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4 Advances in Psychedelic Medicine Psychedelic Medicine: Volumes 1 and 2, but rather than an update to those earlier chapters, it addresses new research, topics, and treatment areas that have emerged in the past decade. Psychiatric Applications of Psychedelics Psychedelic Medicine: Volume 1 presented the evidence for psyche- delic applications for a range of psychiatric disorders including OCD, PTSD, depression, and end-of-life issues associated with terminal cancer. Research on these and other topics has progressed considerably since then, as documented in the overview in Chapter 2 by Charles Grob and Gary Bravo on “Psychedelics and Psychiatry: A New Treatment Model for the 21st Century.” This places the resurgence of psychedelic research in his- torical and clinical context, and shows evidence for successful treatment of an expanded range of conditions, especially treatment-resistant depres- sion. Their chapter also addresses some of the challenges that psychedelics pose to the prevailing psychopharmacological paradigm of psychiatry, and the importance of the shamanic traditions of using these substances and the spiritual experiences that they induce. At the time of presenting Volumes 1 and 2, a treatment that had already gained international fame was the use of MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Here in Chapter 3 Ben Sessa provides an overview of the important role of MDMA in addressing trauma in “Therapeutic Applica- tions of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).” He looks at the extended evidence for the effectiveness of MDMA not only for PTSD, but also for the potential treatment of addictions. Clinical depression represents a growing burden for societies and is often difficult to treat with traditional psychiatric approaches. British psychia- trist James Rucker reviews the mechanisms, rationale, and latest clinical advances in psilocybin-assisted advances in Chapter 4, “Psilocybin Ther- apy for Major Depressive Disorder.” Rucker reviews the clinical trials for psilocybin treatment of depression underway and randomized controlled trials in preparation for Phase 3 evaluations. This evidence, combined with neuroimaging work, is revealing the neurological dynamics underlying the subjective dynamics of psychedelic experience and how these understand- ings may contribute to an appreciation of the therapeutic mechanism that may address the emotional and existential predicament presented by the syndrome of depression. Since the publication of Psychedelic Medicine: Volumes 1 and 2 we have seen a global expansion of the off-license use of ketamine, as well as clinical studies of its use for addressing treatment-resistant depression.