Psychedelics have garnered great attention in recent years as treatments for major depressive disorder (MDD) and treatment-resistant depression because of their ability to alter consciousness and afflicted cognitive processes with lasting effects. We aimed to characterise how psychedelics are currently being investigated to treat substance use disorders (SUD...
Background/Objectives: Psilocybin has re-emerged as a promising intervention for neuropsychiatric disorders including major depressive disorder, treatment-resistant depression, anxiety associated with life-threatening illness, obsessive compulsive disorder, and substance use disorders. However, conventional randomized controlled trials (RCTs)-the current gol...
Upwards of 50% of people do not respond to the primary treatment modalities for major depressive disorder (MDD), which has led to increased attention and use of alternative methods, including exercise and psychedelics. While interventions using either exercise or psychedelics have demonstrated largely positive results in isolation, their synergistic potentia...
Classic psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, and ayahuasca/N,N-dimethyltryptamine, are increasingly being studied as therapeutics for myriad health conditions; however, predicting individual responses is notoriously difficult. An arguably underappreciated variable potentially moderating responses to psychedelics is age. Older ...
Classic psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, and ayahuasca/N,N-dimethyltryptamine, are increasingly being studied as therapeutics for myriad health conditions; however, predicting individual responses is notoriously difficult. An arguably underappreciated variable potentially moderating responses to psychedelics is age. Older ...
Psilocybin, a compound found in Psilocybe mushrooms, is emerging as a promising treatment for neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, including major depressive disorder. Its potential therapeutic effects stem from promoting neuroprotection, neurogenesis, and neuroplasticity, key factors in brain health. Psilocybin could help combat mild neurodegenerati...
The prospective pilot study will address the critical need for more precise characterizations of the acute visual effects of the drug psilocybin by measuring the impact of acute psilocybin intoxication on a perceptual task known as visual surround suppression, compared to an active placebo control. The proposed pilot study will address the critical need for ...
BackgroundPsychedelics, particularly psilocin, are increasingly being studied for their mind-altering effects and potential therapeutic applications in psychiatry. Visual hallucinations, especially the illusion of motion in static images, are a hallmark of their action. Despite growing interest, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood, as their sy...
Psychedelics can profoundly alter consciousness by reorganising brain connectivity; however, their effects are context-sensitive. To understand how this reorganisation depends on context, we collected and comprehensively analysed the largest psychedelic neuroimaging dataset to date. Sixty-two adults were scanned with functional MRI and EEG during rest and na...
Brain aging (BA) processes are complex, often affect multiple systems, and frequently lead to cognitive decline and increased susceptibility to insults. BA appears to be a primary risk for the development of many prominent neurodegenerative pathologies. The US Census Bureau predicts that the aging population (65+) will represent a greater proportion of the U...
Molecular brain imaging by positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computer-tomography (SPECT) entails the mapping of the cerebral distribution of radiopharmaceuticals that track physiological processes such as blood perfusion and glucose metabolism, or the abundance in brain of specific molecular targets such as neuroreceptors. PET and...
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a severe psychiatric condition that develops after exposure to trauma such as combat, natural disasters, or assault. It is characterized by re-experiencing trauma, avoidance, hyperarousal, and negative alterations in cognition and mood. Since its formal inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Diso...
Patients with a life-threatening disease (LTD) sometimes suffer from end-of-life distress (EOLD) which refers to the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual suffering related to chronic illness and the possibility of death. Palliative care interventions seek to improve the quality of life of patients with EOLD and their significant others. Currentl...
Over a decade after the first edition of "Behavioral Neurobiology of Alcohol Addiction," this chapter revisits the field at a critical juncture, marked by both persistent challenges and emerging opportunities. We reflect on the translational gap that has stalled the development of new treatments for alcohol use disorder (AUD), despite decades of promising pr...
This study is an open-label, single-arm, proof-of-concept study, wherein treatment resistant bipolar depression (TRBD) participants will receive one 25 mg dose of oral psilocybin accompanied by preparatory, monitoring, and integration psychotherapy sessions (psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, or PAP). Using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), the f...
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition that can develop after a traumatic event, causing distressing symptoms, including intrusive re-experiencing symptoms, alterations in mood and cognition, and changes in arousal and reactivity. Few treatment options exist for patients who find conventional psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy to be inaccessible,...
Over the past decade there has been a surge in interest in placebo-controlled trials using non-classical 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and classical psychedelics such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) to treat neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the success and reliability of these trials depend on t...
Title: Use of psilocybin in the treatment of mental disorders: systematic review of clinical trials. Objective: To evaluate the high-impact evidence on the neurobiology, efficacy, safety, and feasibility of using psilocybin in the treatment of mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (P...
Some recent research and commentary have suggested that most or all the effects reported by people who microdose psychedelics may be explained by expectations or placebo effects. In this rapid review, we aimed to evaluate the strength of evidence for a placebo explanation of the reported effects of microdosing. We conducted a PubMed search for all studies in...
