By Gianna Melillo
With all the recent hype surrounding psychedelics and their potential to treat psychiatric illness, it’s easy to lose track of new developments.
Walter Dunn, MD, PhD, hopes to offer an up-to-date overview at his Internal Medicine Meeting 2026 session titled “The Role and Risks of Psychedelics in the Management of Resistant Mental Health Disorders.” Dr. Dunn currently serves as an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA.
The session, which takes place Friday at 7:00 a.m. PT in room 203-204, will provide an overview of treatments, including psilocybin, MDMA, and LSD, and where they all sit in the investigational landscape.
One goal of the session is to help primary care and internal medicine physicians, who aren’t necessarily on the front lines of serious mental illness treatment, answer questions from patients who bring up the topic. This includes understanding previous regulatory action and what to expect down the line, as well as helping patients recognize psychedelics' risks and benefits.
It’s also important for patients to understand that the settings in which psychedelic trials are run are often very different than real-life use. For example, a lot of phase three studies on psychedelics have stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria, Dr. Dunn explained.
“Patients with a family history, not just themselves, but patients who have a family history of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, they're actually being excluded from these studies because of the risk of psychosis related to these compounds,” he said.
Despite the risks, once psychedelic agents are carefully regulated and thoroughly tested, any approval would signal a significant step forward for patients with mental illness, according to Dr. Dunn.
“If these compounds really fulfill the promise that people think that they can offer, this could potentially be a game-changer as far as how we treat psychiatric illness,” he said. ■