David Dupuis

Perception, socialization and psychedelic worlds
My research focuses on the use of psychedelic substances, particularly in therapeutic contexts, and on the ways social, ritual, clinical and institutional environments shape experience and its interpretation. I am particularly interested in how these experiences are socialized, how they affect conceptions of reality, and the transformations they may bring about, whether experienced as therapeutic or giving rise to persistent difficulties.
PSYCHEDELICS · HALLUCINATIONS · SET & SETTING · CLINICAL
Recent publications
2026 · Article
Computational Spirits: A Neuroscientific Account of Psychedelic Entity Encounters
Jonas Mago et al., with David Dupuis. Neuroscience of Consciousness, 2026(1), niaf069.
2026 · Book
L’Épreuve de l’invisible. Carnets d’anthropologie psychédélique
David Dupuis. Paris: Seuil, series “La Couleur des idées”.
2026 · Article
T-shaped expertise: rethinking interdisciplinarity in psychedelic research
Joost J. Breeksema et al., with David Dupuis. Psychedelics, 4, 100026.
2025 · Article
Psychedelics, attachment, and enculturation dynamics: Prospects and challenges
Esenia K. Cassidy, David Dupuis, Christopher Timmermann & Pehr Granqvist. Journal of Psychedelic Studies, 9(4), p. 330–343.
BOOK · SEUIL · 2026
L’Épreuve de l’invisible
Carnets d’anthropologie psychédélique
Based on several years of fieldwork with people who travelled to the Peruvian Amazon to experience ayahuasca, the book follows how visions, voices and encounters with entities gradually become credible, consequential and transformative experiences.
Exhibitions

Visions chamaniques
Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac · Paris · 2023–2024

Ayahuasca and Art of the Amazon
Sainsbury Centre · Norwich · 2024–2025
Recent media
21 September 2026 · Mediapart · Press
Soigner son « bad trip », les nouvelles frontières de la psychiatrie
30 August 2026 · Résilience Psy · Video / interview
Ayahuasca. À l’épreuve de l’invisible : David Dupuis
13 July 2026 · The Microdose · Press / interview
Do people hear voices when they take ayahuasca? 5 Questions with social anthropologist David Dupuis
4 August 2026 · France Inter · Radio / podcast
Ayahuasca : la plante d’Amazonie qui fait rêver les touristes
11 May 2026 · France Culture · Video / interview
Psychédéliques : peuvent-ils soigner la dépression ?
Upcoming
26 September 2026 · Lyon
Tricycle Day ↗
29 October 2026 · Marseille
AFEA ↗
2–5 December 2026 · Strasbourg
