BackgroundExistential distress is commonly experienced by people with cancer, yet there are limited treatment options. The therapeutic potential for psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) utilising psilocybin for this cohort is underexplored, with emerging literature showing clinical improvements in wellbeing. In Australia there is limited knowledge on healthcar...
Clinical trials investigating psychedelic compounds for depression and anxiety-related disorders are yielding promising preliminary results. Psychedelics produce profound alterations in brain function-such as suppression of the default mode network and thalamocortical dysregulation-leading to intense subjective experiences including ego dissolution and mysti...
Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) remains a major clinical challenge and is typically defined as the persistence of depressive symptoms despite at least two adequate antidepressant trials. Individuals with TRD experience substantial morbidity, impaired functioning, and elevated suicide risk, highlighting the need for therapeutic strategies beyond incremen...
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 ...
One hundred twenty healthy participants, ages 21 to 70, who experience moderate-to-lower-than-average mental well-being will be evenly randomized into four different study arms, using a 2x2 factorial design. Depending on the study arm, participants will either receive an inactive placebo or up to 25mg psilocybin (oral dose), in one of two set and setting con...
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes persistent neurobehavioral deficits and increases the risk of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, and cognitive dysfunction linked to disrupted neuroplasticity, neuroinflammation, and serotonergic (5-HT) signaling. No effective pharmacotherapies exist for chronic TBI. Psilocybin, a psychedelic 5-HT2A rece...
Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, affecting an estimated 300 million people. Despite available treatments, response rates remain modest, and treatment resistance is common. Novel treatments are needed that act rapidly, produce lasting effects and work differently than existing antidepressants. In clinical trials, psilocybin has shown p...
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...
Psychedelic drugs are re-emerging as promising scientific and clinical tools. However, despite a rapidly expanding literature on their therapeutic value, the neural mechanisms underlying psychedelic effects remain unclear. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of acute psychedelic effects, conducted independently by several research gro...
Major depressive disorder remains a leading cause of disability worldwide, and current antidepressants are limited by delayed onset and incomplete response. Building on advances driven by ketamine research, renewed interest has focused on classical serotonergic psychedelics-particularly psilocybin, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), 5-methoxy-DMT, and lysergic ac...
While the limitations of existing treatment options have spurred investigations into the applicability of psychedelic therapies for chronic and treatment-resistant psychological disorders, there remain significant unresolved issues pertaining to how these treatments should be regulated and the implementation of an ethical framework for their widespread deliv...
Psychedelic compounds such as psilocybin, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), N,Ndimethyltryptamine (DMT), and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) are emerging as novel therapeutics for neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and addiction. Acting primarily through serotonin 5-HT2A receptor agonism, they ac...
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are widely prescribed for mood and anxiety disorders, the same conditions under which psychedelic-assisted therapies are gaining renewed interest. However, it remains unclear how SSRI treatment may influence sensitivity to psychedelics, particularly through the shared engagement of serotonergic pathways. Here, ...
Introduction: Cognitive flexibility is essential for behavioral adaptation in response to environmental changes and is impaired in various neuropsychiatric disorders. The serotonergic psychedelic psilocybin has shown potential in enhancing cognitive flexibility, although with mixed results. In this study, we investigated the effects of psilocybin on cognitiv...
Psilocybin-assisted interventions have shown rapid reductions in depressive symptoms in controlled clinical settings, raising questions about biological mechanisms supporting durability beyond the acute drug effect. [5,7] Mechanistic accounts increasingly focus on neuroplasticity as a candidate pathway linking transient serotonergic receptor activation to lo...
Clinical investigations into the therapeutic actions of psilocybin have been the focus of much attention in recent years as duly cited in the manuscript.The authors of the present manuscript discuss potential targets through which psilocybin may help prevent suicide using computational network pharmacology coupled with molecular docking investigations.Unfort...
BACKGROUND: Psychological distress is a common problem near the end of life, for which we lack effective, timely and scalable treatments. No previous study has assessed whether microdose psilocybin can improve symptoms in this population. AIM: To determine whether microdose psilocybin is safe, feasible and potentially efficacious in a palliative setting. DES...
