Frontiers in Psychology
June 2, 2022
William Brennan, William Brennan, Alexander B. Belser
86 citations
A new framework called EMBARK provides a transdiagnostic, trans-drug approach to psychotherapy in psychedelic-assisted treatment. Existing models fall into basic support or evidence-based therapy categories, but both lack adequate attention to embodied, relational, and ethical elements. EMBARK addresses these gaps with six clinical domains for supporting therapeutic benefit and four care cornerstones for ethical responsibility, guiding interventions across preparation, medicine, and integration sessions. The model also standardizes therapist training and is already adopted in several clinical trials, aiming to improve research standardization and clarify which factors drive treatment outcomes.
Frontiers in Psychology
June 2, 2022
William Brennan, William Brennan, Alexander B. Belser
86 citations
A new framework called EMBARK provides a transdiagnostic, trans-drug approach to psychotherapy in psychedelic-assisted treatment. Existing models fall into basic support or evidence-based therapy categories, but both lack adequate attention to embodied, relational, and ethical elements. EMBARK addresses these gaps with six clinical domains for supporting therapeutic benefit and four care cornerstones for ethical responsibility, guiding interventions across preparation, medicine, and integration sessions. The model also standardizes therapist training and is already adopted in several clinical trials, aiming to improve research standardization and clarify which factors drive treatment outcomes.
Psychedelic medicine (New Rochelle, N.Y.)
December 1, 2023
William Brennan, Alex R Kelman, Alexander B Belser
43 citations
Psychedelic-assisted therapy has attracted considerable interest, but poor reporting of psychosocial interventions (PIs) in clinical trials obscures their role in treatment outcomes. This systematic review of 33 published psychedelic clinical trials since 2000 found that many reports omitted basic details: 33% did not report the number of sessions, 45% did not report session duration, 42% did not report provider credentials, 52% did not report use of a therapy manual, 64% did not reference an available manual, and 82% did not report assessing treatment fidelity. Compared with non-psychedelic trials, psychedelic trial reports underreport key PI items. The review indicates that underreporting is a widespread problem and recommends improved reporting practices to enhance research standardization and treatment outcomes.