In the past decade, interest in studying psychedelic compounds as potential therapeutic agents has resurged. These studies carefully exclude individuals at risk for developing psychotic symptoms in response to psychedelic use. Given the potential for psychedelics to be established as treatments in psychiatry, it is important to more robustly understand their...
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental condition in which prenatal stress and long-lasting disruptions of excitatory-inhibitory (E/I) balance have been implicated as key vulnerability factors. Although established pharmacological and behavioral treatments are effective for many individuals, they are not universally ...
This is an observational study which does NOT directly administer a psychedelic substance but rather recruits participants who are already participating in another clinical trial in which they may receive a serotonergic psychedelic. The goal of this observational study is to learn how the brain's information processing changes during and following administra...
Psychedelic drugs are increasingly under investigation as potential therapeutic agents for mental health conditions and are being increasingly used recreationally. Psychedelic use may result in an episode of intense psychological distress, commonly referred to as a "bad trip." Bad trips represent a potentially volatile, erratic, and dangerous situation, whic...
BACKGROUND: Current treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), including serotonin reuptake inhibitors and cognitive-behavioral therapy, are often insufficient. Psilocybin, a 5HT2a agonist psychedelic, has shown promise for treating OCD, but rigorous evidence is still needed. AIMS: This randomized clinical trial evaluated safety, tolerability, and b...
Abstract Background: This case describes a substance-induced manic episode with psychotic features in which interaction with an AI (artificial intelligence) chatbot appeared to corroborate and reinforce the patient’s delusional thought content and to contradict medical advice. Excerpts from the patient’s interactions with the AI chatbot provide novel clinica...
Psilocybin has been reported to decrease depression symptoms among individuals with bipolar disorder (BD), but has also been associated with reports of mania, psychosis and increased depression. With increasing recreational use of psilocybin, and the potential for psilocybin to be used as a treatment for depression, a better understanding of the risks and be...
Psychotic symptoms are uncommon and non-specific adverse effects of classic (serotonergic) psychedelics such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, and mescaline. They can emerge during the acute phase of psychedelic drug effects, persist into the subacute ("afterglow") period, or, in rare cases, develop into long-term psychotic illness. Across all...
Introduced in 2014 and revised in 2018, the entropic brain hypothesis has accrued a wealth of supportive evidence. The hypothesis states that- along a dimension of breadth of conscious experience- ‘expansive states’ reliably exhibit increased brain entropy whereas the inverse applies for states of no or reduced consciousness. Examples of expansive states inc...
Introduced in 2014 and revised in 2018, the entropic brain hypothesis has accrued a wealth of supportive evidence. The hypothesis states that- along a dimension of breadth of conscious experience- ‘expansive states’ reliably exhibit increased brain entropy whereas the inverse applies for states of no or reduced consciousness. Examples of expansive states inc...
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by recurrent distressing thoughts and substantial anxiety, accompanied by repetitive behaviors or mental rituals. Individuals with OCD often have diminished quality of life, and functional impairment. The disorder cause high personal, societal and economic costs. Current availab...
Introduction Psychoactive Psilocybe spp. mushrooms pose significant public health risks. We report a cluster of Psilocybe keralensis poisonings in Chengdu, China, highlighting its unique clinical features and cardiovascular complications.Case Series Four patients ingested 16-90 g of wild mushrooms (misidentified as an edible species, but later molecularly co...
Schizophrenia is a highly polygenic disease, and several genetic variants associated with the disease converge on altered synaptic homeostasis. In particular, the gene encoding complement component 4 (C4) showed the strongest association with schizophrenia, and this protein is involved in complement-dependent and microglia-mediated synaptic pruning. As a mat...
Psilocybin, a serotonergic compound that produces psychedelic effects primarily through activation of the 5-HT2A receptor, has shown promise in treating neuropsychiatric conditions, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, the effects of chronic psilocybin administration on gut function, microbiota, and behavioural phenotypes remain understudi...
The stresses of the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlighted the burden of psychiatric disorders within the pediatric population, revealing a pre-existing need for rapid-onset therapies that have since driven efforts to expand effective therapeutic interventions. In this narrative review, we utilized the Preferred Reporting Items for Syste...
Psychedelics are increasingly used in the general population, yet they are associated with increased risk of psychosis in a minority of users that can experience psychedelic-induced psychosis (
Background: Individuals with bipolar II disorder (BD-II) and depression face limited treatment options and are often excluded from psilocybin therapy trials due to theoretical concerns of precipitating mania or psychosis. Although psilocybin has demonstrated antidepressant effects when combined with psychotherapy, adverse event reporting is inconsistent, and...
Background: Individuals with bipolar II disorder (BD-II) and depression face limited treatment options and are often excluded from psilocybin therapy trials due to theoretical concerns of precipitating mania or psychosis. Although psilocybin has demonstrated antidepressant effects when combined with psychotherapy, adverse event reporting is inconsistent, and...
