Most Athletes Are Open To Using Psychedelic Therapy To Treat Concussions, Study Shows

A new study on athletes’ attitudes toward psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) finds that more than 6 in 10 would be willing to try treatment with psilocybin or other entheogens to aid recovery after a concussion or to help manage post-concussion symptoms. Among sports staff, more than 7 in 10 said they’d support athletes using PAT.

The new research, published in the journal Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, surveyed 175 adult respondents, including 85 athletes and 90 athletic staff, such as coaches, trainers or physical therapists, at any level of competition within the U.S and Canada. In addition to questions about respondents’ attitudes and beliefs toward psilocybin, it also asked about current and past substance use as well as about concussion symptoms and other clinical information.

“Psychedelic use by athletes has been scarcely documented, and to our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive and recent examination of psychedelic use in Canadian and American athletes,” authors wrote. “This is also the first survey to examine athlete willingness to engage in PAT for concussion recovery and persisting concussion symptoms and staff willingness to support this treatment in athletes.”

Findings, they continue, “suggest a high level of receptiveness in the sports community toward using and supporting PAT for concussion recovery given evidence it is beneficial.”

Specifically, 61.2 percent of athletes said they’d likely engage in psychedelic-assisted therapy, while 71.1 percent of staff reported they’d support their athletes using PAT.

Among athletes, about a quarter (25.9 percent) said they would be “very unlikely,” “unlikely” or “somewhat unlikely” to try PAT for concussion therapy if they were experiencing symptoms “and research indicated it was beneficial for this purpose.” Another 23.3 percent said they’d be “very likely,” while 22.4 percent said they’d be “likely” and 15.3 percent said they’d be “somewhat likely” to try PAT for concussion reasons.

Staff were asked whether they’d support their athletes engaging in PAT if research indicated that it was beneficial, and most said they’d be “very likely” (24.4 percent), “likely” (25.6 percent) or “somewhat likely” (21.1 percent) to do so. Only 15.6 percent of staff said they’d be “very unlikely,” “unlikely” or “somewhat unlikely” to support athletes using PAT.

As for barriers to psychedelic-assisted therapy, the most common worry among athletes and staff was the long-term impact of psychedelic use. Access to treatment and how the therapy would be met by coaches or staff also frequently came up.

“A recurrent theme across athletes and staff were concerns regarding the long-term effects of psilocybin therapy,” the study says, “with 24.0% of athletes and 24.7% of staff indicating this as a concern. Athletes highlighted the stigma from their coaches or other team staff (18.3%) as another prominent concern whereas staff believed access to psilocybin treatment (19.2%) to be a significant barrier.”

Already about a third (34.5 percent) of all athlete and staff respondents said they’d used psychedelics within the past year, with psilocybin being the most commonly reported substance.

“The reasons for use were most often for personal improvement (14.5%) and mood enhancement (13.6%),” the study says. “Participants reported using psilocybin for a number of health-related conditions including anxiety (n = 16), depression (n = 16), and trauma-related reasons (n=9). Participants generally reported improvements in these areas.”

Authors also said their research showed that subjects were “somewhat familiar with psilocybin and knowledgeable about the medical uses of psilocybin according to self-identified knowledge and familiarity.”

“However, given that these were self-reported, there is potential for biases affecting their ratings, and their responses may not be supported by accurate knowledge,” the report continues. “Specifically, staff were more likely to be concerned about possible addictive properties of psilocybin or the potential misuse than athletes were, despite research largely refuting the addictive potential of classic psychedelics.”

The team also noted that people with higher levels of knowledge about psilocybin “were associated with more positive attitudes toward psilocybin as well as greater willingness to use and support PAT.”

“These findings highlight the feasibility of collaborating with the sports community to examine this innovative therapy approach,” the report concludes, adding that further study into the issue “is a valuable research endeavor.”

Authors acknowledge in the new report that psilocybin “has not been formally investigated in people” with sports-related concussions, but they say they “hypothesize that psilocybin may benefit those with sports concussion and persisting symptoms through three primary mechanisms.”

Those mechanisms are:

(1) acting as an anti-inflammatory agent via 5-HT2AR to limit prolonged neuroinflammation; (2) inducing neurogenic effects in brain regions implicated in cognitive functioning; and/or (3) by managing symptoms of anxiety and depression which are frequent after SRC and particularly in those presenting with PPCS.

In recent years, scientists have also increased investigation into whether cannabinoids might help protect against the neurological consequences of concussion. Earlier this year, for example, the National Football League (NFL) partnered with Canadian researchers on a clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of CBD for neuroprotection from concussions as well as for pain management.

NFL first announced that it would be providing funding for the project—as well as a separate study based at the University of California San Diego—in 2022. The league agreed to spend $1 million on the cannabis trials.

NFL and its players union separately announced last year announced that they are jointly awarding another round of funding to support independent research on the therapeutic benefits of CBD as a pain treatment alternative to opioids for players with concussions.

Meanwhile in the athletics world, head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) recently blasted the “unfair” ban on marijuana for athletes competing in international sport events, including the Olympics that were then underway in Paris.

USADA CEO Travis Tygart said it’s “disappointing” that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has maintained the cannabis prohibition based on what he considers a misguided justification.

“I think we should all just be open and upfront about marijuana’s lack of performance-enhancing benefits,” Tygard told Yahoo Sports. “We’re not in the recreational drug policing business. We’re here to prevent fraud in sport and cheaters in sport.”

At the collegiate level, in June the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) voted to remove marijuana from its banned substances list for Division I players.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) announced in December that it is formally removing marijuana from its newly modified banned substances list for athletes, also building on an earlier reform.

However, ahead of a UFC event in February, a California athletics commission said they could still face penalties under state rules for testing positive for THC over a certain limit, as the state body’s policy is based around WADA guidance.

Nevada sports regulators voted last year to send a proposed regulatory amendment to the governor that would protect athletes from being penalized over using or possessing marijuana in compliance with state law.

While the NFL and its players union agreed to end the practice of suspending players over marijuana or other drugs as part of a collective bargaining agreement in 2020, it has continued to fine players over positive THC tests—a policy that’s being challenged in federal court by one player who was repeatedly penalized over his use of a synthetic THC medication he was prescribed to treat anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and pain.

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