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Join us Wednesday for the Psychedelic Archives Project Guest Speaker Series!
🎤 Dr. Larissa Carneiro
🗓 January 28, 2026 | ⏰ 4:30 PM EST
🎟 Free to attend — sign up at the link below! 👇

jhubluejays.zoom.us/j/92622903856

(PDF) Psychological support can be distinguished from psychotherapy: Clarifications for future empirical work PDF | On Dec 1, 2025, Jonathan R. Schettino and others published Psychological support can be distinguished from psychotherapy: Clarifications for future empirical work | Find, read and cite all the r...

Citation:
Schettino, J. R., Cheung, K., Nayak, S. M., Weiss, B. M., & Yaden, D. B. Psychological support can be distinguished from psychotherapy: Clarifications for future empirical work. General hospital psychiatry, 99, 30-40.

OA Link:
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

With clearer definitions, we can operationalize with empirical tests (which we are now working on).

We can operationalize psychological support vs psychotherapy, measure when each actually occurs, and, eventually, use factorial designs to test their distinct benefits and risks.

Curious about psychedelics beyond the hype? Our new Coursera course, Psychedelic Science and Medicine, offers clear, evidence-based insight into how they work and who may benefit. Ideal for clinicians, students, researchers, and curious learners. Enroll below 👇

Have you had separate experiences with psychedelics and cannabis? Take our short survey to help expand research on their effects:
tinyurl.com/psyches-cann...

(PDF) Psychological support can be distinguished from psychotherapy: Clarifications for future empirical work PDF | On Dec 1, 2025, Jonathan R. Schettino and others published Psychological support can be distinguished from psychotherapy: Clarifications for future empirical work | Find, read and cite all the r...

The debate over psychological support vs psychotherapy in psychedelic treatment is confused—and that confusion matters for science, safety, and regulation.

We were confused too. So we worked it through together and published what clarified it for us... 🧵

www.researchgate.net/publication/...

The specific substance and indication under discussion matter here! For example, psychotherapy is extensive in MDMA for PTSD but typically absent in ketamine for depression...
Classic psychedelics will fall somewhere in-between:

would you be interested in presenting to our lab on this, by any chance?

Good point! I'm interested in find ways to better describe and report this going forward as attempting to get clarity on previous studies has been difficult.

We're trying to create a standardized way to report the interpersonal interactions in pubs & creating adherence ratings to code sessions.

Coding was “probable” based on the main outcomes paper. What specifically do you take from the other training paper to make that assessment? (And do you mind linking that paper)?

(PDF) Psychological support can be distinguished from psychotherapy: Clarifications for future empirical work PDF | On Dec 1, 2025, Jonathan R. Schettino and others published Psychological support can be distinguished from psychotherapy: Clarifications for future empirical work | Find, read and cite all the r...

Citation:
Schettino, J. R., Cheung, K., Nayak, S. M., Weiss, B. M., & Yaden, D. B. Psychological support can be distinguished from psychotherapy: Clarifications for future empirical work. General hospital psychiatry, 99, 30-40.

OA Link:
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

That’s how we think the field can move forward on this topic, with better definitions, better descriptions, better measures, and empirical tests. We are working on all of these and interested to hear who else is working on making progress on these topics!

With clearer definitions, we can operationalize with empirical tests (which we are now working on).

We can operationalize psychological support vs psychotherapy, measure when each actually occurs, and, eventually, use factorial designs to test their distinct benefits and risks.

We show our attempt at reviewing the literature to apply our criteria to existing studies. We found it difficult because the specifics of the interpersonal interactions (psychological support, psychotherapy, etc) were so under described. Description of this in publications needs to be improved!

Without advocating for one or the other, we propose definitions & criteria for an interaction directed towards safety (psych support) & an interaction directed towards safety AND efficacy (psychotherapy).

(e.g., nursing, coaching, assessment, monitoring). It would seem strange to argue that, for example, a study of healthy participants getting their brains scanned under psilocybin necessarily involves psychotherapy.

