Both mindfulness meditation-based interventions and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies reduce PTSD symptoms in adults with moderate effect sizes. Mindfulness interventions showed a standardized mean difference of 0.45, while psychedelic therapies showed 0.54. MDMA-assisted therapy produced slightly stronger outcomes than ketamine. Psychedelic studies had tighter confidence intervals and lower risk of bias than mindfulness trials. Psychedelic therapies may yield a marginally larger effect, but mindfulness interventions are easier to disseminate. Future research should examine long-term efficacy, adverse events, and diverse populations, and investigate altered states of consciousness as a shared therapeutic mechanism.
LSD does not show significant effectiveness compared to other treatments for reducing alcohol consumption in people with alcohol use disorder. Any beneficial effects observed in the reviewed studies do not persist long-term, suggesting that LSD is unlikely to be a durable treatment leading to continued reduction of alcohol dependence. These findings come from a systematic review of seven studies, but the results cannot be generalized due to heterogeneity among the selected studies. The work highlights the need for further controlled and ethical research to understand underlying mechanisms and develop new therapeutic approaches.
Depression is a major public health problem, and current treatments are not always effective, leading to treatment-resistant forms. Over the past twenty years, renewed research on psychedelic substances has shown therapeutic potential for various mental disorders, including depression. This systematic review, following the PRISMA method and including five studies, examines the beneficial impact of the mystical experience induced by psilocybin on depression. The results indicate that the mystical experience plays a role in reducing depression, though inconsistencies remain in the definition of key concepts. Future studies should better define the mystical experience and its potential benefits for depression and other disorders.