Psychedelic research has gained the attention of the scientific community, popular media, and the public at large. With the expansion of the field, people seeking to participate in such studies may bring a set of expectations that can undermine the validity of trial outcomes. Increased methodological rigor is needed to address this, as well as some of the inherent challenges to psychedelic research, such as difficulty with blinding. In the effort to control bias, there is the risk of losing the impact of subjectivity in psychedelic clinical trials. Some studies seek to isolate the "drug effect" from the phenomenological experience of participants. How do we navigate this tension?