We think psychological support is a coherent form of interpersonal interaction in psychedelic administration contexts. It is common in other non-psychedelic drug trials and there are many examples of supportive interpersonal interactions that do not consist of psychotherapy...

We believe this ^ is something that can be clarified in study manuals, in publications of studies, and through adherence rating procedures.

Goodwin et al believe that there are many instances of psychological support paired with psilocybin that do not meet the criteria of psychotherapy (and we agree), but an open question is how often psychological support functionally becomes psychotherapy in these contexts (as we also think happens).

We try to make sense out of the comments and response. We suggest a lack of clarity resulted in many of the discussions talking past one another
(Alpert et al., 2024; Bogenschutz, 2024; Deckel et al., 2024; Earleywine et al., 2024; O’Donnell et al.,
2024; Schenberg et al., 2024)

Many responded to the article. Some focused on regulatory implications, such as raising questions about whether favoring “psychological support” over psychotherapy simplifies approval pathways for sponsors. On the other hand, psychotherapists may tend to prioritize psychotherapy.

Must Psilocybin Always “Assist Psychotherapy”? | American Journal of Psychiatry PsychiatryOnline.org is the platform for all American Psychiatric Association Publishing journals, DSM, and bestselling textbooks, as well as APA Practice Guidelines, and continuing medical education.

The debate on this issue was sparked by Guy Goodwin’s “Must psilocybin always ‘assist’ psychotherapy?” psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10....
Goodwin et al questioned whether the psychotherapy sometimes bundled to psilocybin experiences is necessary for the benefits, or rather a safety measure.

The specific substance and indication under discussion matter here! For example, psychotherapy is extensive in MDMA for PTSD but typically absent in ketamine for depression...
Classic psychedelics will fall somewhere in-between:

(PDF) Psychological support can be distinguished from psychotherapy: Clarifications for future empirical work PDF | On Dec 1, 2025, Jonathan R. Schettino and others published Psychological support can be distinguished from psychotherapy: Clarifications for future empirical work | Find, read and cite all the r...

The debate over psychological support vs psychotherapy in psychedelic treatment is confused—and that confusion matters for science, safety, and regulation.

We were confused too. So we worked it through together and published what clarified it for us... 🧵

www.researchgate.net/publication/...

(PDF) Are Psychedelics Ethically Exceptional After All? Some Further Reflections PDF | In this response to commentators on our target article, we clarify and refine our position on claims of psychedelic ethical exceptionalism.... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on…

Psychedelics don’t require ethical exemptions. We argue against “ethical exceptionalism” while supporting context-sensitive policies that uphold shared research and clinical standards. Distinctive effects ≠ new ethics.

OA Link: www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Johns Hopkins Researchers Create Course on Psychedelics

Learn more about our course here: www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/article...

Next up in the Psychedelic Archives Project guest speaker series is Dr. Catherine Freddo, presenting on Jan 7, 2025 at 4:30pm EST. Join for free at the link below! 👇

jhubluejays.zoom.us/j/92622903856

New co-authored paper! 🚨 together with Katherine Cheung, Kyle Patch, and David Yaden: Distinctive But Not Exceptional: The Risks of Psychedelic Ethical Exceptionalism https://buff.ly/425UxOV

Gaps in US Psychedelic Policy and How to Close Them This Viewpoint discusses how to fill policy gaps surrounding the use of psychedelics to treat mental health and substance use conditions, should they be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration...

Gaps in US Psychedelic Policy and How to Close Them | Health Policy - By @caleighpropes.bsky.social, @katherinecheung.bsky.social, Matthew Eisenberg, David Yaden | @jama.com Health Forum jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Figure 1: The Rothman-Dahly Evidence Pyramid (original version) An equilateral triangle with a small blue section labelled "Thoughtful, well-conducted studies of any design" at the top, with the remaining space colored red and labelled "The other shit"

‪It has a name now 😜

Many thanks to Ken for agreeing to put his good name to my...artwork. The image is in the public domain (CC 0), but citations to the linked documents are warmly welcomed.

✅ zenodo.org/records/1808...

✅ pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24452418/