Neuroplasticity Breakthroughs: How Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Could Reshape Concussion Recovery Systems Globally
Original framing: “Psilocybin may help the brain recover from concussion, new study shows” — The Conversation - Global
Concussion survivors in the Global South, such as migrant farmworkers in Central America or women in contact sports like netball, are excluded from this narrative, despite facing higher risks due to lack of protective gear or medical access. Veterans of color in the U.S. military, who have historically been denied psychedelic-assisted PTSD treatment, would offer critical insights into how race and class shape access to experimental therapies. The study’s focus on 'brain recovery' also ignores how systemic barriers—like lack of paid sick leave—prevent marginalised groups from seeking treatment in the first place.
The psilocybin-concussion study operates at the intersection of colonial erasure, corporate extraction, and medical reductionism, revealing how 'breakthrough' narratives obscure deeper systemic failures.
Indigenous knowledge systems have long treated neurological trauma as a disruption of holistic well-being, yet their exclusion from mainstream research reinforces the myth of Western science as objective and universal. The study’s focus on 'brain recovery' mirrors historical patterns where marginalised groups—from Indigenous healers to NFL players—are treated as guinea pigs for profit-driven innovations, while systemic causes of concussions (e.g., unsafe workplaces, militarised sports culture) remain unaddressed. To move forward, solutions must centre decolonised research, equitable access, and policy frameworks that treat psychedelic therapy as a tool for structural change, not just individual healing. The trickster figure of Coyote reminds us that such transformations require dismantling the very hierarchies that created the problem in the first place.