Abstract Despite growing interest in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, research investigating the psychotherapeutic components is lacking. This leaves unanswered questions regarding the psychotherapy's necessity and form. This observational study addresses this gap by measuring the outcomes of a psilocybin truffle retreat, followed by the outcomes of two p...
Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is the most common inherited intellectual disability and a leading monogenic cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As a synaptic disorder, FXS involves the loss of Fragile X messenger ribonucleoprotein 1 (FMRP), leading to abnormal dendrite development and immature dendritic spines. Serotonergic signaling, essential for neuronal d...
BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder is one of the most debilitating psychiatric disorders worldwide. First-line treatments such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have significant limitations, including delayed onset of therapeutic effects and treatment resistance in about 30% of patients. Increasing evidence suggests that acute administration of s...
To evaluate the efficacy, safety, and durability of a single 25-mg dose of a proprietary, synthetic formulation of psilocybin with psychological support for reducing chronic suicidal ideation in a treatment-resistant population. ), and ≥2 prior antidepressant treatment failures received a single 25-mg dose of psilocybin administered within a structured prepa...
Abstract Rationale The elderly population is rapidly growing. Overwhelming epidemiologic data has demonstrated worse health outcomes with increasing age for a multitude of lung diseases (COVID being one of numerous examples). There is an increasingly urgent need for a more complete understanding of the molecular pathways and biological processes underlying a...
Affective biases are important neuropsychological mechanisms by which emotions modulate cognition, behaviour and the subjective experience of mood. Previous studies have shown that the rapid-acting antidepressant, ketamine, and serotonergic psychedelic, psilocybin, modulate affective biases in a translational rat model. Both treatments differ from convention...
This Phase 2a pilot, exploratory, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial will estimate whether concurrent fluoxetine alters the antidepressant effect, acute psychedelic experience, or safety of a psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy session in adults with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder (TRD). Eligible participants (ag...
Psilocybin, a serotonergic psychedelic, can produce rapid and enduring antidepressant effects in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD)[1, 2], yet the neural mechanisms underlying these effects remain unclear. Negative affective biases are an important neuropsychological mechanism central to the development and perpetuation of MDD[3]. Using a translat...
This paper follows 8 scientists who ventured into the world of psychedelics on a quest to find transformational pathways forward. Each have worked on aspects of global environmental change for decades, and observing environmental crises converging into a global polycrisis/metacrisis with genuine potential for collapse, we have all carried psychological burde...
Psilocybin, a classic psychedelic compound, has garnered renewed interest as a potential treatment for various psychiatric disorders. This review provides a comprehensive overview of psilocybin's history, recent clinical evidence, ongoing clinical trials, neuroimaging findings, and regulations. Historically used in spiritual and healing rituals, psilocybin w...
Abstract Rapid-acting antidepressants like ketamine and serotonergic psychedelics show promise for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), but the molecular mechanisms that contribute to their therapeutic effects remain unclear. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offer a platform to model human cortical neurons and investigate drug effects in a human-relev...
Psilocin, a naturally occurring hallucinogenic component of magic mushrooms, exerts notable psychoactive effects in both humans and rodents. However, the underlying mechanisms remain not fully understood. Blood-oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a valuable tool in many preclinical and clinical trials for invest...
Psilocybin-assisted therapy (PAT) is an emerging intervention for depression. Though several clinical trials report promising results for PAT in treating depression, there remains a need for consensus on optimal methodologies and standardization of PAT protocols. The objective of this review was to assess the efficacy of PAT in treating depressive symptoms a...
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound with potential antidepressant effects. Although it has long been used by humans, primarily for recreational purposes, the molecular mechanisms underlying its actions remain incompletely understood. Here, we examined the acute effects of psilocin, the active metabolite of psilocybin, on excitatory neuro...
The serotonergic psychedelic, psilocybin, shows potential for rapid and sustained antidepressant effects but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Using a chronic interferon-alpha-induced rat model of depression, we show acute psilocybin (0.3 mg/kg) reverses impaired reward-induced biases within 24hrs, with effects enduring for at least 7 days. This sugg...
