Cancer
December 18, 2023
Johannes Thrul, Zofia Kozak, Michael A. Carducci et al.
5 citations
Psilocybin, when administered in a group-based, assisted intervention, shows promise for treating depression in cancer patients. Two articles in Cancer report that this approach leads to persistent improvements in mood, building on earlier work that found psilocybin reduces existential distress in this population. The editorial discusses these findings, noting the positive effects on mood without specifying effect sizes or sample details.
JAMA Health Forum
November 7, 2025
Caleigh Propes, Katherine Cheung, Matthew D. Eisenberg et al.
4 citations
This viewpoint outlines strategies for addressing policy gaps that would arise if the US Food and Drug Administration approves psychedelics for treating mental health and substance use conditions. It discusses regulatory, clinical, and public health considerations necessary to integrate these therapies into practice.
Philosophical Perspectives on Psychedelic Psychiatry
September 13, 2024
David B. Yaden, Sandeep M. Nayak, Roland R. Griffiths
4 citations
The proportion of people who change their metaphysical beliefs after psychedelic experiences is not yet known precisely, but evidence suggests such changes can occur in some cases. This review examines the accruing evidence on the prevalence and magnitude of these belief changes and considers potential psychological mechanisms. It also briefly reviews relevant historical and contemporary philosophical work and describes clinical guidelines. Philosophically informed recommendations are offered for research and clinical contexts where psychedelic-induced metaphysical belief changes may arise.
Philosophy, psychiatry & psychology
January 1, 2021
Brian D. Earp, David B. Yaden
4 citations
Psychedelic research must be studied across cultures and disciplines, and a recent medical anthropology contribution by Noorani (2021) explores how psychedelics challenge conventional boundaries like treatment versus enhancement or medical versus recreational. The authors agree with Noorani's emphasis on the therapeutic setting as a 'container' for experiences and his critical look at background conditions, including the values and assumptions of scientists and institutions. They note that science is shaped by omitted voices, often those of women and people of color. Noorani draws on his training at Johns Hopkins and ethnography with the 'psychedelic community,' but the authors criticize his vague definition of community, which lumps together researchers, therapists, neo-shamanic healers, hippies, and others without clear coherence.
Philosophical Psychology
September 8, 2025
Mina Caraccio, Katherine Cheung, Sebastian Porsdam Mann et al.
3 citations
As interest in psychedelics like psilocybin, ketamine, and MDMA revives and their legal status changes in many places, ethical guidelines are urgently needed for both medical and non-medical use. This paper argues that focusing only on medical applications neglects potentially valuable uses in other contexts and raises ethical issues including hype, exceptionalism, informed consent, therapeutic touch, data collection, and balancing access with safety. The authors call for renewed attention to the treatment-versus-enhancement distinction from bioethics and stress that guidelines should be flexible and context-sensitive. They recommend incorporating diverse stakeholder perspectives and cross-sector collaboration in future research and policy for psychedelic bioethics.
Wellcome Open Research
July 8, 2025
Khaleel Rajwani, Melanie Almonte, F. Feroz et al.
2 citations
A protocol describes a planned scoping review to determine whether any controlled clinical research involving psychedelic drug administration to adolescents under 18 has been conducted since 2000. The review will follow established methodological guidelines, searching multiple databases and trial registers for interventional studies from 2000 to the present. Two independent raters will assess articles, with a third resolving disagreements. The protocol notes that while historical studies from 1959 to 1974 exist, they do not meet modern standards, and no recent controlled clinical research with adolescents is known.
Research Ethics
April 2, 2025
Katherine Cheung, Rebecca Ehrenkranz, David B. Yaden
2 citations
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard for showing treatment efficacy, but they alone do not prevent all bias. This paper reviews conflicts of interest and other biases that challenge methodological rigor in psychedelic RCTs, and recommends four actionable mitigation measures: independent data assessment, multisite trials, quantitative bias analysis, and open science practices. These practices are not specific to psychedelic research and could reduce bias across clinical research fields.
BMC Psychol
July 1, 2024
Julia S. Rohde, Sean Goldy, Marianna Graziosi et al.
2 citations
A Christian contemplative practice, centering prayer, can reduce stress and improve well-being. An online intervention study found that participants who practiced centering prayer reported lower stress levels and greater flourishing compared to a control group. The practice involves silent, intentional focus on God's presence, promoting inner calm and emotional balance. These findings suggest that incorporating this spiritual discipline into daily life may offer mental health benefits, including stress relief and enhanced personal growth.
JAMA Psychiatry
December 6, 2023
David B. Yaden, Natalie Gukasyan, Sandeep M. Nayak
2 citations
No Summary
Psychiatry Research
February 13, 2026
Sean P. Goldy, Nathan D. Sepeda, Samantha Hilbert et al.
