Trauma and psychedelics: how drugs affected Nova music festival massacre survivors

On October 7, thousands of ravers at Nova were under the influence of psychedelics, marking a unique case of mass trauma on drugs; new research explores how it affected survivors' trauma processing, aiding some and clouding others' consciousness

Only a few short hours into the horrors of October 7, Prof. Roy Salomon set up a group of counselors volunteering psychological first aid to survivors of the Nova festival and other raves that took place in Gaza border towns that horrific day five months ago. Yes, it’s been five months. Five months dammit. And the end is nowhere in sight.

“I have a personal connection, both theoretical and practical, to raves and psychedelics. I’m connected to the community,” says Prof. Salomon who, as Primary Investigator of the Lab of Consciousness and Self at the Department of Cognitive Sciences at Haifa University, researches psychedelia and psychosis and the neurological basis of self and reality.

“We wanted to reach as many people as possible, as fast as we could. Initial intervention with treatment by qualified professionals is important in reducing the transition from trauma to post-trauma. Because we come from within the trance tribe, people saw we cared, opened their hearts and told us things they perhaps wouldn’t tell a health service psychologist.

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