Nova festival survivors who took psychedelic drugs may have been better protected against trauma, researchers find

A new study is examining the effect that recreational drugs can have on people experiencing psychological trauma through studying the experiences of survivors of the Nova music festival, where some 360 people were massacred by invading terrorists on October 7, 2023, the BBC reports.

Many of the partygoers had taken illegal drugs such as MDMA and LSD in the hours leading up to the slaughter, and researchers from the University of Haifa are examining whether this may have provided them with a degree of psychological protection against trauma.

The study, which is currently being peer reviewed, could potentially contribute to breakthroughs in the use of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the BBC says, as the treatment is still largely experimental.

One of the study’s lead researchers, Prof. Roy Salomon, tells the BBC that of some 650 survivors, two thirds had been under the influence of drugs, including MDMA, LSD, as well as hallucinogenic mushrooms and marijuana.

“We had people hiding under the bodies of their friends for hours while on LSD or MDMA,” he says.

He says that those who had been high on MDMA and nothing else were seemingly the best protected against the psychological trauma that they endured that day.

In particular, Salomon tells the news outlet that they seemed to cope better than others during the first five months following the attack.

“They were sleeping better, had less mental distress – they were doing better than people who didn’t take any substance,” he says.