6.1.3 Subjective effects of psychedelics
There remains ongoing debate concerning the necessity for the hallucinogenic effects of psychedelics, with arguments both for and against their importance.126,127 There is a suggestion that in both, at least, treatment-resistant depression and tobacco use disorder, the subjective components and quality of the acute psychedelic experience may be important for therapeutic efficacy,128 while there remains some preliminary data in OUD this may be the case. Conversely, for cluster and migraine headaches, the acute subjective psychedelic effects may be independent from their clinical effects.129 These studies were dovetailed by recent healthy human laboratory data, putting into question the therapeutic relevance of hallucinogenic effects for analgesia.67 Measurement and investigation into the importance of hallucinogenic and subjective effects remains crucial to further our understanding of this phenomenon (and supposed “biological effects” from the “psychological effects”) and the viability of sub-psychedelic dosing/microdosing paradigms and active control groups that receive low or blinding doses of psychedelics in some studies, which may have some effect on outcomes.