The serpent's tale of the original medical staff - Hippocrates and the therapeutēs On altered states, visionary experience and healing in ancient Greece, the Amazon and my back garden My latest substack: davidluke543044.substack.com/p/the-serpen...

An auto-eulogising round up of my the lost/last year.. Chasing academic chimeras in the pursuit of exceptional experiences: 2025 as the year of dream temples, salamanders, psychedelics and sawing children in half.. davidluke543044.substack.com/p/chasing-ac...

Props to the CPEP research team tinyurl.com/ywa6jbe8 especially lead author @eirini-k-a.bsky.social, our paper on post-psychedelic ontological shock got selected by PLOS One editors from among 1000s as a stand out paper in medicine in 2025. everyone.plos.org/2025/12/16/e... doi.org/10.1371/jour...

A third-eye peeping exploration by Webb Wright of that particular 'dimethyltrypta-meme' that the pineal gland is the seat of the soul and neurochemical factory of the spirit molecule DMT, for which I chimed in with a few (interdimensional) observations.. newsletter.doubleblindmag.com/p/why-the-pi...

Great article by @matthabusby.bsky.social on the origin story of psychonaut scientist Bruce Damer & the origin story of life on earth, and Bruce's MINDS project exploring the use of psychedelic for scientific creative problem solving nautil.us/the-psychede... see also doi.org/10.1177/2050...

Great piece by Tamlin Magee for BBC celebrates the many unsung contributions of Erowid.org to drug policy, culture and science & interviewing psychedelic nerds like myself, Erik Davis, Rick Doblin, Leor Roseman, & Nicolas Langlitz

A fascinating @drugscience.bsky.social podcast interview by David Nutt with 3 SAS paramedics, echoing the findings of our naturalistic pilot study of 5 paramedics who took psilocybin to deal with work place stress, with reductions in burnout, stress & compassion fatigue.. tinyurl.com/ycujmvw7

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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/...

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...

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...

"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"

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.

Nice deep dive on psychedelic-induced ontological shock by Sam Woolfe, exploring our recent qualitative research study on the subject - doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Co-author Dr Oliver Robinson interviewed by PsyPost about our recent paper on the different ways in which people cope with different symptoms of extended psychological difficulties following a psychedelic experience. Paper here: doi.org/10.1556/2054... www.psypost.org/new-study-sh...

Our latest paper on DMT phenomenology, led by Pascal Michael, exploring the mis/matches with near-death experiences, showing that while 95% on DMT had at least one NDE feature, many classic NDE features were absent & only a very few had NDE-like trips in any way. doi.org/10.3389/fpsy...

Will be speaking alongside Jess Jorgensen and Adi Staempfli for the South London Mushroom Club on 15th May on "Fungal Ecodelia and the Art of Lichenthropy: Magic Mushrooms and Nature Relatedness"... www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/south-lond...

Our latest CPEP, led by @eirini-k-a.bsky.social exploring ontological shock & existential challenge as extended difficulties following a psychedelic experience - highlighting that grounding practices, integration support, & time were critical in helping participants cope. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Nice new paper that supports our previous finding that trait absorption predicts benign HPPD symptoms. doi.org/10.1556/2054... - They didn't alternatively find anxiety to be related to distressing HPPD symptoms, but then they only had 2 such people in their sample. tinyurl.com/27ed56cd

The 7th major Breaking Convention psychedelic conference at Exeter Uni this last weekend did not disappoint. After 14 years it is amazing to see this epic TAZ of psychedelic pilgrimage continue & grow. Massive kudos to all the crew, contributors & congregation for making it happen Photo: James Wills

Meanwhile...

New paper indicates that music & access to nature are the most commonly reported factors for a positive psychedelic experience in clinical drug trials. "Most participants.. would take the study substances again, preferably in a setting in nature with friends." www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Another epic lineup has just been announced for Breaking Convention psychedelic research conference, 17-19th April, University of Exeter. If you haven't already, get your tickets now and join us for another gaze down the rabbit hole. breakingconvention.substack.com/p/100-speake...

Good to see darkness experiences coming into the light. We studied the experience of 49 volunteers in an anechoic dark room chamber for 2hrs as an altered state. Using psychometric measures, even this short period is akin to a mild psychedelic experience. www.academia.edu/40142080/The...

Somewhat overdue for posting about our recent published study exploring the self-reported most common helpful coping strategies for different symptoms of extended difficulties following psychedelic experiences. A more useful & nuanced step forward towards better integration. doi.org/10.1556/2054...

Well this is an interesting turn and signal that the murderous war on drugs is in its own death throes. www.hrw.org/news/2025/03...

Proud of my student co-author Nadine Loh in publishing this paper exploring the positive role that psychedelic-induced mystical experiences, emotional breakthroughs & changes in self-experience may help those with eating disorders on the road to recovery doi.org/10.3390/psyc...

The epic 5hr video of the Psi: Back to the Future event on parapsychology is now available. Speakers include me, Ed Kelly, Jeffrey Mishlove, Julia Mossbridge, Roger Nelson, Stephen Schwartz, et al & host Alex Gomez-Marin www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktRJ...

Good commentary from Etzel Cardeña in IRP on why we should be wary of using 'Occam's broom' in sweeping psi under the theoretical carpet in attempts to understand and explain consciousness. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Will be talking with Rebecca Jackson on the secret psychedelic art of the Surrealist painter, Leonora Carrington, for the 3rd Conjuring Creativity conference on magic and art entitled 'Inhabiting Esoteric Ecologies' - 15th-16th March, London. Web: tinyurl.com/y2e6xpry Tickets: tinyurl.com/2wmrhtxt

On the possible psychopompic nature of DMT(s) in the dying brain, along with plenty of caveats. An interview I gave for Popular Mechanics on the differences between 5-MeO-DMT, DMT and near-death-experiences as they relate to, actually, a quite old theory. www.popularmechanics.com/science/a638...

Another study finds atheism decreases after psychedelic entity encounter experiences. "Comparing changes before and after the experience, both sex groups showed decreases in atheism and agnosticism and increases in religious beliefs, with males exhibiting larger changes." tinyurl.com/5n94ttxz

Very much reassured that numerous psychedelic researchers can come together and consider the much overlooked potential risk and harm of psychedelics too, and delighted to be among them. Maximising benefits is about minimising harms, and there are many potential benefits.. doi.org/10.1176/appi...

Celebrating my & @davidgraeberinst.bsky.social birthday, & his book Pirate Enlightenment, & in celebrating 50yrs since the launch of RV Heraclitus expedition ship, I'm sharing my old article about an epic ocean-crossing we made to search for the lost pirate utopia of Libertalia tiny.cc/5zr9001

An exploration of some our research (and others') on HPPD by @samwoolfe.bsky.social for The Chemical Collective.. chemical-collective.com/why-do-some-...

Maybe he would have become a shaman in an indigenous community, but in the absence of such roles in Western society, he had to opt for being a rock 'n' roll superstar instead... www.theguardian.com/music/2025/f...