BJPsych Open
February 12, 2026
David A Bender, Holly Dunn, Amanda Pekau et al.
1 citation
Background The relationship between media portrayal of psychedelic drugs, scientific research and drug policy is an area of debate. Aims To apply artificial intelligence technology to measure trends in media sentiment towards the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs. Method Up to 300 of the most relevant articles from Google News searches for the term ‘psychedelics’ were sampled for each...
Psychopharmacology
October 27, 2025
David A Bender, Sandeep M. Nayak, Joshua S. Siegel et al.
Psychedelic treatments are considered to involve unique treatment challenges relative to other psychiatric interventions, though these are typically not explored in detail within clinical trial reports. To determine the types of challenges that providers encounter while administering psychedelic drugs in research settings and to assess provider opinions on safeguards that may be pursued to...
American Journal of Psychotherapy
May 6, 2025
David A Bender, Sandeep M. Nayak, Joshua S. Siegel et al.
7 citations
Psychedelic therapies are promising new treatment options in psychiatry. Including the use of physical touch as part of treatment is an area of debate. This study aimed to characterize the viewpoints of practitioners on the use of touch in psychedelic therapy. An anonymous survey was distributed via e-mail to the contacts listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for trials of psilocybin and lysergic acid...
The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
February 5, 2025
David A Bender, Sandeep M. Nayak, Joshua S. Siegel et al.
3 citations
Objective: To assess the viewpoints of psychedelic practitioners in research settings on approaches to psychological support for psychedelic treatments. Methods: An anonymous survey was distributed via email to contacts listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for clinical trials of psilocybin and LSD, personal contacts of authors, and through snowball sampling. The survey included Likert type, multiple...
Nature
August 1, 2024
Joshua S. Siegel, Subha Subramanian, Demetrius Perry et al.
241 citations
A single dose of psilocybin, a psychedelic that acutely causes distortions of space-time perception and ego dissolution, produces rapid and persistent therapeutic effects in human clinical trials1-4. In animal models, psilocybin induces neuroplasticity in cortex and hippocampus5-8. It remains unclear how human brain network changes relate to subjective and lasting effects of psychedelics. Here...
Psychopharmacology
January 13, 2022
David A Bender, David J Hellerstein
82 citations
RationaleA broad reassessment of the potential benefits of psychedelic drugs has led to the initiation of multiple major clinical trials in an effort to advance their status to become FDA-approved medications, as well as local legislative efforts to legalize or decriminalize their use.ObjectivesTo use recently published data to assess potential risks and benefits of psychedelic drugs as...