Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41323491›Full record

ReviewFrontiers in psychiatry2025

Virtual reality and psychedelics: new perspectives and new possibilities in the treatment of alcohol use disorder.

Scott Matthews, Antonino Greco, Clara Rastelli, Anahita Bassir Nia

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing 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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

4 authors.

Scott MatthewsDepartment of Psychiatry, Veterans Administration Medical Center, West Haven, CT, United States.
Antonino GrecoDepartment of Neural Dynamics and Magnetoencephalography, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Center for Integrative Brain Research, University of Tubingen, Tubingen, Germany.
Clara RastelliMagnetoencephalography Centre, University of Tubingen, Tubingen, Germany.
Anahita Bassir NiaDepartment of Psychiatry, Veterans Administration Medical Center, West Haven, CT, United States.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Psychedelic-assisted therapy is a remarkably promising treatment for substance use disorders and for alcohol use disorder (AUD) in particular. Research supporting psychedelics as a safe and effective pharmacotherapy for AUD and its comorbid psychiatric conditions dates from the late1940s and includes over 2,000 published studies. There are, however, challenges to the clinical implementation of psychedelics on a scale appropriate to a highly prevalent disease. Virtual reality applications can aid in meeting these challenges. Studies have shown that virtual reality simulations of psychedelic phenomenology (VRP) can replicate neurophysiological and behavioral markers of classic serotonergic psychedelics when viewed by healthy subjects. The results of these studies suggest VRP may have utility as an adjunct to or replacement for aspects of psychedelic-assisted therapy. Here, we introduce four potential clinical applications for VRP in psychedelic-assisted therapy: to prepare for psychedelics, to extend and enhance their efficacy, to facilitate integration following psychedelic dosing, and to standardize the set and setting. VRP may also have application to clinical research in psychedelics as a placebo and as a tool for interrogating the subjective experience of psychedelics in the therapeutic setting. Integrating virtual reality into psychedelic therapy and research holds the promise of new possibilities for psychedelic treatment and new pathways to their implementation.

Indexed as

alcohol use disorder (AUD)DeepDreampsychedelic assisted therapy (PAT)psychedelic phenomenologypsychedelic placebovirtual reality

Identifiers

PMID41323491
PMCPMC12657485

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.