As Legal Psychedelic Therapy Emerges, Ethicists Urge for More Comprehensive Frameworks to Address Sexual Abuse

Both Moreno and Sisti, the University of Pennsylvania medical ethicists, believe that psychedelic-assisted therapy should be moving toward a team-focused approach — with therapists, nurses, chaperones, and primary care physicians involved. They believe that the issue with Yensen and Dryer was handled swiftly and transparently by MAPS, who released a public statement saying they will not be working with either of the therapists in the future and paid their patient $15,000 to receive therapy elsewhere while she pursued legal action. This kind of response is rare, Moreno said. 

“Having two therapists in a room is already one level above what a typical psychotherapy session has,” Sisti said of MAPS therapy protocols. “But, then they also have cameras and monitoring so that the session is recorded and can be used for supervision reasons. So, they can learn and watch a session and see what went right and find areas for improvement. With that kind of oversight and monitoring, it certainly adds an extra level of safeguarding, which is beneficial.”