Psychedelic Retreats ‘Significantly Improved’ Mental Health For Military Veterans With PTSD And Depression, Study Finds

A new study of military veterans who attended psychedelics retreats finds
that psilocybin and ayahuasca both yielded significant improvements in
participants’ mental health, including reductions in symptoms of PTSD,
depression and anxiety as well as improved sleep, quality of life and
post-deployment reintegration.

The report, published in the journal Brain and Behavior, describes the
research as “the first study to investigate psychedelic retreats as a
holistic therapy for veterans’ mental health alongside community
reintegration.”

“Psilocybin and ayahuasca retreats significantly improved veterans’ mental
well-being, quality of life, PTSD, anxiety, depression, sleep, concussion,
and post-deployment reintegration,” it says, adding that the retreats
“could provide a treatment framework to aid veterans’ recovery by
addressing psychological well-being, communal factors, and reintegration
into civilian life.”

The study followed 55 veterans who self-enrolled in psychedelic retreats
using psilocybin or ayahuasca following a program by Heroic Hearts Project,
a nonprofit that connects veterans with psychedelic therapy in
jurisdictions where it’s legal.

“For psilocybin, the substance was taken as a tea brewed from dried
psilocybin mushrooms with individualized doses determined by the retreat
staff between 1.5 and 3.5 g for Session 1 and between 3 and 5 g for Session
2,” the report says. “One gram boosters of psilocybin were offered one hour
from the initial dose.”

“The ayahuasca group participated in three consecutive ceremonies of 6–10
h, whereas those administered psilocybin completed two ceremonies 48 h
apart,” it continues. “Participants were required to stay at the retreat
site for the duration of the retreat.”

Veterans completed a battery of eight health questionnaires that measured
various mental health symptoms. Notably, those who participated in
psilocybin therapy “showed greater improvements in seven out of eight
outcomes, whereas ayahuasca retreats demonstrated greater improvements in
PCL-5 scores for PTSD,” authors wrote.

“Comparing ayahuasca and psilocybin retreats, participants who were
administered psilocybin exhibited greater reductions in depression,
anxiety, post-concussion symptoms, and post-deployment reintegration.
Contrastingly, participants in the ayahuasca retreats showed a slightly
greater improvement in PTSD symptoms. This suggests that, while psilocybin
may be more effective for treating a wide range of conditions and
challenges faced by veterans, ayahuasca could offer specific benefits for
treating PTSD.”

Results also indicated that “participants with a reported PTSD diagnosis
did not experience greater improvements than the general cohort across the
measures used,” they said.

Across both types of psychedelic retreat, the study found “significant
improvements across all outcome measures related to psychological and
general well-being four weeks after retreat attendance.”

“Participants who attended a Heroic Hearts Project psychedelic retreat
program experienced significant improvements in general health, well-being,
perceived quality of life, anxiety, depression, sleep, and post-deployment
reintegration. In addition, attending a psychedelic retreat had large,
significant effects on self-reported measures of PTSD,” the report says.
“Overall, findings underscore the positive impact of the psychedelic
retreat program on various aspects of veterans’ mental health and general
well-being.”

As for the community element of the retreats, researchers said the communal
experience may be “particularly relevant for veterans, as social support is
a crucial aspect of the healing process within veteran communities as they
return to civilian life.”

“The communal aspect of psychedelic retreats may therefore enhance the
therapeutic benefits in this group by creating the shared experience and
support essential for veterans’ reintegration,” they wrote, “though further
research on the unique contribution of social and group factors is
required.”

The new paper was authored by a nine-person team from a variety of
institutions, including the University of Edinburgh, King’s College London,
Health Analytics Collaborative in Maryland, Imperial College London, Onaya
Science in Peru, the University of Birmingham, the University of Exeter and
others.

It was funded by Heroic Hearts Project, Heroic Hearts UK and Beckley
Retreats, though the report says the groups “had no role in the design and
conduct of the study, collection, management, analysis, and interpretation
of the data, or preparation, review, and approval of the manuscript.”

The study comes as pressure builds at the state and federal levels to ease
access to psychedelics, especially among veterans with PTSD.

The head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) said earlier this
month that he’s “particularly proud” of the administration’s work to
promote research into psychedelics therapy, citing studies into substances
like MDMA that show promising early results in the treatment of mental
health conditions.

VA Secretary Doug Collins said the department does “some of the best
research work and very specific research work,” noting that he recently
visited a VA facility in New York City “discussing MDMA therapies, which
have been phenomenal in working with those with [post-traumatic stress
disorder] and traumatic brain injuries—these other issues that we have.”

Collins’s visit to the psychedelics research center came about a month
after the VA secretary met with a military veteran who’s become an advocate
for psilocybin access to discuss the therapeutic potential of psychedelic
medicine for the veteran community.

Collins also briefly raised the issue in a Cabinet meeting with President
Donald Trump in April.

The secretary also disclosed in April that he had an “eye-opening” talk
with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. about the therapeutic potential of psychedelic medicine. And
Collins said he’s open to the idea of having the government provide
vouchers to cover the costs of psychedelic therapy for veterans who receive
services outside of VA as Congress considers pathways for access.

Kennedy said last month that his agency is “absolutely committed” to
expanding research on the benefits of psychedelic therapy and, alongside of
the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is aiming to provide
legal access to such substances for military veterans “within 12 months.”

During a recent Senate committee hearing, Collins separately reiterated his
commitment to exploring the efficacy of psychedelic therapy to address
serious mental health conditions that commonly afflict military veterans.

Meanwhile in May, bipartisan congressional lawmakers asked the VA head to
meet with them to discuss ways to provide access to psychedelic medicine
for military veterans.

In a letter sent to Collins, Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman
(R-MI)—co-chairs of the Congressional Psychedelic Advancing Therapies
(PATH) Caucus—said they were “encouraged by your recent remarks about the
importance of pursuing research into psychedelic treatments and other
alternative treatments to improve Veterans’ care.”

Correa and Bergman separately introduced a bill in April to provide $30
million in funding annually to establish psychedelics-focused “centers for
excellence” at VA facilities, where veterans could receive novel treatment
involving substances like psilocybin, MDMA and ibogaine.

Bergman has also expressed optimism about the prospects of advancing
psychedelics reform under Trump, arguing that the administration’s efforts
to cut spending and the federal workforce will give agencies “spines” to
tackle such complex issues.

In December, VA separately announced that it’s providing $1.5 million in
funding to study the efficacy of MDMA-assisted therapy for veterans with
PTSD and alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Last year, VA’s Yehuda also touted an initial study the agency funded that
produced “stunning and robust results” from its first-ever clinical trial
into MDMA therapy.

In January, former VA Under Secretary for Health Shereef Elnahal said that
it was “very encouraging” that Trump’s pick to have Kennedy lead HHS has
supported psychedelics reform. And he hoped to work with him on the issue
if he stayed on for the next administration, but that didn’t pan out.

*Image courtesy of CostaPPR.*

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