Citation

Campbell M, Williams MT. Front. Psychiatry 2021; 12.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Frontiers Media)

DOI

10.3389/fpsyt.2021.680626

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

If patients with mental illnesses are to be treated fairly in comparison with other categories of patients, they must be given access to promising experimental therapies, including psychedelics. The right of early access to promising therapies was advanced as an ethical principle by activist Larry Kramer during the AIDS pandemic, and has now largely been adopted by the medical establishment. Patients are regularly granted access to experimental drugs for many illness categories, such as cancer and infectious diseases. The need for expanded access is especially relevant during evolving crises like the AIDS and the coronavirus pandemics. In contrast to non-psychiatric branches of medicine, psychiatry has failed to expedite access to promising drugs in the face of public health emergencies, psychological crises, the wishes of many patients, and the needs of the community. Psychiatry must catch up to the rest of medicine and allow the preferences of patients for access to guide policy and law regarding unapproved medications like psychedelics. © Copyright © 2021 Campbell and Williams.

Language: en

Keywords

human; racism; suicide; access; insomnia; depression; pandemic; schizophrenia; major depression; addiction; stigma; ethics; empowerment; posttraumatic stress disorder; epilepsy; mental disease; antidepressant agent; neuroleptic agent; paroxetine; serotonin uptake inhibitor; sertraline; health care access; placebo; acquired immune deficiency syndrome; patient advocacy; valproic acid; lysergide; experimental therapy; obsessive compulsive disorder; psychedelic agent; Article; social discrimination; disease burden; discrimination; midomafetamine; psilocybine; coronavirus disease 2019; psychedelics; advocacy; orexin receptor agonist