Health care practitioners’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of psychedelic treatments for mental disorders: A scoping review
Abstract
Interest in psychedelic treatments for mental health conditions is growing. Health care professionals will be key in the implementation, recommendation, and administration of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) if and when it is approved for clinical use, making their knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions (KAPs) central to successful translation into practice. We conducted a scoping review of health care professionals’ KAPs toward the psychedelic treatment of mental health conditions. Thirty-nine studies, comprising both quantitative and qualitative investigations, were included. The number of studies, and range of health care professionals surveyed, increased over time, though research remained concentrated in North America, Europe, and Australia. Participants mostly performed well on objective knowledge assessments, but this did not necessarily align with subjective knowledge, which indicated lower self-reported confidence in PAT theory and practice. Attitudes toward psychedelics’ therapeutic potential, safety, and legalisation were generally favourable, although concerns included potential misuse, risk of precipitating subsequent psychiatric disorders, and cognitive impairment. Participants generally perceived psychiatrists and specialised facilities as most suitable for PAT administration, and the need for further research was strongly supported. A lack of trained personnel and resources, and cost, side effect, and misuse concerns, were the most frequently endorsed barriers to implementation. Research into health care professionals' KAPs regarding psychedelic treatment is maturing, but important gaps remain: granular insight into KAPs toward specific compound-disorder combinations is lacking, and geographic coverage does not reflect the global burden of mental illness. Addressing these gaps will be important as PAT moves closer to clinical implementation.
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BibTeX
@misc{womersley2026health,
title = {{Health care practitioners’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of psychedelic treatments for mental disorders: A scoping review}},
author = {Jacqueline Samantha Womersley and Gabriela Iacovou and Yumna Kathrada and Marnus Janse van Vuuren and Hannah Lukic and Soraya Seedat},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/ju7ag_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/ju7ag_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Health care practitioners’ knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of psychedelic treatments for mental disorders: A scoping review
AU - Jacqueline Samantha Womersley
AU - Gabriela Iacovou
AU - Yumna Kathrada
AU - Marnus Janse van Vuuren
AU - Hannah Lukic
AU - Soraya Seedat
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/ju7ag_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/ju7ag_v1/
AB - Interest in psychedelic treatments for mental health conditions is growing. Health care professionals will be key in the implementation, recommendation, and administration of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) if and when it is approved for clinical use, making their knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions (KAPs) central to successful translation into practice. We conducted a scoping review of health care professionals’ KAPs toward the psychedelic treatment of mental health conditions. Thirty-nine studies, comprising both quantitative and qualitative investigations, were included. The number of studies, and range of health care professionals surveyed, increased over time, though research remained concentrated in North America, Europe, and Australia. Participants mostly performed well on objective knowledge assessments, but this did not necessarily align with subjective knowledge, which indicated lower self-reported confidence in PAT theory and practice. Attitudes toward psychedelics’ therapeutic potential, safety, and legalisation were generally favourable, although concerns included potential misuse, risk of precipitating subsequent psychiatric disorders, and cognitive impairment. Participants generally perceived psychiatrists and specialised facilities as most suitable for PAT administration, and the need for further research was strongly supported. A lack of trained personnel and resources, and cost, side effect, and misuse concerns, were the most frequently endorsed barriers to implementation. Research into health care professionals' KAPs regarding psychedelic treatment is maturing, but important gaps remain: granular insight into KAPs toward specific compound-disorder combinations is lacking, and geographic coverage does not reflect the global burden of mental illness. Addressing these gaps will be important as PAT moves closer to clinical implementation.
ER -