psychedelic therapy psychedelic therapy psychedelic therapy (or psychedelic-assisted therapy) refers to the proposed use of psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin, mdma, lsd, and ayahuasca, to treat mental disorders. as of 2021, psychedelic drugs are controlled substances in most countries and psychedelic therapy is not legally available outside clinical trials, with some exceptions. the procedure for psychedelic therapy differs from that of therapies using conventional psychiatric medications. while conventional medications are usually taken without supervision at least once daily, in contemporary psychedelic therapy the drug is administered in a single session (or sometimes up to three sessions) in a therapeutic context. the therapeutic team prepares the patient for the experience beforehand and helps them integrate insights from the drug experience afterwards. after ingesting the drug, the patient normally wears eyeshades and listens to music to facilitate focus on the psychedelic experience, with the therapeutic team interrupting only to provide reassurance if adverse effects such as anxiety or disorientation arise. as of 2022, the body of high-quality evidence on psychedelic therapy remains relatively small and more, larger studies are needed to reliably show the effectiveness and safety of psychedelic therapy's various forms and applications. on the basis of favorable early results, ongoing research is examining proposed psychedelic therapies for conditions including major depressive disorder, anxiety and depression linked to terminal illness, and post-traumatic stress disorder. the united states food and drug administration has granted "breakthrough therapy" status, which expedites the assessment of promising drug therapies for potential approval, to psychedelic therapies using psilocybin (for treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder) and mdma (for post-traumatic stress disorder). history prehistoric use of psychedelic substances humans have long consumed psychedelic substances derived from cacti, seeds, bark, and roots of various plants and fungi. since ancient times, shamans and medicine men have used psychedelics as a way to gain access to the spirit world. though western culture usually views the practice of shamans and medicine men as predominantly spiritual in nature, elements of psychotherapeutic practice can be read into the entheogenic or shamanic rituals of many cultures. research in the mid-20th century part of a series onpsychedelia arts psychedelic art algorithmic art cyberdelic diffraction fractal art liquid light show lsd art paisley phosphene psychedelic music acid house acid jazz acid rock acid techno acid trance chillwave hypnagogic pop madchester neo-psychedelia palm desert scene peyote song p-funk psychedelic folk psychedelic funk psychedelic pop psychedelic rock psychedelic soul psychedelic trance space rock stoner rock trip hop psychedelic film acid western stoner film psychedelic literature culture counterculture entheogen smart shop trip sitter psychedelic microdosing drugs 25i-nbome 2c-b ayahuasca cannabis dmt ibogaine ketamine lsd mescaline peyote psilocybin mushrooms salvinorin a/salvia san pedro cactus list of psychedelic drugs list of psilocybin mushrooms psychoactive cactus experience bad trip ecology ego death psychedelic press serotonergic psychedelic therapy history acid tests albert hofmann alexander shulgin counterculture of the 1960s history of lysergic acid diethylamide owsley stanley psychedelic era summer of love timothy leary william leonard pickard law drug liberalization drug policy of the netherlands drug policy of oregon drug policy of portugal drug policy reform legality of cannabis legal status of psilocybin mushrooms legal status of salvia divinorum neurolaw related topics addiction cannabis cognitive liberty drug checking harm reduction hippie mdma neuroenhancement neuroethics philosophy of psychedelics psychonautics prohibition of drugs rave recreational drug use regulation of therapeutic goods self-experimentation surrealism shortly after albert hofmann discovered the psychoactive properties of lsd in 1943, sandoz laboratories began widespread distribution of lsd to researchers in 1949. throughout the 1950s and 1960s, scientists in several countries conducted extensive research into experimental chemotherapeutic, and psychotherapeutic uses of psychedelic drugs. in addition to spawning six international conferences and the release of dozens of books, over 1,000 peer-reviewed clinical papers detailing the use of psychedelic compounds (administered to approximately 40,000 patients) were published by the mid-1960s. proponents believed that psychedelic drugs facilitated psychoanalytic processes, making them particularly useful for patients with conditions such as alcoholism that are otherwise difficult to treat. however, many of these trials did not meet the methodological standards that are required today. researchers like timothy leary felt psychedelics could alter the fundamental personality structure or subjective value-system of an individual to great potential benefit. beginning in 1961, he conducted experiments with prison inmates in an attempt to reduce recidivism with short, intense psychotherapy sessions. participants were administered psilocybin during these sessions weeks apart with regular group therapy sessions in between. psychedelic therapy was also applied in a number of other specific patient populations including alcoholism, children with autism, and persons with terminal illness. regulation and prohibition in the late 20th century throughout the 1960s, concerns raised about the proliferation of unauthorized use of psychedelic drugs by the general public (and, most notably, the counterculture) resulted in the imposition of increasingly severe restrictions on medical and psychiatric research conducted with psychedelic substances. many countries either banned lsd outright or made it extremely scarce, and, bowing to governmental concerns, sandoz halted production of lsd in 1965. during a congressional hearing in 1966, senator robert f. kennedy questioned the shift of opinion, stating, "perhaps to some extent we have lost sight of the fact that (lsd) can be very, very helpful in our society if used properly." in 1968, dahlberg and colleagues published an article in the american journal of psychiatry detailing various forces that had successfully discredited legitimate lsd research. the essay argues that individuals in government and the pharmaceutical industry sabotaged the psychedelic research community by canceling ongoing studies and analysis while labeling genuine scientists as charlatans. studies on medicinal applications of psychedelics ceased entirely in the united states when the controlled substances act was passed in 1970. lsd and many other psychedelics were placed into the most restrictive "schedule i" category by the united states drug enforcement administration. schedule i compounds are claimed to possess "significant potential for abuse and dependence" and have "no recognized medicinal value", effectively rendering them illegal to use in