Frontiers in Psychiatry
September 22, 2025
Charles Miller, Bárbara Lopes, Anna Mccurdy
Ketamine therapy is often wrongly linked to psychedelic culture, but its therapeutic effect comes from blocking NMDA receptors to promote neuroplasticity, not from the acute dissociative experience. The dissociative state emphasized in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy is neither necessary nor sufficient for lasting improvement; meaningful recovery depends on plasticity-driven brain reorganization in the days after administration. Prioritizing subjective experience during dissociation risks distorting memory and reinforcing maladaptive narratives, undermining the potential of psychoplastogenic treatments. The article calls for evidence-based protocols aligned with neurophysiology, advocating for greater education, standardization, and scientific rigor in clinical practice.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
September 11, 2025
Małgorzata Wierzbicka, Renata Kopczyk, Alexander L. Gerlach et al.
correction
This notice corrects an error in a previously published article. The correction addresses a specific issue in the original work, but the text does not describe the nature of the correction or any findings.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
September 5, 2025
Nicholas J. Ahari, Gregory A. Fonzo
MDMA may help treat PTSD by affecting brain circuits involved in fear and reward. No studies have tested MDMA on specific phobias. This article proposes a model of MDMA-assisted therapy that combines biological, psychological, and social factors, informed by emotional processing theory, inhibitory learning, and cognitive behavioral interpersonal theory. It applies this model to spider phobia, a common animal phobia, suggesting a novel one-session treatment. The authors hypothesize that MDMA's neurobiological and prosocial effects can enhance emotional processing and learning during exposure, reducing avoidance and phobia symptoms. This framework could guide integration of exposure therapies with MDMA and other psychedelics for fear-based conditions.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
February 16, 2024
Terence H W Ching, Lucia Amoroso, Calvin Bohner et al.
correction
A correction notice addresses an error in a previously published article on psilocybin therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder. The notice specifies that the original article's DOI is 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1278823 and provides the necessary correction. No findings, methods, or results are presented in this text.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
August 4, 2023
Kasey Cox, Cody Weston, Moss Herberholz et al.
A survey of 1,221 adults who use psychedelics found that most do so without clinical support. Only 22% disclosed their use to a primary care provider, while 58% told a psychiatric provider. Participants had less confidence in primary care providers' ability to integrate psychedelics into treatment. Common reasons for not disclosing included stigma, lack of provider knowledge, and legal concerns. 23% took psychedelics on the same day as potentially interacting psychiatric medications. Although 81% desired therapist support during experiences, only 15% had received it. The disconnection from clinical care may lead to safety issues such as inadequate screening, lack of support for adverse events, and drug interactions.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
December 24, 2021
Frontiers Production Office
correction
No Summary
Frontiers in Psychiatry
July 5, 2021
Morgan Campbell, Monnica T. Williams
Patients with mental illnesses should have the same access to promising experimental therapies, including psychedelics, as patients with other conditions. The principle of early access to experimental treatments, advanced by activist Larry Kramer during the AIDS pandemic, is now standard in medicine for diseases like cancer and infectious diseases. Psychiatry has failed to provide similar expanded access during public health emergencies, psychological crises, and pandemics, despite patient preferences and community needs. The field must align with the rest of medicine and let patient preferences guide policy and law on unapproved medications such as psychedelics.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
March 22, 2021
M. A. Mende, Hendrik Schmidt
Interpersonal synchrony—the non-verbal coordination of movement and brain activity between two people—may help explain why some psychotherapy succeeds and other fails. A narrative review of studies on movement synchronization and on neurological correlates measured with EEG, fMRI, and fNIRS finds that the quality of the therapist-patient relationship is a robust predictor of outcome across therapy schools. Emerging evidence suggests that embodied cognition, which links thinking to bodily and neural processes, fits the data better than classical cognitivist views. However, whether interpersonal synchrony can be voluntarily achieved and how it directly affects therapy success remain open questions. Deeper investigation into these physical and neurological processes could reduce drop-out rates and healthcare costs.