Psychedelic Medicine
February 7, 2025
Jérémie Richard, Michael Levine
12 citations
Psychological support in psychedelic clinical trials is poorly defined, with little agreement on its essential components, boundaries, or limits. This perspective article proposes using the microskills framework from Ivey et al. (2021) to distinguish psychological support from psychotherapy by focusing on specific communication units and behaviors. The authors argue that trial protocols and treatment manuals should clearly define which psychosocial interventions and behaviors are permitted, to prevent interventions that exceed the trial's mandate or the session monitor's regulatory scope of practice.
Gen Psychiatr
February 19, 2025
Jérémie Richard, Albert Garcia‐romeu, Jack E Henningfield
7 citations
The FDA's August 2024 decision that an additional phase III study is needed before considering approval of midomafetamine for PTSD may postpone the potential approval of this treatment by several years.
International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction
April 24, 2025
Jérémie Richard, Jeremy Scott, Sandeep M. Nayak et al.
3 citations
No Summary
International Journal of Eating Disorders
July 2, 2026
Elena Koning, Jérémie Richard, Aaron Keshen
Psilocybin treatment shows promise as a transdiagnostic intervention for eating disorders and their common psychiatric comorbidities. Preliminary clinical evidence supports its feasibility, safety, and therapeutic effects, with robust transdiagnostic effects observed across comorbid conditions. Proposed mechanisms include serotonergic receptor agonism, psychoplastogenic effects, and neural network desynchronization that target shared vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities map onto dimensional constructs in the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (Emotional Dysfunction superspectrum, Internalizing spectrum) and Research Domain Criteria (negative/positive valence, cognitive, and social process domains). Future research should explore pragmatic trial designs and dimensional outcome measures to capture real-world complexities.
June 12, 2026
Zane Qarni, Jérémie Richard
preprint
People who use psychedelics like psilocybin mushrooms and LSD often describe them as enhancing physical performance indirectly by altering attention, increasing mind-body connection, promoting flow-like absorption, and reducing pain or fatigue. Some users report greater perceived strength, speed, endurance, coordination, or overall capability, along with effortless movement, reduced self-consciousness, sharper perception, and improved focus. Reports are predominantly positive or mixed, but concerns include overexertion, injury risk, impaired judgment, and fairness in competitive settings. Psychedelics may function more as potential-enhancing substances that change the subjective conditions of performance rather than as traditional performance-enhancing drugs. Whether perceived gains correspond to measurable improvement remains unclear.
Christopher P. Albertyn, Jérémie Richard, Ron Joseph Shore et al.
preprint
Demoralization syndrome affects about one in five Canadians with advanced cancer, marked by helplessness, hopelessness, and loss of meaning, and is linked to a greater desire for hastened death and worse outcomes, but it is underrecognized and undertreated. Pharmacological treatments fail to address its existential roots, and psychosocial therapies are underfunded and not universally effective. Mindfulness-Based Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy (MB-PAT) combines mindfulness training with psilocybin's neuroplastic effects, but its traditional one-on-one delivery limits scalability. The authors argue that group-based MB-PAT could bridge this gap by leveraging existing group therapy infrastructure and therapist familiarity with mindfulness, offering a scalable, equity-focused model for publicly funded Canadian oncology. The Canadian Network for Psychedelic-Assisted Cancer Therapy (CAN-PACT) is highlighted as a key initiative to generate evidence and capacity.
Journal of psychoactive drugs
November 9, 2025
James M Zech, Jérémie Richard, Grant M Jones
In a nationally representative sample of 139,524 adults, past-year LSD use was linked to 30% lower odds of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and 15.7% fewer AUD symptoms, while MDMA and ketamine use showed no significant association with AUD or its symptoms. The findings suggest that different psychedelics relate differently to AUD risk, with LSD specifically associated with reduced alcohol-related problems.