An Israeli man said being high on LSD during the October 7 Hamas attack triggered a spiritual epiphany that helped him escape the carnage in a desert scream. Another is sure the drug MDMA made him more determined and gave him the strength to carry his girlfriend as they left the scene. A third said that experiencing the attack 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 miles from the Gaza border, for the Tribe of Nova music festival. At dawn, thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed Israel’s defenses under the cover of a barrage of rockets.
About 1,200 people were killed that day, the deadliest 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 fled for their lives.
For a group of Israeli researchers at the University of Haifa, the attack created a rare opportunity to study the intersection of trauma and psychedelics, a field that has attracted increased interest from scientists in recent years.
Survivors of the Nova festival present a case study that would be impossible to reproduce in a laboratory: a large group of traumatized people under the influence of substances that make the brain more receptive and malleable.
Illegal in most countries, including Israel, these substances are now on the verge of entering the psychiatric mainstream. Recent research suggests that careful doses of drugs such as MDMA and psilocybin, the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms,” may be helpful in treating PTSD.
The festival participants were under the influence during their trauma, not in a controlled clinical setting, but the researchers say their study could help scientists better understand how psychedelics can be used to treat patients after a traumatic event.
The researchers examined more than 650 Nova survivors. About 23% said they took hallucinogens such as LSD, also known as acid, and about 27% used MDMA, a stimulant and psychedelic commonly called molly or ecstasy. Many participants used more than one substance.
Research participants described a variety of experiences while using drugs on October 7, ranging from hallucinations to extreme lucidity, from panic to resolution, and from paralysis to action.
“Even though people were falling to the ground screaming next to me, I felt a growing sense of self-confidence, that I was invincible,” said Yarin Reichenthal, 26, a judo coach who experienced the attack while on LSD. “I felt enlightened. I didn’t feel any fear at all.”
In many cases, according to the researchers’ preliminary results, even festival-goers who used the same drugs experienced the attack in different ways — discrepancies that could have meant the difference between life and death.
The scientists cautioned that the study was not a comprehensive review of how every rave participant fared because so many were killed.
“We only hear the stories of those who made it out alive,” said Roy Salomon, a professor of cognitive science at the University of Haifa and co-author of the study. “So our understanding is affected by survivor bias.”
Witnesses said that for many in attendance, drug use appeared to hinder their ability to flee for safety. Some ravers were too high on psychedelics to understand what was going on and escape. The researchers said these experiences were also important to their findings.
“There are two main questions,” said Roee Admon, professor of psychology at the University of Haifa and co-author of the study. “How is the traumatic event experienced under different psychedelics and what might be the long-term clinical impact?”
Professor Admon and Professor Salomon, who are leading the research, are studying survivors in the hope of gathering information about how drug use has affected their experience of trauma. They also study how attendees seem to recover and cope. A graduate student, Ophir Netzer, also helped write the study.
Of those who made it out alive, some survivors appeared to be recovering well, and others reported feeling numb and disconnected. Some said they increased their drug use after the attack to cope.
“We were all in such a heightened emotional state, it made us even more vulnerable when the attack started,” said Tal Avneri, 18, who said he remained relatively lucid on Oct. 7 after taking MDMA. “And when you’re hurt at your most vulnerable, you can become numb later.”
For devotees of Israel’s trance scene, a festival like Nova is more than just a way to relax. Many see raves – often held in forests and deserts, with electronic beats and mind-altering substances – as spiritual journeys within a like-minded community.
“The love I felt on the dance floor, raves, psychedelics – they helped me deal with my mother’s death,” said Yuval Tapuhi, a 27-year-old Nova survivor from Tel Aviv.
Around 6:30 am on October 7, as the sky turned pink and many revelers embarked on the most intense part of their journeys, rockets from Gaza suddenly streaked across the sky. Air raid sirens and loud explosions interrupted the music.
Some people fell to the ground and burst into tears, several survivors said. Some bystanders scrambled to avoid the terrorists hiding in bushes, behind trees or in riverbeds. Others sprinted through open fields, running for hours before reaching safety.
Still others fled in their cars, creating a huge traffic jam at the rave’s main exit, where they became easy targets for Palestinian gunmen streaming across the border.
Amidst the gunfire and rocket barrage, Mr. Reichenthal, the judo coach, had what he describes as a transcendent experience, which he credits with his survival. The LSD trip, he said, made it feel like his fear had been stripped away, and he muttered Bible verses as he ran to safety.
Many survivors described their initial panic being replaced by composure — a function, one expert said, of anxiety counteracting the effects of the drugs.
Sebastian Podzamczer, 28, attributed his survival, at least in part, to a huge rush of energy and clarity he experienced when using MDMA. The drug’s influence, he said, gave him what he believes was the strength to carry his girlfriend, who was paralyzed with fear.
Mr. Podzamczer, a former combat medic in the Israeli army, had PTSD after his service. Taking psychedelics recreationally, he said, helped him dissolve some of that pain, allowing him to talk about his military service without shaking and panicking.
“But I always thought that if I was caught in an extreme situation like this, I would be paralyzed with panic from my PTSD,” Mr. Podzamczer said. Instead, he found that the MDMA he took at the rave “helped me stay alive, act faster and more decisively.”
High levels of stress can almost “overwhelm” the effects of a drug and jolt people back to reality, said Rick Doblin, the founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a California nonprofit that funds scientific research but is not involved. in the Nova Survivor Study.
Almog Arad, 28, said her acid trip began after the attack began, but that the conditions quickly “minimized” the effects of the drug. While she continued to see bright colors and patterns as she left, her decision-making remained relatively sound, she said.
“Adrenaline was the strongest drug I took that day,” he said.
The University of Haifa researchers plan to follow the survivors for years by monitoring their neural activity with functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI.
They have presented their preliminary findings in a preprinted paper, a peer-reviewed scientific manuscript.
Compared to survivors who used other substances, participants who used MDMA recovered better and experienced less severe PTSD symptoms, according to the study’s preliminary findings.
Many MDMA users in particular, the researchers said, believe that using the drug helped them survive. This perception, the scientists added, could affect their ability to cope with their trauma.
“The way we remember the trauma has a big impact on the way we process it,” Professor Admon said. “So even if the victim’s perception is subjective, it will have a big impact on their recovery.”
Researchers said it was difficult to estimate the exact doses used by festival-goers, making it difficult to analyze how different amounts of drugs affected people.
Mr. Reichental said he saw a man at the rave who appeared to be so out of it that as shots rang out and another raver tried to help him escape, the man began flirting with her. “How lucky he is that fate brought us together,” Mr. Reichenthal recalled. He does not believe the man survived the attack.
Psychologists and survivors said those revelers taking ketamine, a psychedelic with a strong sedative and dissociative effect, appeared to be one of the hardest hit groups.
Immediately after the Nova massacre, a group of therapists and specialists created a volunteer relief network for survivors known as Safe Heart, which provided psychological support to more than 2,200 people. The team has collaborated with researchers at the University of Haifa as well as a separate study at Bar-Ilan University.
“Most people who go through a traumatic experience don’t develop PTSD,” Professor Admon said. “Identifying those who do and treating them as early as possible is critical to their treatment.”
The sound is produced by Adrienne Hurst.
