The American journal of bioethics : AJOB
January 1, 2025
Katherine Cheung, Brian D Earp, Kyle Patch et al.
30 citations
The authors argue against the idea that psychedelics raise uniquely exceptional ethical issues in clinical medicine, comparing this position to earlier debates about genetic exceptionalism in bioethics. They contend that psychedelics share more commonalities with existing medical interventions than is often assumed, and that adopting a stance of "psychedelic ethical exceptionalism" carries risks. Instead, they propose that consistent ethical rules and evidentiary standards should apply across all relevant areas of clinical medicine. While changes to existing standards may be warranted, such changes should not be justified by appealing to the alleged uniqueness of psychedelics.
American Journal of Bioethics
May 2, 2024
Edward Jacobs, B. Earp, Paul S. Appelbaum et al.
29 citations
A workshop on psychedelic ethics, the first Hopkins-Oxford Psychedelic Ethics (HOPE) meeting, was held in August 2023 at the University of Oxford to address ethical issues surrounding psychedelics. The organizers (BDE, DBY, EJ) aimed to foster interdisciplinary discussion on topics such as informed consent, therapeutic use, and societal implications. The report outlines the workshop's structure, key themes, and proposed guidelines for ethical research and practice in the field.
Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics : CQ : the international journal of healthcare ethics committees
June 27, 2023
Katherine Cheung, Kyle Patch, Brian D Earp et al.
27 citations
Psychedelics like psilocybin produce altered states of consciousness that change perception, cognition, and affect. They show promise as therapeutic agents combined with talk therapy for conditions such as major depression and substance use disorder. It remains unclear whether these acute subjective effects are necessary for therapeutic benefits. This uncertainty has sparked debate about whether psychedelics without subjective effects could still have therapeutic impact, or whether the subjective effects are essential for full therapeutic realization.
AJOB empirical bioethics
July 16, 2025
Katherine Cheung, Caleigh Propes, Marianna Graziosi et al.
4 citations
Informed consent documents from U.S. psilocybin clinical trials often emphasize mental health and physical risks but rarely include psychedelic-specific elements like ineffability or therapeutic touch, despite calls from bioethicists for tailored consent forms. A content analysis of 28 documents from 13 sites found good coder reliability. The results suggest that while general risks are well covered, the unique features of psychedelic experiences are not consistently addressed in consent materials. The authors recommend ongoing debate about which elements are most important for potential participants to consider when deciding whether to join a study.
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
May 26, 2025
Kyle Patch, William R. Smith
3 citations
The concepts of set and setting in psychedelic research are vague and over-inclusive. A mechanism-first approach is proposed, which begins with specific components such as openness to the experience or calming lighting and music, then investigates the mechanisms by which these components influence outcomes. Understanding paradigmatic cases allows researchers to test whether other mental and environmental factors play similar mechanistic roles, gradually expanding the scope of set and setting. This approach avoids standard definitions and encourages focused, mutually informative research projects. The argument outlines problems with current definitions, details the mechanism-first method, illustrates it with active research, and addresses objections.