Although psychedelics have shown strong efficacy in treating a diverse array of symptoms, one specific cohort of patients has been excluded from all PAT clinical trials: individuals with a past or current history of seizures.
Individuals with chronic seizure disorders, such as epilepsy and some mitochondrial encephalopathies, have a reduced quality of life and experience disproportionate rates of anxiety and depression compared to the general population (
;
). Additionally, ∼10% of individuals with epilepsy experience functional seizures (also referred to as psychogenic, non-epileptic seizures [PNES]), which are not treatable with traditional anti-epileptic pharmacological therapies or surgical interventions due to their psychological underpinnings. These patients require novel, alternative therapies, with conjunctive psychological treatment, such as in PAT.
There is sparse and conflicting published data regarding the safety of psychedelics in the context of chronic and acute seizures. We will demonstrate that most reports are case studies of individuals taking psychedelics recreationally in unsupervised non-clinical settings. The few controlled studies support classical psychedelics as safe and tolerable under clinical supervision, even in patients with a history of epilepsy who currently experience spontaneous, recurrent seizures (SRS).
