Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41674089›Full record

ArticleBJPsych open2026

Trends in the psychedelic renaissance: applying artificial intelligence to measure media portrayal of psychedelic drugs in the 21st century.

David A Bender, Harrison M Dunn, Amanda Pekau, Arushi D Mohite, Akila Anandarajah, Brendan D Ross, Jacob Steinle, Suraj Shankar, Brandon Kiley, Sara Martin and 24 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BJPsych open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing 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

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. 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

34 authors.

David A BenderDepartment of Psychiatry, https://ror.org/00hj54h04University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, Austin, Texas, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9842-2110
Harrison M DunnWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Amanda PekauBJC Healthcare, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Arushi D MohiteWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Akila AnandarajahDepartment of Psychiatry, https://ror.org/01yc7t268Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Brendan D RossIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
Jacob SteinleDepartment of Psychiatry, https://ror.org/01yc7t268Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Suraj ShankarDepartment of Psychiatry, https://ror.org/01yc7t268Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Brandon KileyDepartment of Psychiatry, https://ror.org/01yc7t268Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Sara MartinDepartment of Psychiatry, https://ror.org/01yc7t268Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Rishi GonuguntlaDepartment of Psychiatry, https://ror.org/01yc7t268Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Mia StonovWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Nithya PippalaWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Rana AbdallaWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Madison K StilleWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Juy YusufMcGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, Houston, Texas, USA.
Madeline VillalbaIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
Gibson WernerWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Anvi DivekarUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois, USA.
Melinda Daniels-TineoWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Hannah WangWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Sophia ChertockIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
Sonali SharmaWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Syed Ali AhmedUniversity of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine, San Antonio, Texas, USA.
Reetwan BandyopadhyayIcahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
Jatin SridharWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Medha IyerHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Adebusola AdeyemiWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Kayla SmartWashington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
Umer JalilUniversity of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, Texas, USA.
Zaryab AlamTexas A&M College of Medicine, Bryan, Texas, USA.
Baris C ErcalDepartment of Psychiatry, https://ror.org/01yc7t268Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
David J HellersteinColumbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York, USA.
Charles B NemeroffDepartment of Psychiatry, https://ror.org/00hj54h04University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, Austin, Texas, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7867-1160

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe relationship between media portrayal of psychedelic drugs, scientific research and drug policy is an area of debate.

aimsTo apply artificial intelligence technology to measure trends in media sentiment towards the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs.

methodUp to 300 of the most relevant articles from Google News searches for the term 'psychedelics' were sampled for each year from 2000 to 2025. A large language model, ChatGPT, evaluated subject matter and sentiment.

resultsIn total, 88.3% of screened URLs (3308 of 3747) were included in the analysis. The proportion of articles focusing on the therapeutic potential of psychedelics increased from 13.3% (26 of 198) from 2000 to 2009 to 85.3% (1254 of 1470) from 2020 to 2025. The average sentiment score from 2000 to 2025 for articles from all publications (

conclusionsAlthough most 21st-century media coverage of psychedelic drugs has been positively framed, negative and neutral coverage has increased in frequency since 2020. Researchers, clinicians, regulators and policy-makers should be mindful of the complex relationship between media portrayals of psychedelics and the results of scientific research.

Indexed as

philosophyPsychiatry and lawpsychological treatmentspsychopharmacologypsychotherapy

Identifiers

PMID41674089
PMCPMC12912910

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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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.