ReviewThe international journal of neuropsychopharmacology2025
Addressing blinding in classic psychedelic studies with innovative active placebos.
Review in The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 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
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The Use of Psychedelics in the Treatment of Adult ADHD: A Systematic and Mechanistic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Pooled it
- Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies for Psychosocial Symptoms in Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2025Pooled it
- Blinding, Expectancy, and the Active Placebo Paradox in MDMA Research.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Review
- Ten practical suggestions for setting up a psychedelic study.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- From Resistance to Redesign-The Emerging Logic of Hybrid Care in Treatment-Resistant Depression.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Challenges with clinical trial participants in studies with classical psychedelics: A position statement from the National Network of Depression Centers' task group on psychedelics and related compounds.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Psychedelic therapeutics in psychiatric conditions.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- The CAnadian Network for Psychedelic-Assisted Cancer Therapy (CAN-PACT): A Multi-Phase Program Overview.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2025Review
- A Tragedy of Errors: The State of Psychedelic Research in the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- The Role of Psychedelics in Contemporary Psychological and Interdisciplinary Inquiry.Journal of personalized medicine · 2025Review
- Psychedelics for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Narrative Review with Candidate Mechanisms of Action.CNS drugs · 2025Review
- High hopes? Precision psychedelic addiction medicine.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- Meditation, psychedelics, and brain connectivity: A randomized controlled resting-state fMRI study ofImaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Classic psychedelics have shown promise in the treatment of various neuropsychiatric disorders. However, weak blinding integrity has been argued to limit the interpretability of therapeutic effects observed in psychedelic clinical trials, highlighting the need to explore alternative active placebos. Here, we aimed to describe the drawbacks of current placebo conditions used in classic psychedelic studies, propose criteria for suitable active placebos, and review interventions that may putatively fit these criteria. Considerations for the characteristics of ideal active placebos in classic psychedelic studies include (1) acute psychoactive effects, (2) acute physiological effects, (3) onset and duration of acute effects, (4) safety, and (5) lack of therapeutic effects in the target disease. We identified several pharmacological agents that may have potential as active placebos in trials involving moderate-to-high doses of certain short-acting and long-acting classic psychedelics, as well as low-dose administration and microdosing regimes. To accurately assess the safety and efficacy of classic psychedelics as therapeutics, future research should apply a thoughtful process for selecting active placebos and consider ancillary strategies to improve blinding in trials involving these substances.
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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.