Psychedelics—psychoactive substances that have characteristic effects on perception, cognition and mood—are attracting renewed clinical and policy attention for their potential to treat a range of conditions. Various ethical tensions are present in psychedelic clinical trials due to several characteristics of psychedelics and the psychedelic experience, including acute alterations of...
Some investigational compounds exist in both regulated clinical pipelines and unregulated street or online markets. Ketamine, psychedelics and cannabis are all under active clinical investigation while remaining accessible, in unregulated form, through illicit channels without clinician oversight. We propose the term parallel-access compounds for this category and argue that it deserves...
A number of proposals across different fields have suggested incorporating "independent" actors into the research process as a way to manage potential bias. For example, in response to allegations of bias in psychedelic science, some have suggested the idea of independent auditors for adverse events, as well as the incorporation of independent researchers into the research teams of psychedelic...
Amidst a growing prevalence of adolescent mental ill-health, there is a pressing need to develop effective therapeutic interventions. Despite promising results from adult trials of psychedelic-assisted therapies (P-AT), translating these interventions to adolescents presents challenges. Therapeutic outcomes in paediatric contexts cannot be inferred from adult studies due to age-dependent...
As psychedelic treatments approach licensing with reduced clinical intensity, the psychological functions previously served by integration support are increasingly displaced onto patients' social environments. This Perspective argues that these environments are plausible but unmeasured moderators of outcome, and proposes three responses: structured psychoeducation for support networks,...
Over the past 15 years, psychedelic treatments have garnered substantial clinical interest, with psilocybin and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) advancing to phase 3 trials for various psychiatric conditions. This state-of-the-art review examines the evidence for these treatments and their proposed mechanisms of action, and identifies key challenges in clinical translation. Psychedelic...
The current revival of interest in classic psychedelics and other psychoactives such as ketamine and MDMA, coupled with changes to their regulatory status in many jurisdictions, necessitates rigorous ethical guidelines both within and beyond clinical and scientific contexts. This paper examines crucial ethical, philosophical, and policy considerations needed to ensure psychedelic use across...
The potential use of psychedelic-assisted therapy for adolescents with mental illness has sparked both interest and concern. Modern psychedelic research has focused on adults, and adolescents younger than 18 years are typically excluded due to ethical and legal challenges. To explore whether adolescents have been included in 21st century psychedelic research, we conducted a scoping review of...
Background Recent years have seen renewed clinical interest in the therapeutic potential of classical psychedelics, such as psilocybin, LSD, DMT, and mescaline. While modern studies have focused on adult populations, adolescents under 18 are routinely excluded due to regulatory, legal, and ethical challenges. Although there exists observational data and historical studies from 1959 to 1974...
Objective: This article outlines recommendations from 30 psychedelic researchers on how to create a better psychedelic safety net. Methods: A survey of 30 psychedelic researchers asked them to identify key critical research gaps around psychedelic harm and safety. Results: The critical research gaps identified by the authors included defining the main types of psychedelic harm, the predictors...
Cheung et al. (2025) rightly argue that psychedelics should be subject to ethical and evidentiary standards consistent with clinical medicine at large, rather than exceptionalism based on their uni...
The role of touch in psychotherapy has been a topic of debate for several decades, now gaining renewed salience with the (re-)emergence of psychedelic-assisted therapy (P-AT), where altered states ...
A number of organizations have developed or are developing psychedelic integration groups, held in person or online. In parallel, there have been calls to make enhanced integration available in the community after clinical trials. Here, we explore a potential reason why individuals may seek out these groups: namely, the feelings of disconnection and loneliness that may arise after the...
The first Hopkins-Oxford Psychedelic Ethics (HOPE) workshop convened to discuss ethical matters relating to psychedelics in August 2023 at the University of Oxford.The organizers (BDE, DBY, EJ) aim...
Objective To capture UK medical students’ self-reported knowledge and harm assessment of psychedelics and to explore the factors associated with support for changing the legal status of psychedelics to facilitate further clinical research. Design Cross-sectional, anonymous online survey of UK medical students using a non-random sampling method. Setting UK medical schools recognised by the...
Abstract The ethical value—and to some scholars, necessity—of providing trial patients with post-trial access (PTA) to an investigational drug has been subject to significant attention in the field of research ethics. Although no consensus has emerged, it seems clear that, in some trial contexts, various factors make PTA particularly appropriate. We outline the atypical aspects of psychedelic...
Just as psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) represents a clinical innovation that may need to be accommodated with corresponding theoretical and methodological innovations, there is growing awareness that the tools, normative frameworks, and standard practices of our clinical ethics may also need to be adapted, renewed, or replaced to accommodate its unusual features. Drawing on L. A....
Creativity, that is the creation of ideas or objects considered both novel and valuable, is among the most important and highly valued of human traits, and a fundamental aspect of the sciences. Dreams and hypnagogic states have been highly influential in promoting scientific creativity and insight, contributing to some important scientific breakthroughs. Phenomenologically, the latter states of...
Abstract The recent revivification of interest in the therapeutic use of psychedelics has had a particular focus on mood disorders and addiction, although there is reason to think these drugs may be effective more widely. After outlining pertinent aspects of psilocybin and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the current review summarizes the evidence indicating that there may be a role for...