International Review of Psychiatry
June 5, 2024
Katherine Cheung, Caleigh Propes, Edward Jacobs et al.
11 citations
Psychedelic integration groups, offered in person or online, may attract individuals who feel disconnected or lonely after a psychedelic experience. These groups can provide community and shared coping strategies, but also carry risks. This essay explores both benefits and risks, offering preliminary guidelines for physicians, researchers, and individuals to assess and evaluate such groups.
The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health
September 2, 2025
Khaleel Rajwani, Edward Jacobs, Lori Bruce et al.
6 citations
A scoping review of medical literature from 2000 to 2025 found no completed or published clinical trials testing psychedelic-assisted therapy in adolescents under 18, despite three trial registrations and one trial plan. The proposed studies would have investigated MDMA-assisted or psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder, autism with social anxiety, or self-harm. Ethical approval and recruitment details were inconsistently reported. This absence of data represents a major evidence gap that could hinder informed care. The authors argue for cautious, ethically grounded research starting with older adolescents who have the highest foreseeable benefit-risk ratio due to special circumstances.
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.
Wellcome Open Res
January 13, 2025
Samuel Streicher, Christopher Register, Xiu Lim et al.
2 citations
A protocol is described for a scoping review that will map ethical arguments for and against the voluntary use of psychedelics as moral bioenhancers. The review will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology, searching multiple databases for published and unpublished sources that present explicit ethical arguments. Sources focused primarily on clinical treatment or unavailable in English will be excluded. Two independent raters will assess eligibility, with disagreements resolved by a third reviewer. Data will be charted and analyzed following PRISMA-ScR guidelines.
American Journal of Bioethics
January 1, 2026
Katherine Cheung, Brian D. Earp, Kyle Patch et al.
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