The field of psychedelic-assisted therapy has a rapidly growing evidence base, providing patients, clinicians and health system leaders with promise that this healing approach will soon provide new effective and approved options for a range of mental health and substance use health issues. To help make sense of where the evidence base for these therapies stands in 2022, the writing team has undertaken a rapid but comprehensive review of the current academic literature on psychedelic medicine and science. Their report provides an up-to-date summary of the contemporary clinical research on the most promising psychedelic compounds (including psilocybin, LSD, DMT, MDMA, ibogaine and ketamine) and the various mental illnesses for which evidence of potential treatment efficacy is emerging. Further, and unlike many academic reviews, it also considers findings from traditional indigenous and ceremonial practices and sacred plants such as peyote and ayahuasca within its purview, embracing the transcendent and spiritual domains of healing that have long been alienated within modern medicine. And it also moves beyond just healing or treatment potential of psychedelic substances and delves into the intriguing possibilities of health and well-being promotion, cognitive enhancement and catalysis of creativity that is embedded in the etymology of the term psychedelic itself.