1 citation
The acute subjective effects of psychedelics are known to predict therapeutic benefits like reduced depression and anxiety. Session facilitators—who support participants before, during, and after dosing—are a key part of the setting, but their influence on subjective effects was unclear. Analyzing data from 9 psilocybin studies with 298 participants, 670 sessions, and 60 facilitators, multilevel models showed facilitators accounted for negligible variance (0.8%) in healthy volunteers but greater variance in clinical samples (13.6%), after controlling for study and participant differences. This suggests facilitators may play a clinically meaningful role in shaping outcomes for patient populations, comparable to or exceeding therapist effects in traditional psychotherapy (~8%).
June 9, 2023
Sandeep M. Nayak, Sydney White, Samantha Hilbert et al.
1 citation
preprint
A longitudinal study of 657 people planning a psychedelic experience measured changes in beliefs about mind perception, metaphysical positions, and Atheist-Believer status before and after the experience. Replicating prior work, participants showed increased mind perception for living and non-living targets such as plants and animals. However, there was little to no change in metaphysical beliefs like dualism or in Atheist-Believer status. These results contrast with cross-sectional studies suggesting psychedelics alter non-naturalistic beliefs or religious identity, but they support the idea that psychedelics specifically affect how people perceive minds in various entities.
October 28, 2022
Natalie Gukasyan, Roland R. Griffiths, David B. Yaden et al.
1 citation
preprint
Serotonergic antidepressants, such as SSRIs and SNRIs, weaken psilocybin's effects, while the non-serotonergic antidepressant bupropion has less of a dampening effect. In 595 reports of taking psilocybin with an antidepressant, the probability of weaker than expected effects was 0.48 for SSRIs, 0.56 for SNRIs, and 0.29 for bupropion. After discontinuing a serotonergic antidepressant, reduced psilocybin effects persisted for up to 3 months, with odds of reduced effects not significantly different from the first week until 3–6 months post-discontinuation. The findings suggest that serotonergic antidepressants diminish psilocybin's effects both concurrently and for months after stopping.
June 30, 2022
Sandeep M. Nayak, Bilal A. Bari, David B. Yaden et al.
1 citation
preprint
A Bayesian reanalysis of a trial comparing psilocybin (COMP360) to escitalopram for major depressive disorder found that psilocybin outperformed escitalopram, but not by a clinically meaningful amount. The analysis also found extremely strong evidence that psilocybin is non-inferior to escitalopram. Evidence for psilocybin's superiority varied by depression scale: indeterminate for one, strong for two, and extremely strong for another. For a clinically meaningful difference, evidence was moderate against it on one scale, indeterminate on two, and moderate supporting it on one. These results provide a more nuanced interpretation and support further research.
International Journal of Drug Policy
June 13, 2026
Katherine Cheung, Caleigh Propes, David B. Yaden
Oregon's psilocybin services program, established under the Psilocybin Services Act, allows adults over 21 to access psilocybin at licensed service centers with facilitator supervision but without a medical referral or clinical oversight. Analysis of the first full year of Oregon Health Authority data shows reported adverse reactions were relatively uncommon in 2025, though the reporting framework sets a high threshold for reportable events. Access remains limited, with most clients being high-income and from outside Oregon. The program has expanded supervised psilocybin use beyond strictly medical uses, with some clients using services for general wellness and others for depression or anxiety. The authors argue that broad eligibility criteria and supervision requirements may raise safety concerns, especially for clients with clinical symptoms.
medRxiv Preprint Server
April 28, 2026
Sandeep M. Nayak, Nathan D. Sepeda, Matthew Nielsen Dick et al.
preprint
Psilocybin is being studied as a treatment for psychiatric and neurologic conditions, but there is limited comprehensive data on its cardiovascular safety. Current clinical trials typically exclude people with blood pressure of 140/90 mmHg or higher, a cutoff set conservatively without strong empirical evidence.
medRxiv Preprint Server
March 27, 2026
Brooke L. Sevchik, S. Parker Singleton, Analiese Lahey et al.
preprint
A living systematic review and meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials with 286 participants found that MDMA-assisted therapy reduces PTSD symptoms more than control conditions (Hedges' g = -0.71). More dosing sessions and higher cumulative doses were linked to larger effects. MDMA also led to higher response (risk ratio 1.35) and remission (risk ratio 2.25) rates. Most studies had low risk of bias per Cochrane guidelines, though issues like expectancy and functional unblinding remain. The evidence was rated low certainty using GRADE, and the authors note more trials are needed.
American Journal of Bioethics
January 1, 2026
Katherine Cheung, Brian D. Earp, Kyle Patch et al.
No Summary
November 25, 2024
Joshua Maurice Kugel, Ruben Laukkonen, David B. Yaden et al.
preprint
Insights—sudden, subjectively true understandings—are common during psychedelic experiences and are often considered central to therapy, but their role had not been systematically assessed. This systematic review of 98 studies found that psychedelic-catalyzed insight (PCI) was positively correlated with dose and was statistically significant in 93% of studies comparing psychedelic to placebo. Crucially, 86% of studies found PCI associated with positive therapeutic outcomes, often more strongly than mystical-type experiences. The findings suggest PCI is an important topic for clinical psychedelic therapy and for understanding mechanisms of psychedelic therapy.