Learning how to make use of dissociative therapies.

Dissociative therapies are increasingly studied for psychiatric use, but key clinical questions remain. This review identifies six areas: whether functional unblinding skews efficacy data; how therapeutic effects differ from recreational drug relief; how the concept of dissociation applies to these drugs; whether subjective drug effects predict outcomes; how dissociative and classic psychedelics compare; and the need for prescribing and deprescribing guidelines as these treatments become more common.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Dissociative therapies are being increasingly explored for their psychiatric applications, although questions remain about how they work and how best to use them. In exploring these questions, this review highlights six key areas of clinical relevance: (1) The possible contributions of functional unblinding when interpreting efficacy data; (2) The degree to which the therapeutic effects of dissociative therapies can be distinguished from the transient forms of relief seen with recreational drug use; (3) Understanding the construct of dissociation as it is tasked with describing the function of dissociative drugs; (4) The investigation of subjective drug effects as predictors of therapeutic outcome; (5) Similarities and differences in the effects of dissociative and classic psychedelics; and (6) The anticipated need for judicious prescribing/deprescribing resources as dissociative therapies proliferate.