Individuals were able to quit smoking by seeing themselves as nonsmokers. Psychedelic substances have the potential to aid individuals in modifying undesirable behaviors by facilitating a re-examination and re-imagination of their self-perception. A team of researchers from the University of Cin
, which concluded that psychedelics were successful in assisting some individuals in quitting smoking for years., researchers analyzed the participants’ own words and found that psychedelics combined with talk therapy often helped longtime smokers see themselves as nonsmokers. This new core identity might help explain why 80% of participants were able to stop smoking for six months and 60% remained smoking-free after five years.
Lead author and University of Cincinnati postdoctoral researcher Neşe Devenot said the results demonstrate the potential psychedelics have to reshape self-perceptions to help people break free of old habits or addictions in the face of life’s daily triggers and temptations. During the smoking cessation study, therapists gave participants guided imagery exercises in which they were asked to envision smoking as a behavior external to their core identity. The participants documented their experience in writing.
Albert Garcia-Romeu, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, said psilocybin could serve as a catalyst to help motivate and inspire people to make a change with the help of cognitive behavioral therapy. Devenot said the experiment’s sample size was relatively small at just 15 participants. But the results are encouraging.
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