The problem at the heart of modern psychedelic clinical research
For around half a century the randomized controlled trial (RCT) has been considered the gold standard in evaluating the effectiveness of any new medical intervention….
…does not suggest we need to abandon RCTs for psychedelic research … at least not yet… he calls for more rigor and transparency in the ways psychedelic trials are designed and reported… The study recruited a cohort of subjects under the pretense of testing the effect of psychedelic drugs on creativity in a natural environment. The subjects were introduced to a drug called iprocin, described as a fast-acting psychedelic similar to psilocybin. The entire experience was staged to give participants the impression they were taking part in a serious psychedelic drug experiment, from amplified security procedures upon entering the research facility, to undercover research assistants wandering around the simulated party environment pretending to be other trial participants feeling the effects of the fictional drug. The results were striking, with over 60 percent of subjects reporting feeling some kind of psychedelic effect. Only 35 percent of the cohort correctly guessed the drug was a placebo, and 50 percent of those who reported feeling a psychedelic effect actually had previous experience with psychedelic drugs.
Original Article (New Atlas):
The problem at the heart of modern psychedelic clinical research
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