Sociodemographic and mental-health characteristics of psychedelic-assisted therapy participants: Latent class analysis of a cross-sectional,purposive online sample

Abstract

Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) is an emerging treatment that combines pharmacotherapeutic dosing sessions with psychotherapy. Despite limited regulatory approval, treatment seekers can access PAT through various avenues, including ketamine treatment centers and “supported adult use” psilocybin centers in the US, drug tourism, “underground” therapy, and participation in clinical trials. This has created a heterogenous landscape of access in which people self-report PAT utilization with a variety of psychedelics and hallucinogens. However, there is limited data on patterns of PAT involvement across drugs. We investigated patterns of PAT utilization using latent class analysis (LCA) in a purposive sample of 244 self-identified patients. Participants were recruited from a variety of sources (e.g. ketamine clinics, social media groups, a large US university) and asked to report lifetime PAT utilization involving six drugs. Participants also completed sociodemographic questionnaires and screening measures for depression and anxiety, and responses were compared across classes. LCA yielded a three-class solution. In addition to High- (55.7% of the sample) and Medium-PAT classes (29.1%), a Psilocybin-Ketamine class (15.2%) was identified-membership in this class was characterized by universal involvement with psilocybin and notable involvement with ketamine PAT compared to other compounds. Between-class comparisons of mental-health screeners indicated the High-PAT class reported elevated depression and anxiety. Findings suggest that high lifetime involvement in a variety of PAT modalities may be associated with more severe psychiatric symptoms, raising questions about selection or iatrogenic effects in the current PAT landscape. The Psilocybin-Ketamine class implies these substances may serve as initial entry points into PAT.