Psychiatry & the psychedelic drugs. Past, present & future.
Neuropharmacology December 25, 2017 James J.H. Rucker, Jonathan Iliff, David J. Nutt 339 citations
Classical psychedelics like psilocybin, LSD, and mescaline were widely used in psychiatry before being placed in Schedule I of the UN Convention on Drugs in 1967. Pre-prohibition studies indicate these drugs are not helpful for people with established psychotic disorders and should be avoided in those at risk. However, individuals with psychoneurotic disorders sometimes benefited considerably from the drugs' tendency to loosen fixed, maladaptive patterns of cognition and behavior, especially in a supportive therapeutic setting. A recent systematic review in unipolar mood disorder and a meta-analysis in alcoholism have both suggested efficacy. Serious adverse events appear to be low. Since 2006, pilot trials and randomized controlled trials using psychedelics (mostly psilocybin) in various non-psychotic psychiatric disorders have provided encouraging results, though regulatory and legal hurdles to licensing remain formidable.