Recent early-phase trials suggest psychedelics offer novel benefits for treating mental health and substance use disorders, producing experiences unlike other treatments, such as feelings of unity, loss of self-importance, and encountering deep reality or God. Focusing on psilocybin, the authors argue these unique features pose novel risks that require an enhanced informed consent process—more comprehensive than typical for psychiatric medications. They highlight key issues for consent, suggest discussion prompts, and respond to objections, concluding with ethical considerations as psychedelics move from controlled research into mainstream clinical psychiatry.
A survey of people with chronic pain conditions found that, except for sciatica, those who used psychedelics (full doses or microdoses) reported better pain relief than with conventional medication. Full doses outperformed conventional medication for fibromyalgia, arthritis, migraine, and tension-type headache. Microdoses provided significantly better relief than conventional medication for migraines and comparable relief for the other conditions. The findings suggest that psychedelics may hold value for treating some chronic pain conditions.