Scientific American Special - Secrets of The Mind - USA (2022-Winter)

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after a single ad ministration, suggesting
that they are not simply symptom-reduc-
ing but disease-modifying. Moreover,
some results from previous studies sug-
gest that the benefits are long-lived, al -
though the duration of effects in these re -
cent studies remains to be determined.
Second, the studies thus far have fo -
cused on psychedelic-assisted psycho-
therapy—not just the drug but the experi-
ence in the context of structured, time-
limited psychotherapy. We know that
psychotherapy can be helpful for most
mental disorders, yet therapy is rarely
combined with medication. Psychedelics
remind us of the potential for combining
medication and therapy, a practice that is
infrequent when most antidepressants
and antianxiety drugs are prescribed by

primary care physicians. This combina-

tion is especially promising, given that

some evidence suggests that psychedelics

enhance neuroplasticity, thereby opening

up a “critical window” of time to develop

a healthier mindset.

These new studies with psilocybin and

MDMA focus on only two of the many psy-

chedelic compounds with potential for

medical use. Could this class of drugs,

which includes LSD, mescaline and many

lesser-known or yet to be discovered chem-

icals, revive drug development for psychia-

try? Perhaps, but we need to be mindful

that in a previous era, overexuberance

about psychedelics led to a backlash with

little scientific research and no translation

to medical use.

It has been 50 years since psychedelics

were classified as Schedule I compounds:

drugs with “high potential for abuse and

no currently accepted medical use.” New

science suggests that we may need to

revisit this classification.

Danielle Schlosser is a psychologist and senior vice

president of clinical innovation at Compass Pathways,

which is conducting clinical trials of psilocybin. In her

prior role, she was in charge of vision and strategy for

the behavioral health portfolio at Verily Life Sciences,

an Alphabet company, and she remains on the faculty

at the University of California, San Francisco.

Thomas R. Insel is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist

who served as director of the National Institute of Mental

Health from 2002 to 2015. He is an adviser to Compass

Pathways, as well as to several digital mental health

companies, and author of Healing: Our Path from Mental

Illness to Mental Health (Penguin, 2022).