SynthesisJournal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)2022
Adverse events in clinical treatments with serotonergic psychedelics and MDMA: A mixed-methods systematic review.
Synthesis in Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
69 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 162 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rethinking Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Systematic Review of Novel Therapeutic Strategies and Precision Medicine Approaches.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2025Pooled it
- Incremental efficacy systematic review and meta-analysis of psilocybin-for-depression RCTs.Psychopharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Safety and efficacy of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy in post-traumatic stress disorder: An overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Biological treatments for co-occurring eating disorders and psychological trauma: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Side-effects of mdma-assisted psychotherapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Pooled it
- Cognitive functioning associated with acute and subacute effects of classic psychedelics and MDMA - a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2024Pooled it
- Efficacy and Safety of Four Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies for Adults with Symptoms of Depression, Anxiety, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of psychoactive drugsPooled it
- Psilocybin therapy for mood dysfunction in Parkinson's disease: an open-label pilot trial.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Trial
- Psilocybin-assisted neurofeedback for the improvement of executive functions: a randomized semi-naturalistic-lab feasibility study.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024Trial
- Naturalistic psychedelic therapy: The role of relaxation and subjective drug effects in antidepressant response.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Trial
- Phase 1, placebo-controlled, single ascending dose trial to evaluate the safety, pharmacokinetics and effect on altered states of consciousness of intranasal BPL-003 (5-methoxy-Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Trial
- Patient perspectives and experiences with psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression: a qualitative study.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Serotonergic Toxicity and Hyponatremia Associated with Antidepressant Therapy: The Pivotal Role of SIADH.Clinical drug investigation · 2026Review
- A contemporary exploration of motivations and practices of psychedelic use among emerging adult cannabis users in the United States: A qualitative analysis.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2026Article
- Competencies and Ethical Governance for Psychedelic‑Assisted Therapies: A Practice‑Embedded Quality‑Improvement Framework.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2026Article
- Changes over time in hallucinogen-related emergency department visits in Ontario, Canada.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Posttraumatic stress disorder from early childhood to late adolescence: a resilience-oriented approach to prevention, diagnosis, and clinical management.Discover mental health · 2026Review
- Ecstasy (MDMA) for social anxiety in autism: a specialized application of empathogen therapy.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2026Article
- Ketamine addiction following a single sub-anaesthetic ketamine treatment for acute suicidality in a psychiatrically multimorbid patient: case report.BJPsych open · 2026Article
- Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms following psychedelic use: a naturalistic survey study.Psychological medicine · 2026Article
9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionSmall-scale clinical studies with psychedelic drugs have shown promising results for the treatment of several mental disorders. Before psychedelics become registered medicines, it is important to know the full range of adverse events (AEs) for making balanced treatment decisions.
objectiveTo systematically review the presence of AEs during and after administration of serotonergic psychedelics and 3,4-methyenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in clinical studies.
methodsWe systematically searched PubMed, PsycINFO, Embase, and ClinicalTrials.gov for clinical trials with psychedelics since 2000 describing the results of quantitative and qualitative studies.
resultsWe included 44 articles (34 quantitative + 10 qualitative), describing treatments with MDMA and serotonergic psychedelics (psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, and ayahuasca) in 598 unique patients. In many studies, AEs were not systematically assessed. Despite this limitation, treatments seemed to be overall well tolerated. Nausea, headaches, and anxiety were commonly reported acute AEs across diagnoses and compounds. Late AEs included headaches (psilocybin, MDMA), fatigue, low mood, and anxiety (MDMA). One serious AE occurred during MDMA administration (increase in premature ventricular contractions requiring brief hospitalization); no other AEs required medical intervention. Qualitative studies suggested that psychologically challenging experiences may also be therapeutically beneficial. Except for ayahuasca, a large proportion of patients had prior experience with psychedelic drugs before entering studies.
conclusionsAEs are poorly defined in the context of psychedelic treatments and are probably underreported in the literature due to study design (lack of systematic assessment of AEs) and sample selection. Acute challenging experiences may be therapeutically meaningful, but a better understanding of AEs in the context of psychedelic treatments requires systematic and detailed reporting.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.