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We are a community built to understand women’s biology for safe and effective psychedelic use

23/10/2026

Microdosing L*D sharpened women’s focus, but not men’s. 🧠

A new analysis of a completed trial split the results by s*x for the first time. Forty-eight healthy adults took 15 µg of L*D or a placebo, four doses over two weeks.

On a 10-minute attention test:

Women on L*D reacted about 8% faster than women on placebo
They had roughly half as many attention lapses
Men showed little change

Why it matters: microdosing trials have produced mixed results so far. When women’s and men’s data are pooled, real effects can disappear in the average.

This is small, early work and not yet peer-reviewed. It’s a reason for more research, not a reason to self-dose.

S*x is a variable psych3d3lic science can’t ignore.

📖 Source: Conroy, G. (2026). Nature.

Follow for more on women’s psych3d3lic health.

*xdifferences *D

01/10/2026

A new PNAS study from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry exposed male and female mice to the same prenatal and early-life stress, then followed them into adulthood.

What they found:
🔹 Reward behaviour moved in opposite directions. Stressed males consumed less reward, while stressed females consumed more.
🔹 Brain activity mostly rose in stressed males and mostly fell in stressed females.
🔹 Brain networks lost connectivity in males and gained it in females.
🔹 In two key stress and reward hubs (NAc and BNST), genes shifted in opposite directions: metabolism in males, synaptic signalling and plasticity in females.

Yet both s*xes ended up at the bottom of the social hierarchy. The outcome looked similar, but the biology underneath was different.

This is a mouse study, and it can't tell us whether the differences come from hormones, s*x chromosomes or lived experience. But the message for psychiatry, and for psychedelic medicine, is clear: if we only study males, we miss female-specific pathways, and with them, female-specific treatments.

S*x is not background noise. It's a biological variable. 💜💚

🖋️ Created by Hystelica Research Assistant Beatrice Dal Bianco, who is also a co-author on this study.

📖 Narayan S, B**r C, Kovarova V, et al. Multilevel s*x-influenced neurobiological signatures of early life adversity. PNAS. 2026;123(35):e2603982123. doi:10.1073/pnas.2603982123 (open access)

*xDifferences

27/09/2026

Where is science now regarding clinical applications of psychedelics and how does it impact AFAB’S biology, physiology, psychology and lived experiences? We will discuss these questions with Dr Grace Blest-Hopley, who will address the disease burden women carry disproportionately, and their specific conditions that have long been underserved by research and by medicine.

This session is not intended to just deliver information and it will end up with an open dialogue and exchange between speakers and participants. Join us!

When? 17th October - 14:00-15:30
Where? Ark Cliftonville, CT9 2HP

Tickets here → https://www.tickettailor.com/events/sporefaring/2341448?date=2026-10-17

19/09/2026

We've got 2 free tickets to Global Psych3delic Week 2026 for this community. 🎟️

2–8 November. 5,000+ people, 100 countries, seven days of science, therapy, policy, culture and Indigenous voices. Your ticket gives you 4-day access to the full online programme, wherever you are.

You know our position: women are 51% of the population and a fraction of the evidence base. Only 13.5% of psych3delic trials from 2015–2025 ran any analysis of s*x as a biological variable. Rooms like this one are where that gets argued out loud.

To enter:
Comment below with the one question in women's health you most want psych3delic research to answer.

That's it. No tagging, no reposting. We'll pick two answers we can't stop thinking about.

Entries close Wednesday 8 October. Winners announced Thursday 9 October.

🔗 Full programme at globalpsychedelicweek.com -

31/08/2026

Hystelica and Women's Psych3delic Use - at ICPR 06/2026 😍

28/08/2026

📣 We're hiring a Research Intern — Women & Psychedelics.

Hystelica is looking for someone to help us build a well-sourced evidence base on s*x differences in psychedelic medicine and women's health. You'll work alongside a multidisciplinary team, building frameworks, running research and creating education that actually reflects female biology.

🗓️ End Sept — end March
⏱️ 4–10 hours a week
📍 London &/OR remote
✉️ CV + cover letter (max 300 words) to [email protected]
⏳ Applications close 14 September

Ideal if you're comfortable searching and reading peer-reviewed papers. No previous publications needed — we care more about curiosity than CV length.

