Michael Winkelman’s career has centered on shamanism, psychedelics, and altered states of consciousness. A major dimension of his work involves the practical application of these fields, particularly in utilizing these practices for the treatment of addiction. His extensive publications examine how shamanism can integrate into contemporary healthcare, featured in landmark papers such as “Alternative and Traditional Medicine Approaches for Substance Abuse Programs: A Shamanic Approach” (2001), “Complementary Therapy for Addiction: ‘Drumming Out Drugs’” (2003), “Spirituality and the Healing of Addictions” (2004), and “Shamanistic Harm Reduction Practices” (2009).

A specific focus of his research highlights the empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness of psychedelics in substance abuse rehabilitation, notably explored in “Psychedelics as Medicines for Substance Abuse Rehabilitation: Evaluating Treatments with LSD, Peyote, Ibogaine and Ayahuasca” (2014, 2018). Dr. Winkelman has compiled interdisciplinary evidence across anthropological, social, clinical, and laboratory sciences to demonstrate the therapeutic value of these substances in his books Psychedelic Medicine (2007) and Advances in Psychedelic Medicine (2019). Additionally, he has outlined best practices for the field in “Shamanic Guidelines for Psychedelic Medicines” (2007).