Abstract
One of the most recent and potentially promising advancements in the health sciences has involved the attempted use of psychedelics for treating mental and behavioral health problems, such as anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and addiction. Despite surging scientific and public interest in this work, however, we presently have no standard of care or consensus regarding how best to combine psychotherapy and psychedelics or to assess effectiveness. We discuss these timely issues here through the lens of behavioral psychedelics, which we define as the study of psychedelics to foster intentional changes in habits and behaviors to improve health and resilience. Psychedelics may have the potential to reduce chronic disease risk caused by mental and behavioral rigidity. To fully realize this potential, though, we believe the field must establish best practices and guidelines that include how to induce lasting changes in behavior.
Highlights
Despite surging scientific and public interest in this work, we presently have no standard of care or consensus regarding how best to combine psychotherapy and psychedelics or to assess effectiveness
We discuss these timely issues here through the lens of behavioral psychedelics, which we define as the study of psychedelics to foster intentional changes in habits and behaviors to improve health and resilience
Chronic diseases are the leading cause of disability worldwide and yield $3.8 trillion in annual healthcare costs in the United States (1), making them one of our most pressing problems. To address this public health problem, large sums of money have been poured into genetic studies aimed at elucidating the biological basis of chronic disease risk
Summary
Specialty section: This article was submitted to Psychological Therapy and Psychosomatics, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychiatry. One of the most recent and potentially promising advancements in the health sciences has involved the attempted use of psychedelics for treating mental and behavioral health problems, such as anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and addiction. Despite surging scientific and public interest in this work, we presently have no standard of care or consensus regarding how best to combine psychotherapy and psychedelics or to assess effectiveness.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
