Hallucinogenic mushrooms have been used in religious and cultural ceremonies for centuries. Of late, psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in hallucinogenic mushrooms, has received increased public interest as a novel drug for treating mood and substance use disorders (SUDs). In addition, in recent years, some states in the United States have legalized psilo...
Importance: Psilocybin shows promise as a treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD). Objective: To evaluate the magnitude, timing, and durability of antidepressant effects and safety of a single dose of psilocybin in patients with MDD. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this phase 2 trial conducted between December 2019 and June 2022 at 11 research si...
There has been a resurgence of interest in the use of psychedelic therapies for several mental and substance use disorders. Psilocybin, a "classic" serotonergic psychedelic, has emerged as one of the primary compounds of interest in clinical research. While research on psilocybin's potential mental health benefits has grown, data on the safety and efficacy o...
Introduction Despite emerging evidence suggesting the efficacy of psilocybin in the treatment of mood disorders such as depression, the exact mechanisms by which psilocybin is able to elicit these antidepressant effects remains unknown. Objectives As the use of psilocybin as a treatment modality for depression has garnered increasing interest, this study aim...
Mood disorders are recurrent/chronic diseases with variable clinical remission rates. Available antidepressants are not effective in all patients and often show a relevant response latency, with a range of adverse events, including weight gain and sexual dysfunction. Novel rapid agents were developed with the aim of overcoming at least in part these issues. ...
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex disorder expressed as a variety of neurobiological symptoms, including anxiety, re-experiencing, hyperarousal, and avoidance symptoms, along with comorbidities such as anxiety, depression, and increased risk for self-medicating substance abuse. Currently, there are only two approved medications in the United...
Evidence suggests that psilocybin has therapeutic benefit for treating depression. However, there is little consensus regarding the mechanism by which psilocybin elicits antidepressant effects. This systematic review summarizes existing evidence. Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, psychINFO, and Web of Science were searched, for both human and animal studies, using a com...
Eating disorders are serious illnesses showing high rates of mortality and comorbidity with other mental health problems. Psychedelic-assisted therapy has recently shown potential in the treatment of several common comorbidities of eating disorders, including mood disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders. The theorized therapeut...
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a surge in depression cases, a pervasive and debilitating mental illness1. This trend is evident in the increased prescriptions for antidepressants. Depression is a chronic condition that affects a significant proportion of the global population, with ~280 million people, or about 3.8%, suffering from it. As a result, it...
Classic psychedelics, lysergic acid diethylamide, psilocybin, mescaline and N,N-dimethyltryptamine, are potent psychoactive substances that have been studied for their physiological and psychological effects. However, our understanding of the potential interactions and outcomes of using these substances are used in combination with other psychoactive drugs i...
BackgroundClassic serotonergic psychedelics have anecdotally been reported to show a characteristic pattern of subacute effects that persist after the acute effects of the substance have subsided. These transient effects, sometimes labeled as the 'psychedelic afterglow', have been suggested to be associated with enhanced effectiveness of psychotherapeutic in...
Depression is the most commonly experienced mood state over the life span in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) and is the primary driver of functional impairment and suicidality in BD. Despite this, there are few effective treatments for BD depression, with only a handful of atypical anti-psychotics and inconsistent evidence for traditional mood stabili...
Recreational drug use is a significant public health concern in various countries. It is well understood that usage of psychedelics/hallucinogens, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ecstasy, phencyclidine (PCP), and psilocybin-containing mushrooms, has increased significantly over the last few decades, particularly in adolescents and young adults, yet...
INTRODUCTION: Psilocybin-assisted therapy has shown significant promise in treating the cluster of mood and anxiety symptoms that comprise post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but has yet to be tested specifically in this condition. Furthermore, current pharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments for PTSD are difficult to tolerate and limited in effica...
Background: In a recent clinical trial examining the comparative efficacy of psilocybin therapy (PT) versus escitalopram treatment (ET) for major depressive disorder, 14 of 16 major efficacy outcome measures yielded results that favored PT, but the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, Self-Report, 16 items (QIDS-SR16 ) did not. Aims: The present stu...
Previous studies have investigated challenging, difficult, or distressing classic psychedelic experiences, but little is known about the prevalence and associations of such experiences. Using nationally representative data of the US adult population (N = 2822), this study examined the prevalence and associations of challenging, difficult, or distressing expe...
This study is seeking to find the optimal microdose or low dose of psilocybin (magic mushrooms) that provides general enhancements to mood, memory, sleep, and other measures of general well-being without any hallucinogenic effects. Psilocybin is a natural psychoactive alkaloid component of more than 200 species of naturally growing mushrooms that can be foun...
Background: Several early phase studies have demonstrated that psilocybin-assisted therapy has rapid-acting and persisting antidepressant effects from just one or two doses. However, methodological limitations (e.g., placebo-control, blinding) limit interpretability of the existing literature. Methods: In an exploratory placebo-controlled, within-subject, fi...
