BackgroundInadequate outcomes with monoamine-based treatments in depressive disorders are common and provide the impetus for mechanistically-novel treatments. Esketamine is a proven treatment recently approved for adults with Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD) while psilocybin is an investigational treatment. Translation of the clinical meaningfulness for ...
Abstract Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most disabling psychiatric disorders in the world. First-line treatments such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) still have many limitations, including a resistance to treatment in 30% of patients and a delayed clinical benefit that is observed only after several weeks of treatment. Incre...
A “UK first” trial will investigate whether psilocybin - the active ingredient in ‘magic mushrooms’ - can help prevent relapse in people recovering from opioid addiction. The psilocybin study, led by researchers at Imperial College London, will involve 28 participants who have recently undergone detoxification from ‘street’ opioids. Participants will receive...
Psilocybin could be as effective as escitalopram - a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) - in treating depressive symptoms, a study has found. A systematic review and network meta-analysis, published in the BMJ on 21 August 2024, looked at 19 placebo-controlled studies of oral monotherapy with either psychedelics (psilocybin, lysergic acid diethyla...
Psilocybin is being studied for its therapeutic potential in various mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and addiction. Initial studies suggested that psilocybin is generally safe when used under controlled conditions, but more research is needed to better understand its safety profile. We report safety pharmacology data from a pooled analy...
Background: Psychedelics are receiving growing interest among clinical researchers for their effects on mood and cognition. Psilocybin is one of the most widely studied classic psychedelics which has shown good safety and clinical benefit for major depression and substance use disorders. Athletes frequently sustain concussions and often experience myriad sym...
Background In psychedelic therapy, the importance of set and setting is a fundamental but under-researched assumption. The aim of this study is to correlate variables of set (psychedelic use motivation) and setting (psychedelic use location and type of companion) with psychopathology, wellbeing and personality variables.Research design and methods A sample o...
BACKGROUND: Research with the Psychedelic Experience Questionnaire/Scale (PES) focuses on questions relating to mystical experience (Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ)). The psychometric potential of the non-MEQ items of the PES remains largely unexplored. AIMS: We investigated whether the PES also yields subscales besides the MEQ30 subscales. METHODS: ...
A single 25-mg dose of psilocybin administered with psychological support led to significant and sustained improvement in depressive symptoms compared with placebo in a Phase 2 study of patients with major depressive disorder. A higher number of adverse events occurred in the psilocybin group, but no serious treatment-emergent adverse events were reported. S...
Background The global drug control landscape is undergoing remarkable change. Many jurisdictions around the world, including jurisdictions in the United States, have decriminalized the possession and use of plant- and fungus-based psychedelics, such as psilocybin-containing mushrooms (PCM). With ORS475 A, Oregon has gone a step further by becoming the first ...
Long-term adverse experiences following psychedelic use can persist for weeks, months, or even years, and are relatively unexplored in psychedelic research. Our convergent mixed-method study gained quantitative and qualitative data from 608 participants who reported extended difficulties following psychedelic experiences. Data was gathered on the context of ...
BACKGROUND: In clinical studies, psychedelics including psilocybin and D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) demonstrate rapid and persistent antidepressant effects. Since the effective treatment with psychedelics is usually provided with psychotherapy, it is debatable whether their prolonged efficacy can be observed in infrahuman species. Preclinical reports o...
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring hallucinogen found in different species of fungi. Psilocybin has gained extensive social popularity and political attention in the United States. Research has shown that psilocybin and psychological therapy may have promising therapeutic applications for safer and more effective treatment of mental illnesses such as major ...
Clinical trials of psychedelics have provided support for their potential efficacy and safety. Although most combined a psychedelic with psychological support akin to psychotherapy, providing psychotherapy is costlier and more difficult to scale than providing only support to reduce harms. Trials with factorial designs can evaluate the individual effects of ...
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is increasingly used to non-invasively study the acute impact of psychedelics on the human brain. While fMRI is a promising tool for measuring brain function in response to psychedelics, it also has known methodological challenges. We conducted a systematic review of fMRI studies examining acute responses to exper...
Ongoing antidepressant treatment is believed to alter the psychedelic effect of psilocybin, so most psilocybin trials have required withdrawal from antidepressants before enrollment. There has been recent evidence, however, that administration of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) does not significantly alter the acute subjective effects of psil...
