Samuli Kangaslampi

We would approach the authors' tentative suggestion that psilocybin could be a treatment for dissociative amnesia with great caution. More generally, we advise against any sort of psychedelic-assisted recovered-memory therapy (which, to be clear, the authors were not explicitly suggesting).

The original authors did not show that these were specifically cases of emergence de novo of dissociated memories and did not fully consider alternative explanations that we discuss. We caution against the suggestion of preparing patients for the possible emergence of forgotten material beforehand.

Questioning the recovery of dissociated traumatic memories under psilocybin: comment on “Therapeutic emergence of dissociated traumatic memories during psilocybin treatment for anorexia nervosa” - Journal of Eating Disorders In their recent case report article, Peck and colleagues suggested that two patients recovered dissociated traumatic memories during psilocybin treatment for anorexia nervosa. These case reports are of clinical and scientific interest and confirm that psychedelics may induce vivid memory-like experiences. However, the reports warrant scrutiny. Here, based on what is known about recovered memories and the effects of psychedelics, we argue that the authors may not have adequately considered alternative explanations. The cases do not necessarily demonstrate that psilocybin induces recovery of dissociated traumatic memories or could treat dissociative amnesia. We further caution against the authors’ suggestion of explicitly preparing patients for the emergence of forgotten material.

Critical commentary on a recent paper reporting emergence of dissociated traumatic memories during psilocybin treatment now out in the Journal of Eating Disorders, with @trpwolff.bsky.social, @manojdoss.bsky.social, Lilian Kloft-Heller, and @henryotgaar.bsky.social.

doi.org/10.1186/s403...

In this new commentary, @kangaslampi.bsky.social and I argue against viewing the psychedelic experience as a "biomarker" and challenge reductionistic drug-centered framings that obscure key psychosocial determinants of psychedelic therapy outcome, most notably psychotherapeutic processes.

LINK ⬇️

Pharmacodynamic biomarker or psychotherapeutic process? Comment on “the role of the psychedelic experience in psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression”

Is the psychedelic experience a pharmacodynamic biomarker? Or do psychotherapeutic processes matter? Comment with @trpwolff.bsky.social on the recent Goodwin et al. (2025) paper now available online in the Journal of Affective Disorders: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Recovered or Reimagined? Samuli Kangaslampi on Psychedelics and Autobiographical Recall - Psychedelic Alpha Psychedelic Alpha’s Josh Hardman speaks with clinical psychologist and trauma researcher Dr. Samuli Kangaslampi about how psychedelics affect autobiographical memory. They discuss the historical…

Had a chat with @josh-hardman.bsky.social of @psychedelicalpha.bsky.social recently about recovered memories under #psychedelics. psychedelicalpha.com/news/recover...

Recovering memories under MDMA or psychedelics and the impact of The Tell, a few scattered thoughts and observations: kangaslampi.net/the-tell-and...

Spoiler: Probably not. But people do have fascinating memory experiences under psychedelics that warrant careful study and may be very relevant for therapeutic use. And that's why I'm busy studying them!

Samuli Kangaslampi - Can you really remember your birth on LSD? YouTube video by Breaking Convention

Can you really remember your birth on #LSD?

My talk on memory experiences under #psychedelics, given at Breaking Convention 2025 in Exeter, UK, back in April, now publicly available on YouTube!

youtube.com/watch?v=Mful...

Psykedeelit 2025 - The 3rd Finnish Interdisciplinary Conference on #Psychedelics coming up on October 2-4 in Turku, Finland. Diverse program, fantastic speakers, independent science, affordable registration. Come join us! See more at psyty.fi/psykedeelit2...
@psytyfi.bsky.social

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...

New article out! Psychedelic researchers consider having personal experiences with psychedelics to be both helpful for their research and a potential source of bias. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Järjestämme marraskuussa Psykedeelit mielenterveystyössä -koulutuksen, joka on suunnattu sosiaali- ja terveysalojen ammattilaisille ja opiskelijoille.
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In lovely Tbilisi, Georgia, for the #ESTSS2025 conference, presenting a poster on recall of potentially traumatic events under #psychedelics and meeting old and new colleagues. Come say hi! @estss.bsky.social

Surprising and concerning that though the authors do mention the importance of "not guiding towards confirmation or denial", they have no problem declaring (including in the title of a scientific paper!) that for both these two patients it was in fact "emergence of dissociated traumatic memories".

Yeah, reading this does nothing to assuage my own concerns that such a view could be spreading to the clinical realm. For real, let's please not start doing psilocybin-assisted recovered-memory therapy.

We are excited to announce the launch of Acta Psychedelica, a fully open-access, peer-reviewed, and non-profit journal dedicated to interdisciplinary psychedelic research. Run by researchers in the field, the journal aims to foster rigorous and open scientific discourse on psychedelics.
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Psychedelics and autobiographical memory – six open questions - Psychopharmacology Rationale Since the earliest LSD research, psychedelics have been claimed to enhance autobiographical memory. Revisiting and processing autobiographical memories has further been suggested to be a maj...

Out now:
Psychedelics and autobiographical memory - six open questions

With Morten Lietz, we present 6 unanswered questions on #psychedelics and autobiographical memory & discuss why they matter, what little we know about them, and ways to better study them in the future.

doi.org/10.1007/s002...

The call for papers is now open for Psykedeelit 2025 – The 3rd Finnish Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelics, held on October 2-4, 2025, in Turku, Finland! Submissions on all aspects of psychedelic research from any field of science are welcome. 1/

Last year, we organized Psykedeelit 2023, the second Finnish Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelics with speakers such as @erikadyck.bsky.social @trpwolff.bsky.social @manvir.bsky.social @kangaslampi.bsky.social @ailamustamo.bsky.social @emmakopra.bsky.social. Recordings are now online! 1/

Planning to take a psychedelic? Before you do, please join our study on memories in psychedelic experiences at tinyurl.com/psmemory!

Any adult taking a psychedelic in any context may join. The first part will only take 5-10 mins of your time. Participation and sharing much appreciated!