Psychedelic Support Line Proves Beneficial To Users And Healthcare System: Survey

Just “having someone to talk to” has a positive impact on people experiencing a difficult or bad trip.

That's according to a survey from the nonprofit Fireside Project (FP) and a group of esteemed clinicians and psychedelics researchers studying the benefits of support helpline services.

The preliminary data, published in June, show how harm reduction services, such as a helpline, play a significant role when it comes to mitigating health risks, as well as preventing emergency calls.

• Out of the total anonymous responders to a 24-hour post-call survey (884) 69.5% said that the service provided by FP volunteers de-escalated them from a state of psychological distress.
• 29.3% indicated they may have been physically or emotionally harmed
• 12.5% stated they may have called 911
• 10.8% said that they may have gone to the ER without the helpline’s interventions.

• According to data from 3.386 call logs, people were triggered to call due to anxiety (33.7%), being overwhelmed (24.8%), fearful (22%) or confused (13.8%) during a present or past psychedelic experience.

• Of these 3386 callers, 909 (or 27.4%) reported having an underlying psychiatric condition, including PTSD (251), Major Depressive Disorder (244) Generalized Anxiety Disorder (163) Substance Use Disorder (99) AD/HD (58) borderline personality disorder (39) OCD (36) and eating disorder (19)

• Out of 1,630 call logs, almost 40% of survey participants said they had taken the substance alone (77% at home and 4.3% in nature).

Harm Reduction In A Data-Lacking Context

The survey's results were published in the first issue of the journal Psychedelic Medicine, and are the result of a two-year collaboration and analysis by Mollie M. Pleet, PsyD (Portland VA Research Foundation), Joshua White (Fireside Project), Joseph A. Zamaria, PsyD (UCSF), and Rachel Yehuda, PhD (Mount Sinai Hospital.)

“There’s no research on actual outcomes of psychedelics’ use to compare the past and now,” Yehuda told Benzinga. “So we do have a sense that people are experimenting more, and I think that there is now a much more permissive attitude toward psychedelic use and a general sense that these are natural — especially when it comes to mushrooms — these are products from the earth and what harm could befall us.”

But still, she says, data is missing in general, specifically regarding what happens to people who are more vulnerable when taking psychedelics.

“We have in fact no idea what is happening to people who are using these medicines on their own," Yehuda added.

The survey focused on the impact of the hotline people called requesting services, reflecting that they were struggling with their psychedelics. 

“So the only thing we know from our study is that the intervention of speaking to someone in a peer-supported hotline was a good intervention,” Yehuda says. “The data says that, if you can call someone while you’re having a negative outcome, there can be some harm reduction. There’s a reduction in the number of people that would go to the ER. And that’s a big deal.”

More on Fireside's hotline services, results interpretation and plans unfolding coming up.

Photo: Benzinga edit with photo by Arcady, Negro Elkha and lrunups on Shutterstock.