American Psychiatrists' Opinions About Classic Hallucinogens and Their Potential Therapeutic Applications: A 7-Year Follow-Up Survey

Abstract

Background: Psilocybin, a classic hallucinogen, may eventually be approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for treatment-resistant depression. However, we are aware of only one published national survey of American psychiatrists regarding their opinions about hallucinogens and hallucinogen-assisted therapy, conducted by our group in 2016. Here, we report a repeat survey, using virtually identical methods, assessing whether American psychiatrists display greater optimism about the therapeutic use of hallucinogens in 2022–23. Methods: We e-mailed our survey instrument to 1,000 randomly selected American Psychiatric Association members—250 resident-fellows and 750 attending psychiatrists—in late 2022 and early 2023. We calculated descriptive statistics and used a non-parametric trend test to compare the current survey responses with those from 2016. We also constructed a multivariate logistic regression model to assess attributes of respondents that predicted moderate/strong agreement with plans to incorporate hallucinogen-assisted therapy into their own practice. Results: The response rate was 13.1% (N = 131). Respondents were demographically similar to the 2016 respondents. A majority moderately/strongly believed that hallucinogens show promise in treating psychiatric conditions (80.9%) and substance use disorders (SUDs) (60.8%). Large majorities also moderately/strongly supported research into hallucinogens' therapeutic potential for psychiatric conditions (93.9%) and SUDs (88.6%), as well as federal funding of associated clinical trials (84.7% and 80.9%, respectively). Comparisons to 2016 showed significantly increased optimism regarding the therapeutic promise of hallucinogens and decreased concern about risks, with 50.4% of respondents reporting moderate/strong intentions to incorporate hallucinogen-assisted therapy into their practice. Conclusions: Our data reveal a striking positive shift in attitudes toward the therapeutic potential of hallucinogens among American psychiatrists since 2016, with a majority of responding psychiatrists planning to incorporate hallucinogen-assisted therapy into their practice if regulatory approval is granted.