Tag someone who should apply. 💜

26/08/2026

Bringing the science to the dust. 🌬️

Dr Grace Blest-Hopley is heading to Burning Man, and speaking at Astral Outpost: Women and Psychedelics - Science, Stories and Embodiment. What we actually know about female biology and psychedelics, what we don't, and why the gap exists in the first place. Expect science, expect stories, expect discussion.

Tue 1st Sept, 10am - Astral Outpost 3&C ( right on the corner).
Come dusty. Bring water. Bring questions.

20/08/2026

Anorexia nervosa has one of the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric condition - and there is still no approved drug treatment for it. 🍄

A new pilot study from Imperial's Centre for Psychedelic Research, published in The British Journal of Psychiatry, is one of the largest to date in this population.

21 women with long-standing anorexia - average illness duration close to 11 years, all under specialist eating disorder care, none in remission despite previous treatment.

Three dosing sessions over six weeks: 1 mg, then 25 mg, then 25 mg of synthetic psilocybin. Each preceded by preparation and followed by integration, with around 50 hours of therapeutic contact - alongside usual treatment, not instead of it.

🔬 95.2% retention, in a condition where drop-out typically runs 20–70%.

🔬 Eating disorder symptoms improved significantly and held at six months (d = 0.98), with the biggest shifts in dietary restraint and eating concerns.

🔬 Motivation to change improved and was sustained to 12 months (d = 0.65) - participants moving toward naming the seriousness of their illness. In a condition this egosyntonic, that matters.

🔬 Psilocybin was well tolerated - side effects mostly mild to moderate.

The caveats: no control group, single-arm, unblinded to dose order, and wide variation in who maintained improvement. Outcomes can't be attributed to psilocybin alone - only to the whole protocol.

A female-only trial, in a condition that overwhelmingly affects women. Feasibility, not proof - but exactly the groundwork the larger controlled trials are built on.

Douglass HM, Spriggs MJ, Godfrey K, Danby JL, de Magalhaes FJC, Macdonald L, Alderton KL, Archer S, Ahmad K, Martell J, Frias JT, Sawicka G, Read T, Blemings A, Lafrance A, Nicholls D, Erritzoe D, Park RJ, Nutt DJ, Carhart-Harris RL. Psilocybin therapy for adult females with anorexia nervosa: pilot study. Br J Psychiatry. 2026 Jul 8:1-9. doi: 10.1192/bjp.2026.10687.

12/08/2026

✨ We're bringing Hystelica to the field — come find us at Boomtown Chapter 5: Radical Redesign ✨

Two sessions, two days, one very big question: what happens when we stop leaving women out of psychedelic science?

🎙 SOCIAL PSYCHEDELICS — panel
📅 Thursday 13th August | 5–6pm
📍 Ancient Futures, Thrutopia
Dr Grace Blest-Hopley () in conversation with Prof David Luke and Rob Coulson, hosted by Dr Martha Newson. Women and psychedelics, social connection, exceptional states, and cultural practice in retreat settings.

🔬 WOMEN AND PSYCHEDELICS: SCIENCE, STORIES AND EMBODIMENT
📅 Friday 14th August | 5.30–6.30pm
📍 The Observatory, The Retreat
The science of female biology and psychedelics — hormones, cycles, bodies — plus the stories and lived experience the data keeps missing.

Both venues are a short walk from each other. Come with questions, come with stories, come say hello 💜

30/07/2026

Have you used psych3d3lics? We want to hear from you.

We're recruiting for the Survey of Female Psych3d3lic Use - a study in collaboration with King's College London.

Most of what we know about psych3d3lics was learned from bodies that don't cycle, don't shift through perimenopause, and don't carry the hormonal variation half the population lives with. This survey is one step towards changing that.

You're who we're looking for if you:
✦ were assigned female at birth
✦ have taken a large dose of a psych3d3lic
✦ are 18 or over
✦ speak fluent English

What's involved: one online survey, 20–30 minutes. You'll answer questions about your symptoms and how psych3d3lic use has affected them.

A thank you: leave your email and you'll be entered into a prize draw for a £50 Amazon voucher.

Link in bio. Please share with anyone who fits!

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