the united states for all purposes. despite objections from the scientific community, authorized research into therapeutic applications of psychedelic drugs had been discontinued worldwide by the 1980s. despite broad prohibition, unofficial psychedelic research and therapeutic sessions continued nevertheless in the following decades. some therapists exploited windows of opportunity preceding scheduling of particular psychedelic drugs. informal psychedelic therapy was conducted clandestinely in underground networks consisting of sessions carried out both by licensed therapists and autodidacts within the community. due to the largely illegal nature of psychedelic therapy in this period, little information is available concerning the methods that were used. individuals having published information between 1980 and 2000 regarding psychedelic psychotherapy include george greer, ann and alexander shulgin (pihkal and tihkal), myron stolaroff (the secret chief, regarding the underground therapy done by leo zeff), and athanasios kafkalides. resurgence in the early 21st century psilocybin session at johns hopkins in the early 2000s, a renewal of interest in the psychiatric use of psychedelics contributed to an increase in clinical research centering on the psychopharmacological effects of these drugs and their subsequent applications. advances in science and technology allowed researchers to collect and interpret extensive data from animal studies, and the advent of new technologies such as pet and mri scanning made it possible to examine the sites of action of hallucinogens in the brain. furthermore, retrospective studies involving users of illicit drugs as voluntary subjects were conducted, allowing data to be collected on how psychedelics affect the human brain while simultaneously sidestepping bureaucratic difficulties associated with providing illegal substances to subjects. the new century also ushered in a broader change in political attitude towards psychedelic medicine—specifically within the food and drug administration. curtis wright, then deputy director of the fda division of anesthetic, critical care and addiction drugs explained a motivation for this change: "the agency was challenged legally in a number of cases and also underwent a process of introspection, asking 'is it proper to treat this class of drugs differently?'" as of 2014, global treaties listing lsd and psilocybin as "schedule i" controlled substances continues to inhibit a better understanding of these drugs. much of the renewed clinical research has been conducted with psilocybin and mdma in the united states with special permission and breakthrough therapy designations by the fda, while other studies have investigated the mechanisms and effects of ayahuasca and lsd. mdma-assisted psychotherapy is being actively researched by maps. only six formal studies on the applications of lsd occurred between 1990 and 2017. no complications of lsd administration were observed. as of 2021, many new centers for psychedelics research have been launched, including the centre for psychedelic research at imperial college london, the uc berkeley center for the science of psychedelics, the center for psychedelic and consciousness research at johns hopkins university, the center for psychedelic research and therapy at dell medical school at the university of texas at austin, the center for psychedelic psychotherapy and trauma research at the icahn school of medicine at mount sinai, and the psychae institute in melbourne. applications psychedelic substances which may have therapeutic uses include psilocybin (the main active compound found in magic mushrooms), lsd, and mescaline (the main active compound in the peyote cactus). although the history behind these substances has hindered research into their potential medicinal value, scientists are now able to conduct studies and renew research that was halted in the 1970s. some research has shown that these substances have helped people with such mental disorders as obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism, depression, and cluster headaches. some of the well known particular psychedelic substances that have been used to this day are: lsd, dmt, psilocybin, mescaline, 2c-b, 2c-i, 5-meo-dmt, amt, ibogaine and dom. in general, however, the drugs remain poorly understood. their effects are strongly dependent on the environment in which they are given and on the recipient's state of mind (set and setting). in alcoholism studies by humphry osmond, betty eisner, and others examined the possibility that psychedelic therapy could treat alcoholism (or, less commonly, other addictions). a 1998 review of the effectiveness of psychedelic therapy for treating alcoholism concluded that due to methodological difficulties in the research prior to that time, it was not possible to state whether it was effective. a 2012 meta-analysis found that "in a pooled analysis of six randomized controlled clinical trials, a single dose of lsd had a significant beneficial effect on alcohol misuse at the first reported follow-up assessment, which ranged from 1 to 12 months after discharge from each treatment program. this treatment effect from lsd on alcohol misuse was also seen at 2 to 3 months and at 6 months, but was not statistically significant at 12 months post-treatment. among the three trials that reported total abstinence from alcohol use, there was also a significant beneficial effect of lsd at the first reported follow-up, which ranged from 1 to 3 months after discharge from each treatment program." in terminal illness during the early 1950s and 1960s the national institute of mental health sponsored the study of psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and lsd to alleviate the debilitating anxiety and depression patients with terminal diagnoses may feel. while these early studies are hard to find, the resurgence of interest in psychedelic drugs to treat humans end of life mindset has led to some small studies in the 21st century. the more recently published research strengthens the findings from the 1950s and 1960s showing the drug is extremely effective in reducing anxiety and depression in this patient population once carefully screened and has few adverse effects when administered in a psychotherapy setting and under medical supervision. the psychologists leading psychedelic drug therapy trials found that end of life patients often experience the emotional turmoil of dying more than the physical aspects. this mindset makes it difficult for patients to find meaning and enjoyment in life during their last few months or years. while all patients have completely different experiences on these mind altering drugs the research subjects interviewed all expressed they had, "heightened clarity and confidence about their personal values and priorities, and a renewed or enhanced recognition of intrinsic meaning and value of life." more recently, researchers have argued that psychedelic therapy is beneficial for these patients because it may specifically reduce their fear of dying. as of 2016, johns hopkins university and new york university have conducted large