26isfam146 10.3205/26isfam146 urn:nbn:de:0183-26isfam1462 Meeting Abstract Gupta Gupta Riya R

Teachers College, Columbia University

author Morgiève Morgiève Margot M

Inserm French National Institute for Health and Medical Research, Cermes3 Paris Cité University, Cermes3, EHESS, CNRS, Inserm, 75006 Paris, France, Arche Project

author German Medical Science GMS Publishing House

Düsseldorf

610 20260612 engl This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Dieser Artikel ist ein Open-Access-Artikel und steht unter den Lizenzbedingungen der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (Namensnennung). M0652 146 International Society for Arts and Medicine The Healing Arts – Forging Alliances of Arts & Medicine Poster Abstracts Berlin 20260618 20260620 26isfam146 TextBackground: Therapeutic psychedelic use emerges within complex biographical and emotional trajectories, in response to perceived limitations of conventional psychiatric care (Breeksema et al., 2024). Many turn to DIY practices that become a way to regain agency and reframe narratives of distress and identity (Wexler, 2022). Drawing on a critical medical humanities lens, this project examines how psychedelic experiences serve as tools that support transformative healing. Objectives: The project translates lived accounts of therapeutic-intended psychedelic use into digital and hand-drawn vignettes that share experiential knowledge without flattening its complexity. It conveys emotional textures and centers voices often overlooked in biomedical narratives, offering a humanistic complement to clinical understandings of psychedelic use.Methods: A grounded theory approach analyzed seventeen interviews with experienced psychedelic users in France, focusing on early encounters and coping-related reflections on distress. Reflexive thematic analysis coded motifs and generated themes of community support and perceived transformation. Findings were distilled into four fictionalized characters and adapted into a visual narrative.Results: Participants framed therapeutic-intended psychedelic use as a catalyst for surfacing trauma and clarifying emotional patterns. Across interviews and the comic, psychedelics work as mechanisms for processing distress and renegotiating identity, while the visual form extends qualitative analysis by making affect, embodiment, and ambiguity more palpable. Conclusion: Psychedelics supported movement toward emotional balance when paired with reflection and intentional meaning-making. Healing depended on set, setting, and safety. The comic deepened these insights by visually capturing elements of trauma, identity, and healing that elude written accounts. 0 0 0 0