A new theory suggests that psychedelics promote empathy, insight, and psychological flexibility by making the brain’s right hemisphere temporarily dominant over the left.
Known as HEALS—Hemispheric Annealing and Lateralization Under Psychedelics—this model proposes that psychedelics disrupt the typical hierarchy between hemispheres, releasing the more holistic, emotionally intelligent right side from left-brain control.
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In this follow-up interview to yesterday’s post on the woman with a severe brain injury given psychedelics, a look at the healing potential and the ethical dilemmas.
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In this article, a man lost his wife to a state of unresponsiveness following a tragic accident.
Over the past two years, he’s tried everything to bring her back—including an experimental first in the use of psychedelics.
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In this interview, anesthesiologist and neuroscientist Boris Heifets discusses what his work might suggest about how psychedelics work, and what role placebo and expectation play in outcomes of psychedelic studies.
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