A scoping review of ethical issues in psychedelic-assisted therapy identifies seven key themes: safety and patient well-being, therapeutic relationships, informed consent, equity and access, research ethics, special contexts, and societal and cultural implications. The review systematically searched multiple databases for peer-reviewed studies on human participants and psychiatric patients, covering publications up to June 2025. The findings aim to inform further discussion and research to support safer and more ethical implementation of psychedelic-assisted treatments as they approach clinical use.
A book symposium on Chris Letheby's Philosophy of Psychedelics (2021) examines the tension between psychedelic therapy and philosophical naturalism. The special issue opens with an introduction by Matthew Johnson, followed by Letheby's overview of his main arguments. Seven contributions either critique or expand on Letheby's proposed mechanism for psychedelic therapy or discuss its epistemic implications. The symposium concludes with Letheby's responses to the commentaries.
The transformative potential of psychedelic experiences raises ethical concerns about informed consent in psychedelic-assisted therapy, because an altered state of consciousness might shift a person's values in ways they cannot foresee. This argument, however, overemphasizes the power of the psychedelic experience itself. In most cases, the altered state is only the start; lasting change requires a sober, authentic agential process afterward. This two-step view of transformation alleviates the pressure on informed consent, suggesting that consent before the experience can still be valid.