Some brain injury survivors are using psychedelics to manage mood, thinking and physical symptoms such as headaches, new research suggests.
Researchers analysed more than 6,100 responses from the Global Psychedelic Survey and found that nearly 1,200 people reported using psychedelics to manage a physical health condition.
Of those, 208 respondents, or 3.4 per cent of the total sample, said they were using psychedelics to manage brain injury-related symptoms.
This was described as a first-of-its-kind study of traumatic brain injury survivors’ self-reported psychedelic use to treat symptoms.
Baeleigh VanderZwaag, the PhD student who led the study, said: “I wasn’t expecting so many people to be using psychedelics at this point for brain injury-it’s really new information.
“It was surprising to find that some people globally are experimenting with this, acquiring psychedelics by themselves to see how it works for them.”
Some 60 million people worldwide experience traumatic brain injuries each year.
Researchers said there is no one-size-fits-all treatment, and some survivors are looking for alternative forms of support.
The study found that respondents with traumatic brain injury most often reported using psilocybin every two to five months or every six months, using a mix of microdoses, meaning very small doses, and larger doses.
Others said they used LSD or ketamine.
When asked how effective psychedelic use was for traumatic brain injury-related symptoms, 90 per cent of this group self-reported some level of improvement.
The research was led by clinical psychology researchers at the University of Victoria, who said research involving human participants remains limited, with most existing work coming from animal models.
Mauricio Garcia-Barrera, clinical psychology professor, said: “Although research into using psychedelics to manage TBI symptoms remains quite limited, the field is gaining momentum as awareness grows around how widespread brain injury is globally and its impact on the quality of life of those who experience a TBI.”
Researchers said more work, including clinical trials, is needed to evaluate the risks and benefits of using psychedelics for traumatic brain injury.
Next, VanderZwaag and colleagues will analyse new data from the 2025 Global Psychedelic Survey, which was administered in spring 2025 and translated into 18 additional languages.
