AbstractPsychedelic serotonergic agonists such as psilocybin have recently been shown to produce sustained benefit in refractory depression, end of life anxiety, and addiction when administered in hallucinogenic doses and coupled with psychotherapy. Although it has been suggested that similar high-dose protocols may help chronic pain conditions, there are fe...
Growing evidence from observational studies and clinical trials suggests that psychedelics such as lysergic acid diethylamide, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, and psilocybin may hold treatment potential for alcohol, opioid, tobacco, and other substance use disorders (SUDs). The mechanisms by which psychedelics might exert therapeutic efficacy in these con...
Although early therapeutic research on psychedelics dates back to the 1940s, this field of investigation was met with many cultural and legal challenges in the 1970s. Over the past two decades, clinical trials using psychedelics have resumed. Therefore, the goal of this study was to (1) better characterize the recent uptrend in psychedelics in clinical trial...
The last decade has seen a remarkable resurgence of interest in psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin (from magic mushrooms) LSD and DMT (dimethyl tryptamine - the active ingredient of ayahuasca). This has been driven by the discovery that these psychedelics all act agonists of 5-HT2A receptors. Human imaging studies have revealed this action leads to profoun...
Psychedelic or ecodelic medicines (e.g., psilocybin, ayahuasca, iboga) for the care and treatment of addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, cancer, cluster headaches, anxiety, and depression have surged to the forefront of discussions about mental health in the US, leading to the emergence of well-capitalized biotech companies offering multimillion-dolla...
Psilocybin and other serotonergic psychedelics have re-emerged as therapeutics for neuropsychiatric disorders, including addiction. Psilocybin induces long-lasting effects on behavior, likely due to its profound ability to alter consciousness and augment neural connectivity and plasticity. Impaired synaptic plasticity in obesity contributes to 'addictive-lik...
The primary aim of this study is to assess the safety and tolerability of one 25 mg dose of psilocybin in participants with anorexia nervosa based on adverse events (AEs), changes in vital signs, electrocardiograms (ECGs) and clinical laboratory tests. The secondary objectives are to explore the efficacy of a single 25 mg dose of psilocybin on eating disorde...
Psychedelic therapy (PT) is an emerging paradigm with great transdiagnostic potential for treating a range of psychiatric disorders, including depression, addiction, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and others. ‘Classic’ serotonergic psychedelics, such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), N, N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and 5-metho...
Psychedelic therapy (PT) is an emerging paradigm with great transdiagnostic potential for treating a range of psychiatric disorders, including depression, addiction, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and others. ‘Classic’ serotonergic psychedelics, such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), N, N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and 5-metho...
Tobacco use is the single largest cause of preventable death worldwide, but none of the established treatments aimed at smoking cessation work for a majority of smokers. As such, there is an urgent need for interventions capable of reliably treating nicotine addiction. The use of classic psychedelics has been associated with lower odds of many forms of subst...
This review presents a general background of psilocybin pharmacology and discusses its uses in treating various mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and addiction. A summary of preliminary clinical trials utilizing psilocybin in each disorder is presented, along with an analysis of the neurobiological mechanisms...
The active hallucinogen of magic mushrooms, psilocin, is being repurposed to treat nicotine addiction and treatment-resistant depression. Psilocin belongs to the tryptamine class of psychedelic compounds which include the hormone serotonin. It is believed that psilocin exerts its effect by binding to the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor. However, recent in-vivo evi...
The word "psychedelic" (psyche (i.e., the mind or soul) and delos (i.e., to show)) has Greek origin and was first coined by psychiatrist Humphry Osmond in 1956, who had been conducting research on lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) at the time. Psychedelic drugs such as N,N-DMT/DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine), 5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine), LSD (ly...
Mushrooms have been used as traditional medicine for millennia, fungi are the main natural source of psychedelic compounds. There is now increasing interest in using fungal active compounds such as psychedelics for alleviating symptoms of mental health disorders including major depressive disorder, anxiety, and addiction. The anxiolytic, antidepressant and a...
Opinion statementPreventing depression in cancer patients on long-term opioid therapy should begin with depression screening before opioid initiation and repeated screening during treatment. In weighing the high morbidity of depression and opioid use disorder in patients with chronic cancer pain against a dearth of evidence-based therapies studied in this po...
Psychotherapy with the use of psychedelic substances, including psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ketamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), has demonstrated promise in treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, addiction, and treatment-resistant depression. Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PP) represents a uniqu...
Cocaine Use Disorder (CUD) is a significant public health problem associated with elevated morbidity and mortality within the United States. Current behavioral treatments have limited efficacy and there are currently no FDA approved pharmacological treatments for CUD. Classic psychedelics might be associated with lowered odds of substance misuse and may effe...
Psychedelics extracted from plants have been used in religious, spiritual, and mystic practices for millennia. In 1957, Dr. Hofmann identified and synthesized the prodrug psilocybin, a substance present in more than 200 species of psychedelic mushrooms. Although there were limitations related to the scientific design of many studies, clinical observations pe...
Psilocybin-containing mushrooms have been consumed by various cultures in many different parts of the world for thousands of years. Psilocybin, a classic psychedelic, contains unique psychoactive properties and has been incorporated into religious ceremonies and investigated for its medicinal value. In the mid-20th century, psilocybin, along with most other ...
