An Israeli says his LSD high during a Hamas-led attack on October 7 prompted a spiritual revelation that helped him escape the carnage at a desert rave . Another is certain that the drug MDMA made him more assertive and gave him the strength to carry his girlfriend as they fled the scene. A third person said that experiencing the assault during a psychedelic trip helped him process the trauma more fully.
About 4,000 revelers gathered on the night of October 6 in a field in southern Israel, just a few miles from the Gaza border, for the Nova Tribe music festival. At dawn, thousands of terrorists led by Hamas stormed Israel's defense lines under the cover of a barrage of rockets.
About 1,200 people were killed that day, the deadliest incident in Israeli history according to Israeli authorities, including 360 at the rave alone. Many of the ravers were under the influence of mind-altering substances such as LSD, MDMA and ketamine as they witnessed the carnage or ran for their lives.
For a team of Israeli researchers at the University of Haifa, the attack created a rare opportunity to study the intersection of trauma and hallucinations, an area of growing interest among researchers. science in recent years.
The Nova survivors present a case study that cannot be replicated in the laboratory: a large group of people endured trauma while under the influence of substances that made the brain receptive and malleable. than.
Illegal in most countries, including Israel, these substances are now on the verge of entering the mainstream of mental illness. Recent research shows that careful drug dosages such as MDMA And psilocybinThe active ingredient in “magic mushrooms” may be helpful in treating post-traumatic stress disorder.
The festival-goers were affected during the course of their injuries, not in a controlled clinical setting, but researchers say studying them could help scientists better understand on how to use psychedelic drugs to treat patients after a traumatic event.
Researchers surveyed more than 650 Nova survivors. About 23% said they used hallucinogens like LSD, also known as acid, and about 27% used MDMA, a stimulant and hallucinogen commonly known as molly or ecstasy. Many attendees used more than one substance.
Survey participants described a variety of experiences while using the drug on October 7, from hallucinations to extreme clarity, from panic to determination, and from paralysis to action.
“Even though people were falling to the ground and screaming next to me, I felt more and more confident,” said Yarin Reichenthal, 26, a judo coach who experienced an attack while on LSD. that I am invincible.” “I feel enlightened. I don't feel scared at all.”
In many cases, according to the results of the researchers' preliminary survey, even festival-goers using the same drug experienced the attack in different ways – differences that may have meaning the difference between life and death.
Scientists caution that the study is not a comprehensive assessment of how everyone participating in the protests responded because so many people died.
“We only heard the stories of the survivors who got out,” said Roy Salomon, a professor of cognitive science at the University of Haifa and a co-author of the study. “So our understanding is influenced by survivor bias.”
For many attendees, drug use appeared to hinder their ability to flee for safety, witnesses said. Some ravers were too focused on the illusion to realize what was going on and escape. Those experiences were also important to their findings, the researchers said.
“There are two main questions,” said Roee Admon, a University of Haifa psychology professor and co-author of the study. “How are traumatic events experienced under different hallucinations and what might the long-term clinical impact be?”
Professor Admon and Professor Salomon, who led the survey, are studying survivors in the hope of gathering information about how drug use affected their experiences of trauma. They are also studying how attendees seem to be recovering and coping. A graduate student, Ophir Netzer, also helped write the study.
Of those who escaped, some survivors appeared to be recovering well and others reported feeling numb and detached. Some said they had increased their drug use since the attack to cope.
Tal Avneri, 18, said he remained relatively sober on October 7 after taking MDMA: “We were all in a heightened emotional state, which made us even more vulnerable when the attack began.” “And when you get hurt at your most vulnerable moment, you can become paralyzed later.”
For devotees of Israel's trance scene, a festival like Nova is more than just a way to release. Many people consider raves – often held in forests and deserts, with pounding electronic beats and mind-altering substances – to be spiritual journeys among a like-minded community.
“The love I felt on the dance floor, the raves, the hallucinations — helped me get through my mother's death,” said Yuval Tapuhi, a 27-year-old Nova survivor from Tel Aviv. ”.
Around 6:30 a.m. on October 7, as the sky turned pink and many revelers were beginning the most tense part of their trip, rockets from Gaza suddenly streaked across the sky. Air raid sirens and loud explosions interrupted the music.
Many survivors said some people fell to the ground and burst into tears. Some attendees scrambled to avoid the terrorists by hiding in bushes, behind trees or in riverbeds. Others sprinted across the open field, running for hours before reaching safety.
Still others fled in their cars, creating severe traffic jams at the rave's main exit, where they became easy targets for Palestinian gunmen streaming across the border.
Amid the gunfire and hail of missiles, Mr. Reichenthal, the judo instructor, had what he described as a transcendent experience, which he attributed to his ability to survive. The LSD trip made him feel as if his fear had disappeared, he said, and he muttered Bible verses as he ran to safety.
Many survivors describe their initial panic being replaced by a cold determination — a function, one expert said, of stress counteracting the effects of the drugs.
Sebastian Podzamczer, 28, attributes his survival, at least in part, to the surge of energy and clarity he experienced while using MDMA. The drug's influence, he said, gave him what he believed was the strength to carry his girlfriend, who was paralyzed with fear.
Mr. Podzamczer, a combat veteran in the Israeli army, suffered from PTSD after serving in the army. Taking psychedelics recreationally helped him clarify some of that pain, he said, allowing him to talk about his military service without trembling and panicking.
“But I always thought that if I were in such an extreme situation, I would be paralyzed with panic because of my PTSD,” Mr. Podzamczer said. Instead, he found that the MDMA he took at the rave “helped me stay grounded and act more quickly and decisively.”
High stress levels can almost “overwhelm” the effects, says Rick Doblin, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Research, a California nonprofit that funds scientific research. of drugs and makes people return to reality. Nova Survivor Research.
Almog Arad, 28, said she began experiencing acid attacks after the attack began but that circumstances quickly “minimized” the effects of the drug. Even though she continued to see bold colors and patterns while on the run, her decision-making remained relatively sound, she said.
“Adrenaline was the strongest drug I took that day,” she said.
University of Haifa researchers plan to follow the survivors for many years, monitoring their neurological activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI.
They presented Preliminary findings in a preprint articleA scientific manuscript is under peer review.
According to the study's preliminary conclusions, compared with survivors who used other substances, participants who used MDMA were recovering better and exhibited less severe PTSD symptoms.
Many MDMA users in particular believe that using the drug helped them survive, researchers said. That awareness could affect their ability to cope with trauma, the scientists added.
“How we remember trauma has a big impact on how we process it,” Professor Admon said. “So even if the victim's perception is subjective, it will still have a big impact on their recovery.”
Researchers say it is difficult to accurately assess the doses taken by festival-goers, making it difficult to analyze how different amounts of the drug affect people.
Mr. Reichental said he witnessed a man at a raver who appeared so lost that when shots rang out and another raver tried to help him escape, the man instead That man started flirting with her again. Mr. Reichenthal recalled the man saying: “It's so lucky that fate brought us together. He doesn't believe the man survived the attack.
Psychologists and survivors say those taking ketamine, a hallucinogen with powerful sedative and dissociative effects, appear to be one of the hardest hit groups.
Immediately after the Nova massacre, a group of therapists and experts founded a volunteer relief network for survivors, called Safe Heart, providing psychological support to more than 2,200 people. The team collaborated with researchers from the University of Haifa as well as with a separate study at Bar-Ilan University.
“Most people who go through traumatic experiences do not develop PTSD,” Professor Admon said. “Identifying people with the disease and treating them as soon as possible is important to their healing.”
Audio produced by Adrienne Hurst.
