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Survey Shows American Psychologists Still Hesitant About Psychedelics
Less than half of psychologists surveyed agreed that psychedelics showed promise in the treatment of serious mental health issues.
A recent paper has revealed psychologists in the United States still don’t quite understand or fully support psychedelic-assisted therapy.
The research, published by Alan Davis and academic colleagues around the U.S., surveyed 366 psychologists practicing in the U.S. on their attitudes towards psychedelics, other spiritual activities such as meditation, and medication-assisted therapies (such as opioid agonist therapy, where opioid addicts are provided with substances to mitigate craving when going through withdrawal).
The survey found that, despite the burgeoning interest in psychedelic research, most of the psychologists reported a lack of understanding about the spectrum of effects that psychedelics could produce.
If a client came to them enquiring about psychedelic therapy, or said that they had used psychedelics for self-medication purposes, 84% of the psychologists would seek out consultation to more fully understand the clients needs.
