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The promise and challenges of psychedelic-assisted therapy: lessons from Canada’s Special Access Program

Nature Mental Health volume 3, pages 756–759 (2025)Cite this article

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To realize the potential of emerging psychedelic therapies, clinical and systemic obstacles must be surmounted.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by a grant from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec (AUDACE program).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre, Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CRCHUM), Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Nicolas Garel

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Addictology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Nicolas Garel

  3. Faculty of Pharmacy, Université Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

    Louis Plourde & Michel Dorval

  4. Oncology Division, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) de Québec–Université Laval Research Center, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

    Louis Plourde & Michel Dorval

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Kyle T. Greenway

  6. Lady Davis Institute, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Kyle T. Greenway

Authors
  1. Nicolas Garel
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  2. Louis Plourde
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  3. Kyle T. Greenway
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  4. Michel Dorval
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Contributions

N.G., L.P., K.T.G. and M.D. had full access to all the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. N.G. and M.D. conceived and designed the study. All authors contributed to the acquisition, analysis or interpretation of the data. N.G. and M.D. drafted the manuscript, and all authors critically revised it for important intellectual content. M.D. conducted the statistical analysis. N.G. and M.D. provided administrative, technical or material support, and the study was supervised by N.G., K.T.G. and M.D.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nicolas Garel.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Mental Health thanks Gregory Fonzo, Timothy Michaels and Jerrold Rosenbaum for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Garel, N., Plourde, L., Greenway, K.T. et al. The promise and challenges of psychedelic-assisted therapy: lessons from Canada’s Special Access Program. Nat. Mental Health 3, 756–759 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00446-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00446-y

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