AVANÇOS NO TRATAMENTO DE TRANSTORNOS MENTAIS: Uma análise bibliométrica global da pesquisa sobre psicodélicos clássicos

Classic psychedelics are being globally investigated for their therapeutic potential in mental disorders, however, the literature offers little information about the progress of these studies. The aim of this study is to provide perspectives and directions on the use of classic psychedelics in the treatment of mental disorders. We conducted a bibliometric analysis of publications in the Scopus database, using MeSH terms for LSD, mescaline, DMT/ayahuasca, and psilocybin, combined with terms related to mental disorders. We used Microsoft Excel 2010 and the VOSviewer software for data extraction and analysis. The analyses included descriptive and inferential statistics, using regression models in the R statistical software. A total of 4,235 publications were selected and included. A total of 91 countries from four continents are involved in the investigations. The United States emerged as the main collaborative hub. Notably, LSD led in the number of studies. The determination coefficients of the regression models indicated a strong to very strong correlation between the progression of years and the increase in publications (LSD R² = 0.92; mescaline R² = 0.75; DMT/ayahuasca R² = 0.96; psilocybin R² = 0.94). We identified a growing global interest in the use of classic psychedelics in the treatment of mental disorders, especially in research related to LSD and psilocybin.