• Adolescent psychiatry
• Depression
• MDMA-assisted psychotherapy
• Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy
• Psychedelics
• Trauma

• Humans
• Adolescent
• Psychotherapy/methods
• Hallucinogens/therapeutic use
• Hallucinogens/administration & dosage
• Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/therapy
• Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/drug therapy
• N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine/therapeutic use
• N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine/administration & dosage
• Psilocybin/therapeutic use
• Psilocybin/administration & dosage

• acceptability
• mental health consumer
• psychedelic‐assisted therapy

• Humans
• Female
• Adult
• Male
• Hallucinogens/therapeutic use
• Patient Acceptance of Health Care/psychology
• Patient Acceptance of Health Care/statistics & numerical data
• Middle Aged
• Australia
• Psychological Theory
• Mental Disorders/drug therapy
• Surveys and Questionnaires
• Young Adult

• 2021/MRF2014615

• healthcare systems
• mental health
• psychedelics
• qualitative research

• Humans
• Hallucinogens/therapeutic use
• Australia
• Qualitative Research
• Attitude of Health Personnel
• Male
• Female
• Adult
• Clinical Trials as Topic
• Interviews as Topic
• Psychotherapy/methods
• Mental Disorders/drug therapy
• Middle Aged
• Translational Research, Biomedical

• Ethics
• Mental health
• Psychedelics
• Qualitative
• Responsible research and innovation

• Psilocybin-assisted therapy
• end-of-life
• existential distress
• palliative care
• qualitative research

• Humans
• Palliative Care/methods
• Palliative Care/psychology
• Palliative Care/standards
• Qualitative Research
• Health Personnel/psychology
• Health Personnel/statistics & numerical data
• Psilocybin/therapeutic use
• Psilocybin/pharmacology
• Male
• Female
• Adult
• Middle Aged
• Attitude of Health Personnel
• Existentialism/psychology
• Canada
• Psychological Distress

• Humans
• Hallucinogens/therapeutic use
• Hallucinogens/adverse effects
• Hallucinogens/pharmacology
• Substance-Related Disorders/drug therapy
• Biomedical Research

• Grant No. 957776 Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers

• Humans
• Hallucinogens
• Public Health
• United States
• Universities/organization & administration

• 001 World Health Organization

• Humans
• Psilocybin/pharmacology
• Psilocybin/therapeutic use
• Depressive Disorder, Major/drug therapy
• Australia
• Hallucinogens/therapeutic use
• Psychotherapy
• Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant/drug therapy

• National Health and Medical Research Council

• co-design
• equity
• ethics
• psychedelic assisted therapy (PAT)
• psychotherapy

Current medications have not been effective in reducing the prevalence of mental illness worldwide. The prevalence of illnesses such as treatment-resistant depression has increased despite the widespread use of a broad set of psychopharmaceuticals. Transcranial magnetic stimulation and ketamine therapy are making great strides in improving treatment-resistant depression outcomes but they have limitations. New psychotherapeutics are required that specifically target the underlying cellular pathologies leading to neuronal atrophy. This neuronal atrophy model is supplanting the long-held neurotransmitter deficit hypothesis to explain mental illness. Interest in psychedelics as therapeutic molecules to treat mental illness is experiencing a 21st-century reawakening that is on the cusp of a transformation. Psilocybin is a pro-drug, found in various naturally occurring mushrooms, that is dephosphorylated to produce psilocin, a classic tryptamine psychedelic functional as a 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A receptor agonist. We have focused this review to include studies in the last two years that suggest psilocybin promotes neuronal plasticity, which may lead to changes in brain network connectivity. Recent advancements in clinical trials using pure psilocybin in therapy suggest that it may effectively relieve the symptoms of depression in patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant depression. Sophisticated cellular and molecular experiments at the systems level have produced evidence that demonstrates psilocybin promotes neuritogenesis in the mouse brain - a mechanism that may address the root cause of depression at the cellular level. Finally, studies with psilocybin therapy for major depressive disorder suggest that this ancient molecule can promote functionally connected intrinsic networks in the human brain, resulting in durable improvements in the severity of depressive symptoms. Although further research is necessary, the prospect of using psilocybin for the treatment of mental illness is an enticing possibility.

• intrinsic brain networks
• major depressive disorder (mdd)
• mental illness
• neuritogenesis
• neuroplasticity
• psilocybin
• psychedelics
• psychoactive drug
• review of clinical trials
• treatment-resistant depression

Psychotherapy with the use of psychedelic substances, including psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ketamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), has demonstrated promise in treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, addiction, and treatment-resistant depression. Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PP) represents a unique psychopharmacological model that leverages the profound effects of the psychedelic experience. That experience is characterized by strong dependency on two key factors: participant mindset and the therapeutic environment. As such, therapeutic models that utilize psychedelics reflect the need for careful design that promotes an open, flexible, trusting mindset and a supportive setting. To meet this need, the PP model is increasingly supplemented by auxiliary methods, including meditation, relaxation, visualization or spiritual practices. We suggest virtual reality (VR) as a full-spectrum tool able to capitalize on and catalyze the innately therapeutic aspects of the psychedelic experience, such as detachment from familiar reality, alteration of self-experience, augmentation of sensory perception and induction of mystical-type experiences. This is facilitated by VR’s evidenced capacity to: aid relaxation and reduce anxiety; buffer from external stimuli; promote a mindful presence; train the mind to achieve altered states of consciousness (ASC); evoke mystical states; enhance therapeutic alliance and encourage self-efficacy. While these unique VR features appear promising, VR’s potential role in PP remains speculative due to lack of empirical evidence on the combined use of VR and PP. Given the increased commercial interest in this synergy there is an urgent need to evaluate this approach. We suggest specific VR models and their role within PP protocols to inspire future direction in scientific research, and provide a list of potential disadvantages, side effects and limitations that need to be carefully considered. These include sensory overstimulation, cyber-sickness, triggering memories of past traumatic events as well as distracting from the inner experience or strongly influencing its contents. A balanced, evidence-based approach may provide continuity across all phases of treatment, support transition into and out of an ASC, deepen acute ASC experiences including mystical states and enrich the psychotherapeutic process of integration. We conclude that the potential application of VR in modulating psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy demands further exploration and an evidence-based approach to both design and implementation.