The therapeutic potential of psychedelics

Description The development of psychedelics as medicines faces several challenges Psychedelics are reported to have rapid-onset and long-lasting therapeutic benefits after a single or few doses. Sustained (1 year or more) clinical benefits have been reported in depression and smoking cessation studies after just two or three doses of psilocybin combined with psychotherapy (1, 2). By contrast, conventional medications for neuropsychiatric disorders take days to weeks to begin working and need to be taken daily over prolonged periods and sometimes indefinitely. Other potential applications for psychedelics include treatment of cancer-related anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, headache disorders, and phantom limb syndrome. Although arguably paradigm shifting, a number of unanswered questions remain about psychedelics as medicines, including the definition of a psychedelic drug, the mechanism of therapeutic effects, optimizing clinical benefit, and verifying safety.