The potential of event-related beta oscillations as biomarkers for neuromodulatory treatment efficacy.

Electroencephalography (EEG) recently celebrated its 100-year anniversary, having revolutionized the study of cognitive function across species. Over the past century, neuroelectric measures such as resting-state EEG, event-related potentials (ERP), and event-related oscillations (ERO) have become indispensable not only for advancing our understanding of bra...

Psychedelics in functional disorders: A scoping review.

Functional disorders, characterised by symptoms unexplained by organic disease, impose a significant burden on individuals and healthcare systems. Existing treatments are limited in efficacy, with no effective pharmacotherapies. There is growing evidence supporting the treatment potential of psychedelics in neuropsychiatric conditions, including several dist...

India's Unique Legal Framework for Psilocybin Mushroom Research: An Unprecedented Opportunity in Psychiatric Therapeutics.

Cardiac Consequences Associated with Psychedelic Use: A Systematic Review of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, and 5-Hydroxytryptamine 2B-Mediated Valvular Heart Disease.

Serotonergic psychedelics, such as lysergic acid diethylamide, and psilocybin, and the entactogen 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine exhibit agonist activity at the 5-hydroxytryptamine 2B receptor, a signalling pathway known to mechanistically mediate drug-induced valvular heart disease. This systematic review evaluates whether chronic or repeated use of psyc...

Challenges with clinical trial participants in studies with classical psychedelics: A position statement from the National Network of Depression Centers' task group on psychedelics and related compounds.

RationaleClassical psychedelics-a broad class of compounds that include psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, dimethyltryptamine, and mescaline-have shown significant promise for the treatment of mental health conditions in recent clinical trials. Organizations such as the National Network of Depression Centers (NNDCs) can play a pivotal role in uniting re...

Retraction: Acute psilocybin increased cortical activities in rats.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1168911.].

Acute psilocin increased cortical activity in rat.

Psilocin, a naturally occurring hallucinogenic component of magic mushrooms, exerts notable psychoactive effects in both humans and rodents. However, the underlying mechanisms remain not fully understood. Blood-oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a valuable tool in many preclinical and clinical trials for invest...

MDMA and Psilocybin Regulate Oligodendrocyte-Lineage Cell Numbers and Anxiety-Like Behaviors in a Rat Model of Fear.

BackgroundPsilocybin and MDMA produce rapid, enduring therapeutic effects in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, the underlying cellular mechanisms remain incompletely understood. In this study, we investigated whether adult myelin plasticity contributes to the therapeutic actions of psilocybin and MDMA in a rat model of contextual fear conditioni...

Spatiotemporal mapping of brain organisation following the administration of 2C-B and psilocybin.

As psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy gains momentum, clinical investigation of next-generation psychedelics may lead to novel compounds tailored for specific populations. 2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromophenethylamine (2C-B) is a psychedelic phenethylamine reported to produce less dysphoria and subjective impairment than the psychedelic tryptamine psilocybin. Despite ...

Can LLMs Get High? A Dual-Metric Framework for Evaluating Psychedelic Simulation and Safety in Large Language Models

Abstract Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly consulted by individuals for support during psychedelic experiences ("trip sitting"), yet no framework exists to evaluate whether these models can accurately simulate or safely respond to altered states of consciousness. We aimed to determine if LLMs can be induced to generate narratives resembling human...

Real-world effectiveness and safety of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: Outcomes from a large-scale compassionate use cohort in Switzerland.

BackgroundClassic serotonergic psychedelics such as LSD and psilocybin show promising antidepressant effects in controlled trials, but real-world data from routine clinical care remain limited.MethodsThis study retrospectively analysed routine data from adults with treatment-resistant depressive and/or anxiety disorders who received a first standardized Psyc...

Participant Experiences of Therapeutic Touch in Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy.

IntroductionAlthough commonly used in psychedelic-assisted therapy, the role of therapeutic touch remains loosely defined and ethically sensitive. Gaining insight into how participants experience and interpret touch during psychedelic sessions is essential for informing safe and effective clinical practice.MethodsParticipants were sampled from a large random...

Psychedelic- and Substance-Assisted Therapies in Global Mental Health: Bridging Cultures, Evidence, and Access.

Psychedelic- and substance-assisted therapies, including MDMA, psilocybin, and ketamine, are gaining attention for conditions such as PTSD and depression, yet their development and implementation remain largely concentrated in high-income settings. This graphical abstract summarizes the central argument of the commentary: while these interventions may hold r...

[Pharmacological post-acute treatment of alcohol use disorder: Established strategies and innovative approaches].

IntroductionAlcohol use disorders are common and contribute significantly to the global burden of disease. The treatment of alcohol dependence includes the acute withdrawal phase and the post-acute rehabilitation phase. The primary goal of post-acute treatment is long-term abstinence, although reduction of alcohol consumption is also recognized as an interme...

Bioactive compounds from Psilocybe cubensis mycelial cultures with transient anxiolytic effects in mice.

The growing percentage of people suffering from drug-resistant depression increases interest in alternative therapies, particularly the usage of psychedelics such as psilocybin. The main source of psilocybin is the Psilocybe cubensis species. Due to the potential therapeutic benefits of psilocybin and the legal restrictions on its possession and use in the f...

Single-dose psilocybin promotes cell-type-specific changes of neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex.

Recent clinical breakthroughs hold great promise for the application of psilocybin in the treatments of psychological disorders, such as depression, addiction, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psilocybin is a psychedelic whose metabolite, psilocin, is a 5-HT2A receptor agonist. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanisms for the effects of psilocybin on the br...

Regarding "The molecular mechanisms through which psilocybin prevents suicide: evidence from network pharmacology and molecular docking analyses".

The Use of Psilocybin in the Treatment of Depressive Disorders: A Narrative Review.

Psilocybin is a psychoactive chemical compound that exerts its effects through the activation of serotonergic receptors. It occurs naturally in mushrooms of the genus Psilocybe. Despite its potential medical applications, this substance is regarded as a drug with no recognized medical use. Depression constitutes a psychiatric disorder of substantial global b...

Indigenous Knowledge Systems & Psychedelic Science: Towards Ethical and Reciprocal Collaboration.

Indigenous Peoples have cultivated and protected natural psychoactive medicines through ceremony, kinship, and spiritual responsibility across generations, yet their long-standing contributions have often been marginalized through extractive research, commercialization, and policy exclusion. It is Indigenous communities that have stewarded and gained experti...

PSilocybin for psYCHological and existential distress in PALliative care (PSYCHED-PAL): A single arm unblinded clinical trial.

BackgroundPsychological 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.AimTo determine whether microdose psilocybin is safe, feasible and potentially efficacious in a palliative setting.DesignOpe...