This revival picks up threads from promising research of the 1940s – 1960s that got caught up in the wash of the 1960s counterculture and the backlash of the 1970s anti-drug pushback. A lot of serious research has been taking place in the last few decades in prestigious research institutions like Johns Hopkins and Imperial College of London.
Psychedelics have remarkable abilities to temporarily disrupt habitual patterns of thinking and allow more fluid modes of thought and shifts in perspective. In a comfortable therapeutic setting, this can allow for fresh and helpful insights into patterns of behavior and thinking, especially when supported by conversations with therapists to help unpack the (intense) experience.