The Next Frontier: How We Use Behavioral Science to Shape the Safe and Effective Use of Psychedelic Medicine
There’s a quiet revolution happening at the edges of clinical practice and consciousness studies—one where medicines like psilocybin, MDMA, and ketamine are reentering the therapeutic space with scientific legitimacy and societal momentum. As the use of ketamine and psychedelic medicines accelerate, a curious omission remains: where is behavior science in this emerging field?
Despite our discipline’s deep expertise in shaping behavior, understanding contingencies, and operationalizing change, most of the field has been largely absent from psychedelic discourse. But the truth is: board certified behavior analysts were made for this space—not just to sit at the table, but to help build the table itself.
A Shared Focus: Behavior, Context, and Change
Behavior analysts are trained to see the world through the lens of function. We ask: What is this behavior doing for the individual? What histories shaped it? What contingencies maintain it? These same questions are central in psychedelic-assisted therapy, where the medicine creates a temporary window of neuroplasticity and perspective shift—but what happens next is where behavioral science shines.
Psychedelics don’t “fix” people, there’s no magic bullet here. However, these medicines can help individuals disrupt rigid patterns significantly better than talk therapy and SSRIs. They expose possibilities and new perspectives, and encourage psychological flexibility through dendritic pruning and growth.
But the integration phase—the days, weeks, and months following the journey—is where transformation is either reinforced or extinguished. This is precisely where we as clinical behavior scientists offer essential insight.
Reinforcement Matters—Even in Expanded States
Psychedelics may provide a “holy wow” moment of insight, but without reinforcement, extinction is inevitable. We know this. This is precisely why we embed our understanding of antecedents, discriminative stimuli, and reinforcing consequences into psychedelic integration protocols at EXPANDED.
Moreover, we systematically shape post-journey behaviors that align with new values and insights. We also map contingencies that support identity shifts, and use behavior skills training, stimulus fading, and shaping to scaffold these deeply personal transformations.
Too often, the integration conversation is left to loose journaling prompts and well-intentioned wellness advice. But we can, and should, as a field, do better to be additive in the ways only behavior analysts can. We have the science to help make insight sustainable.
Precision and Ethics in a Wild West
The psychedelic field is growing faster than its ethical scaffolding. As retreat centers, microdosing coaches, and underground guides proliferate, there’s a growing need for practitioners trained in behavior, ethics, and observable outcomes. Behavior analysts—especially those trained in trauma-informed and somatic practices—can offer not only structure but also accountability and behavioral data collection to a field still searching for its guardrails.
At EXPANDED, we help measure change, monitor generalization, and track harm reduction outcomes. We’ve also realized the need to redefine what “treatment success” means when the goal is not compliance, but expanded awareness and well-being.
An Invitation to Expand Past Our Rigid Borders
If the psychedelic movement is calling for more grounded, integrative approaches, it’s time for behavior analysts to loosen their own topography. The same rigidity we often challenge in clients can show up in our own field: a reluctance to embrace non-traditional methods, spiritual language, or paradigms outside operant conditioning.
But neuroscience, quantum theory, and contemplative practices are converging in fascinating ways. The challenge—and opportunity—is to remain evidence-based without becoming evidence-exclusive. We can honor our roots and evolve.
Behavior Scientists Make Significant Contributions to the Conversation
Psychedelic-assisted therapy is not magic—it’s behavior, context, and learning under altered or expanded conditions. It’s set and setting, our expertise. As behavioral scientists, we understand how humans change, resist change, and maintain change. Our insights are not only relevant; they are essential to the safe, ethical, and effective advancement of this field.
This is our moment to bring the science of behavior into expanded states of consciousness. To ensure that the (now third) psychedelic renaissance in the West is not just a cultural flashpoint—but a durable, evidence-informed pathway to transformation.
