What a New JAMA Study Reveals — and Why Integration Still Matters**
In recent months, conversation around psychedelic medicine has shifted from curiosity to clinical seriousness. The latest editorial in JAMA — “Are Psychedelic Agents Ready for Prime Time as Stand-Alone Treatments?” by Claudio N. Soares, MD, PhD, MBA — revisits a question that’s been evolving for decades: Can psychedelic compounds like LSD or psilocybin provide real therapeutic benefits without psychotherapy?
The answer, for now, appears to be maybe—but not yet.
A New Era for Psychedelic Research
The JAMA editorial reviews a groundbreaking clinical trial that tested MM120, a pharmaceutical form of LSD (lysergide D-tartrate), for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
The study was rigorous — double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled — and included 198 adults across 22 U.S. research sites.
Participants received a single dose of MM120 (ranging from 25 μg to 200 μg) without psychotherapy. The results were striking:
-
Clinically meaningful reductions in anxiety at four weeks for the 100 μg and 200 μg doses.
-
Response rate: 65% (MM120, 100 μg) vs. 31% (placebo)
-
Remission rate: 47.5% (MM120, 100 μg) vs. 20.5% (placebo)
-
Improvements were observed as early as one week after dosing.
This was the first large-scale study to evaluate the dose-dependent efficacy of an LSD-derived compound without any structured therapy, allowing researchers to isolate the drug’s pharmacologic effects from the psychological support typically offered in psychedelic-assisted treatment.
Promise and Precaution
For the field, this study marks progress. It demonstrates measurable, statistically significant effects from a single psychedelic dose — and reinforces that these agents may hold inherent therapeutic value even outside the context of psychotherapy.
But it also raises deeper questions.
Dr. Soares notes that psychedelic-assisted therapy has always existed in tension between two schools of thought:
-
Psychedelics as facilitators — tools that lower defenses and open access to the unconscious, allowing psychotherapy to work more deeply.
-
Psychedelics as medicines — agents that could relieve suffering through direct neurobiological mechanisms such as enhanced neuroplasticity or modulation of the brain’s default mode network.
Both perspectives have merit. Yet, even as data accumulates on the stand-alone potential of psychedelics, the challenge remains: how do we make these benefits last?
The MiNDSET Perspective: Integration Makes Change Real
At MiNDSET Integrative Ketamine Care, we approach this question every day — not with LSD, but with ketamine, a well-studied, FDA-approved anesthetic used off-label to treat depression, anxiety, and chronic pain.
What we’ve learned through years of integrative care is simple:
Medication may open the door, but therapy helps you walk through it.
Ketamine, like other psychedelic-adjacent compounds, can create powerful shifts in perception and emotional openness. But without structured therapy — before, during, and after treatment — those insights can fade as quickly as they appear.
That’s why at MiNDSET, psychotherapy isn’t optional. It’s built into every patient’s care plan. We require therapy around infusion sessions because evidence shows that combining medical and psychological care leads to deeper, more sustainable outcomes.
Why Integration Still Matters
The JAMA article highlights a common truth in emerging psychiatric treatments: even when a compound shows standalone efficacy, context matters.
The setting, preparation, and post-treatment processing all influence how the brain encodes and sustains change.
While trials like the MM120 study help illuminate pharmacologic potential, real-world healing happens in the relationship between neurobiology and meaning — between the chemical and the conscious.
That’s where integration lives.
In Summary
The JAMA editorial reminds us that psychedelic research is moving forward — and responsibly so.
At the same time, it reinforces the importance of studying these interventions with rigor, context, and humility.
At MiNDSET, we welcome this evolution in psychiatric science, while standing firm in what we’ve witnessed firsthand: lasting transformation comes through integration.
Sources:
Soares CN. Are Psychedelic Agents Ready for Prime Time as Stand-Alone Treatments? JAMA. 2025;334(15):1333–1335.
Robison R, et al. Single treatment with MM120 (lysergide) in generalized anxiety disorder: A randomized clinical trial.JAMA. 2025;334(15):1358–1371.
