Naturally Occurring Psychedelics in Real-world and Naturalistic Settings for Trauma-Related Mental and Behavioral Health Outcomes Among Military Veterans and Active-Duty Military Personnel: A Scoping Review Protocol
Year: 2026
Type: study-registration
Abstract: Background: Military veterans and active-duty military personnel experience trauma-related mental and behavioral health concerns, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, substance use problems, suicidality, and moral injury. Treatment response and retention still vary in these populations, and treatment gaps remain. There is a growing population of military veterans and active-duty military personnel seeking naturally occurring psychedelics (e.g., DMT, ayahuasca, psilocybin, mescaline, ibogaine) in real-world settings, including retreats, ceremonies, and religious or community contexts. Existing reviews focus largely on single compounds or single diagnoses in clinical trial settings. To our knowledge, no review has specifically mapped the literature on naturally occurring psychedelic use in naturalistic settings among military populations. Objective: This scoping review aims to map the literature on naturally occurring psychedelics used in naturalistic settings and trauma-related mental and behavioral health outcomes among military veterans and active-duty military personnel. Methods: This scoping review will use the Participants, Concept, and Context (PCC) framework to define eligibility criteria, and will follow the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR). We will search nine databases and conduct supplementary searches without restrictions on publication date. Eligible studies will report empirical data on adults with military service histories who used naturally occurring psychedelics outside regulated clinical trials. Two reviewers will independently screen records and extract data using Covidence, and a third reviewer will resolve disagreements. Findings will be tabulated and summarized descriptively and organized narratively around the review aims. Conclusions: The review will identify gaps in the evidence on trauma-related outcomes, safety and tolerability, and describe the settings in which psychedelic use has been studied among military populations.
Source: Open Science Framework
Authors: Yitong Xin, Kelsey Armeni, Zhinan Guo
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225429729
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