Examining the Potential Synergistic Effects Between Mindfulness Training and Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
Frontiers in Psychiatry August 11, 2021 Maria Eleni Eleftheriou, Emily M Thomas 37 citations
Mindfulness-based interventions and psychedelic-assisted therapy both show moderate to great success as alternative treatments for various psychopathologies, with long-term decreases in clinical symptoms and enhanced well-being in healthy participants. They share proposed salutogenic mechanisms, including altering present-moment awareness and anti-depressive action through corresponding neuromodulatory effects. Preliminary evidence indicates that psychedelic administration can enhance mindfulness capacities, similar to mindfulness-based interventions. Scientists have theorized and recently demonstrated synergistic effects when both are combined, yielding potentiated therapeutic benefit. These results require replication in larger samples with better controlled methodologies to delineate the effect of set and setting before extending to clinical populations.