Addiction specialists' attitudes toward psychedelics: A National Survey.

Addiction specialists mostly view psychedelics positively for treating mental health and substance use disorders, though a notable minority worry about their addictive potential. An anonymous online survey of 145 addiction specialists assessed their opinions on therapeutic promise, risks, and legalization of psychedelics, including both classic serotonergic drugs and nonserotonergic ones like ketamine and MDMA. Familiarity with psychedelic research was the strongest predictor of positive views, while concern about addiction was the strongest negative predictor. Overall attitudes were more favorable than the authors hypothesized, possibly due to recent research acceleration. The findings highlight the need for better physician education on psychedelics' risks and benefits.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In recent years, there has been accelerating scientific and public interest in the use of psychedelics to treat mental health disorders. Our study's objective was to assess the attitudes of addiction specialists regarding therapeutic psychedelics. Our study utilized an anonymous online survey to assess the opinions of 145 addiction specialists regarding the therapeutic promise, potential risks, and legalization of psychedelics in the treatment of psychiatric illness and substance use disorders. Psychedelics were defined in the survey as inclusive of nonserotonergic hallucinogens such as ketamine or MDMA in addition to "classic" serotonergic psychedelics. Most respondents expressed positive attitudes to the therapeutic use of psychedelics, but a sizeable minority expressed concern for their addictive potential. Familiarity with psychedelic scientific literature was the strongest positive predictor of belief in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, while concern for addictive potential was the strongest negative predictor. Participants overall expressed more positive attitudes to the therapeutic use of psychedelics than we had hypothesized. This may be attributable to the accelerating pace of psychedelics research in recent years. Given the strong influence of concern for addiction risk on attitudes, future study is warranted to explore the findings regarding these concerns. These findings may also represent an opportunity for improved education of physicians regarding the addictive potential, and relative risks/benefits of psychedelics. Though there have been several prior studies assessing psychiatrist and psychologist attitudes toward psychedelics, we are unaware of any specifically examining the opinions of addiction specialists.