychological mechanisms: decreased rumination and negative af...

Our cited research "The potential synergistic effects between psychedelic administration and nature contact for the improvement of mental health" doi.org/10.1177/2055...

Connection to Nature - EIN068 {"flavour": "textile", "content": "This briefing focuses on the evidence for connection to nature and is one of a series that summarises evidence of the links between the natural environment and a ran...

Encouraging to see this recent UK Gov's Natural England commissioned report on the importance of nature connection, and also that it mentions our research on the enhanced wellbeing & connection to nature derived from psychedelic experiences tinyurl.com/265z58wn

Finally I am giving a talk in a venue that matches my end-of-the-pier 'standard' of humour - The Gaiety, Portsmouth, next Monday 6th October, for The Science of Psychedelics.. "I'm here all week!"

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-scienc...

Any good?

This new collaborative paper from 17 @drugscience.bsky.social professionals (myself included) in the field presents a new standardized terminology for psychedelic research and treatment to guide clinical development, dosing, safety monitoring, and regulatory classification.

doi.org/10.1177/2050...

Kudos to @matthabusby.bsky.social for writing this much needed piece about challenging psychedelic experiences (& the CPE project - challengingpsychedelicexperiences.com) and their potential for extended difficulties. Including a quote from my good s'elf.
statesofmind.com/psychedelic-...

Looking forward to give the first @SeedTalks event on parapsychology.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-phenom...

Artists Artists

Off to The Electric Picnic festival in Ireland with SeedTalks to find some craic and rant about #psychedelics .. see you there?

www.electricpicnic.ie/artists/#/ev...

BBC Radio 4 - Understand, The Trip Tim Hayward looks at the science, culture, history - and future - of psychedelics.

NEW TEN-PART AUDIO SERIES about #PSYCHEDELICS
Out now on BBC Sounds - and other podcast spaces.

Co-written & presented by the beautifully curious @timhayward.bsky.social
Production, sound design and mix by me.

It's been a fascinating and challenging process to get here...

I do hope you'll listen.

Really enjoying listening to the extraordinary insights, perfect prose, witty banter, & stellar scholarship of Andrew Gallimore's audio version of his latest book, "Death by Astonishment" on the alien worlds of DMT. Hard copies launch Monday.

Look after yer 'elf!

www.amazon.co.uk/Death-Astoni...

Psychedelic researchers’ own experiences of psychedelic substances, their link to opinions of psychedelics, and reflections on positionality - Psychopharmacology Rationale Anecdotal evidence suggests that psychedelic researchers often have personal experiences with psychedelic substances. While such experiences may benefit research, concerns have been raised a...

Interesting new paper found among psychedelic researchers most (86%) agree #psychedelic experiences have exceptional potential in treating psychiatric conditions, but only 28% agreed they could be used to help solve the ecological crisis..

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Why you see a bright light during near-death experienes, revealed During near-death experiences, many people see the same things. Now, scientists say that brushes with death share a surprising similarity with another type of mind-altering experience.

Myself & co-author Pascal Michael interviewed by William Hunter in the Daily Mail exploring the similarities & important differences between #psychedelic experiences with DMT & near-death experiences, from our recent article www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...

BBC Radio 4 - Understand, The Trip - Episode guide All episodes of The Trip

It seems I will feature in a few of the forthcoming episodes of the new 12-part BBC Radio 4 documentary about #psychedelics called "The Trip", which runs across two weeks starting next Monday, at 13:45 daily, Mon-Fri.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

News | OVID Clinics Berlin

Big move in EU psychedelic therapy heralds new direction. Psilocybin therapy is now available in Germany for the first time for compassionate use..

www.ovid-clinics.de/en/news

Will be exploring my 30 yrs of research & the last 140 yrs of #parapsychology as a formal field of study for
SeedTalks' first event on the subject, at their London venue in Brixton (also live streamed), on 23rd Sept. Come peek into the otherworld with me..

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-phenom...

Another new study on HPPD showing various prior health predictors of HPPD, especially prior anxiety diagnosis, as we also previously found - www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6...

doi.org/10.1556/2054...

The axolotl didn't look so sure..

Hope for endangered axolotls as captive-bred group survives in wild Critically endangered axolotls that were captive-bred then released into wetlands in Mexico City have successfully adapted to the wild, a new study has found, giving new hope to scientists trying to s...

"Luis Zambrano, a biologist at the Autonomous National University of Mexico, said that if the axolotl’s population and habitat can be restored in a city of more than 20 million people, “I feel that we have hope for humanity.”"
news.mongabay.com/short-articl...

Thanks Glastonbury and chums, that was fun. Was really happy to return after years and give a talk on "Lichenthropy for beginners: Becoming fungi with psychedelics"

@mikejay.bsky.social great article!

Challenging Psychedelic Experiences Project We research post-psychedelic difficulties and what helps people recover from bad and traumatic trips; we also offer advice and free online support to those in recovery.

challengingpsychedelicexperiences.com
@philosojules.bsky.social @eirini-k-a.bsky.social

"Bad trips" can have surprising benefits Psychedelics can cause long-lasting challenging experiences. In certain settings, they can be transformative

New article in 'Salon' by Elizabeth Hlavinka about the bad & the good sides of 'bad trips', interviewing Eirini Argyri & myself about our work on the Challenging #Psychedelic Experiences Project exploring recovery & growth after post-psychedelic extended difficulties

www.salon.com/2025/06/06/b...

Happy to have been interviewed by Mattha Busby for his latest fine article for Wired, illuminating some of the more obscure dimensions of darkness retreats.

So somewhere between roughly between 3- 10% of people using psychedelics may have such extended challenges.. Our sample is small because it seeks to explore the lived experience, not the prevalence.

An investigation into the varieties of extended difficulties following psychedelic drug use: Duration, severity and helpful coping strategies Abstract Psychedelic drugs show promising therapeutic potential; however, some users experience extended difficulties following their use. This study investigated the prevalence, severity, duration, a...

The size of the sample does not reflect the prevalence of the phenomena. We selected 26 people for more qualitative interviews, but found that the occurrence of OS/existential struggle among those with extended difficulties to be between 50-65% doi.org/10.1556/2054... & here doi.org/10.1371/jour...