Evaluating the value and risks of psychedelics for psychiatric medicine: a clinical perspective.

After decades of neglect, psychedelics are again being studied for clinical use, but the current enthusiasm risks overstating their benefits and downplaying their harms. The authors review the literature to give a balanced account of both therapeutic potential and risks. Psychedelics show promise for many conditions and appear to have limited risk of abuse or dependence when given under controlled conditions by trained staff. However, many questions remain, and more research is needed to identify which patients and conditions will benefit and which face greater risk of adverse effects.

Study at a glance

Abstract

After a long period of obscurantism, a possible role of psychedelics in clinical practice has progressively become a tangible perspective during the last two decades. However, the resounding enthusiasm linked to such 'psychedelic renaissance' runs the risk to unduly minimize the possible hazards associated with these compounds, while expanding their alleged benefits to improbable panacea-like proportions. In order to avoid mystifying or demonizing the properties of 5-HT2a agonists on emotional grounds, this subject requires a strictly unprejudiced and cautious approach to the evidence. In this article, the authors attempted to comprehensively analyze the available literature to provide a balanced overview of the possible benefits of psychedelics in healthcare, taking into account their potential risks. To date, psychedelics have shown a therapeutic potential in a wide range of conditions, with a seemingly limited risk of inducing adverse reactions, including abuse and dependence, when administered in a controlled environment by specialized personnel. In any case, although several questions remain unanswered before drawing firm conclusions, further studies are needed to establish which conditions and subjects could benefit from psychedelics and which patients bear the greater risk of adversities.