Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37303902›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychology2023

Transformative experience and informed consent to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

Edward Jacobs

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
17citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

17 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Ethical Aspects of Psychedelic-Assisted Treatments: An Overview.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2026
    Review
  4. Informed Consent in Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2026
    Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Review
  10. Excusing Psychedelics and Accommodating Psychedelics.The American journal of bioethics : AJOB · 2025
    Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Informed Consent to Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy: Ethical Considerations.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2024
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Edward JacobsDepartment of Psychiatry, Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.

Funding

Wellcome Trust
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Just as psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) represents a clinical innovation that may need to be accommodated with corresponding theoretical and methodological innovations, there is growing awareness that the tools, normative frameworks, and standard practices of our clinical ethics may also need to be adapted, renewed, or replaced to accommodate its unusual features. Drawing on L. A. Paul's work on "Transformative Experience," I argue that the acute and long-term effects that are repeatedly reported following the administration of psychedelic drugs, including in clinical contexts, are epistemically inaccessible at the point of deciding to take them. By virtue of both the so-called "mystical" experiences that frequently arise during PAP, and the long-term shifts to outlooks, values, and priorities that can follow treatment, the processes of decision-making that are normatively expected of patients run aground. If this framing is correct, then prospective patients cannot meet the requirement of understanding that is one of the principal analytic components of informed consent. The role of understanding in supporting two functions of informed consent-avoiding unauthorized trespass against patients and supporting values-aligned decision-making-is explored, and I argue that, while the normative standard for the first function may be met by extant suggestions for enhancing the consenting process for PAP, the latter function remains unattainable. In light of this, the consequences for the ethical preparation of prospective patients are considered.

Indexed as

consentinformed consentpsychedelicpsychedelic-assisted psychotherapypsychedelic ethicstransformative experiencevalue change

Identifiers

PMID37303902
PMCPMC10254809

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.