In "Prescription for Love: An Experimental Investigation of Laypeople's Relative Moral Disapproval of Love Drugs," Lantian, Boudesseul, and Cova (2024) explore the moral implications of hypothetical romantic love-enhancing biotechnological interventions. Their study reveals "love drugs" (LDs) are viewed as less acceptable than psychological therapy due to the perceived inauthenticity of the...
Abstract Background and aims In recent years, there has been increasing attention on the potential for psychedelic-assisted therapies to be used in healthcare. However, the turbulent history of psychedelics challenges its implementation and concerns about cultural safety, equity, and diversity in research remain unresolved. In Āotearoa New Zealand, Pasifika populations face significant health...
The authors offer a model for curriculum for education and training in substance-assisted psychotherapy (SAP), that is, psychedelic, psycholytic, and entactogen/MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine)-assisted psychotherapy, addressing both the detailed contents of training and the question of experiential training. All authors of this model have an abiding interest and extensive experience in...
Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist, has demonstrated rapid antidepressant effects at sub-anesthetic doses, making it a promising candidate for treatment-resistant mood disorders, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidality, and recently, eating disorders (EDs). However, its effects are transient, and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) has emerged as a method to...
Importance: Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) trials have high levels of functional unblinding. This effect positively biases results when PAT trials are compared against truly blinded trials. Objective: This pre-registered meta-analysis investigated the comparative efficacy of PAT and open-label traditional antidepressants (tAD; such as SSRIs and SNRIs) for the treatment of major depression....
Despite increasing interest in psychedelic-assisted therapies (PAT), there remains a critical gap in extending these treatments to marginalized and vulnerable populations, including Latinx immigrants. This underrepresentation in both research and clinical practice exacerbates disparities in mental health care access for racial and ethnic minorities, who already face systemic barriers. The...
The view that the use of serotonergic psychedelics in mental health care should always be psychotherapeutically embedded has recently been questioned. One argument against this model concerns the high costs it entails, which could limit the accessibility of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT)-a concern likely to gain traction if PAT is officially approved in the future. This paper analyzes the...
Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) is gaining recognition as a promising intervention for treatment-refractory mental health conditions in adults. While interest in its applications for adolescents is growing, critical gaps remain in understanding safe and effective delivery of PAT to this vulnerable population, including implications for caregiver/family (used interchangeably) involvement in...
With several classical psychedelics being designated as breakthrough therapies and the recent review of a New Drug Application for 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder, the likelihood of psychedelic medication becoming approved for clinical use in the United States is high. Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) may have a high demand in rural America,...
Black Americans are significantly underrepresented in psychedelic trials despite significant mental health disparities. Growing research suggests that psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) is an effective treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. It is important to understand perceptions of PAT among populations with unmet mental health needs. We conducted four focus groups to...