A Systematic Review of Reporting Practices in Psychedelic Clinical Trials: Psychological Support, Therapy, and Psychosocial Interventions.
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.