Psilocybin and other 5-hydroxytryptamine2A agonist classic psychedelics have been used for centuries as sacraments within indigenous cultures. In the mid-twentieth century they were a focus within psychiatry as both probes of brain function and experimental therapeutics. By the late 1960s and early 1970s these scientific inquires fell out of favor because cl...
Plant-based psychedelics, such as psilocybin, have an ancient history of medicinal use. After the first English language report on LSD in 1950, psychedelics enjoyed a short-lived relationship with psychology and psychiatry. Used most notably as aids to psychotherapy for the treatment of mood disorders and alcohol dependence, drugs such as LSD showed initial ...
In medicine we must always expect the unexpected. Medicine is replete with paradoxes, where poisons become cures. Snake venom is deadly but is being used to treat some cancers, (1) because it produces contortrostatin, a protein that paralyzes cancer cells and prevents them from migrating. Venoms from spiders are being investigated as a treatment to slow the ...
Research on psychedelics has generated renewed interest over the past decade. Recent pilot studies have shown safety and feasibility of psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic, as a therapeutic tool for treating mood and substance use disorders, including tobacco and alcohol addiction. Findings from laboratory research indicate that psychedelics, when ...
Psilocybin, a classic hallucinogen, is a chemical produced by more than 100 species of mushrooms worldwide. It has high affinity for several serotonin receptors, including 5-HT1A, 5-HT2A, and 5-HT2C, located in numerous areas of the brain, including the cerebral cortex and thalamus. With legislation introduced in 1992, more work is being done to further unde...
Unipolar mood disorders, including major depressive disorder and persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia), confer high rates of disability and mortality and a very high socioeconomic burden. Current treatment is suboptimal in most cases and there is little of note in the pharmaceutical development pipeline. The psychedelic drugs, including lysergic acid di...
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring alkaloid, pharmacologically similar to the classic hallucinogen lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). Although primarily used as a recreational drug or an entheogen in particular cultural settings, recent population based studies have shown that it does not lead to serious physical or mental health problems or dependent use. I...
IntroductionEvidence based treatment for Substance use disorders (SUD) includes psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. However, these are only partially effective. Hallucinogens, such as psilocybin, may represent potential new treatment options for SUD. This review provides a summary of (human) studies on the putative therapeutic effects of psilocybin, and discu...
Antidepressant, atypical antipsychotic, and hallucinogen drugs mediate their actions in part by interactions with the serotonin-2A (5HT2A) receptor. Serotonergic hallucinogen drugs, such as psilocybin, bind most potently as agonists at the 5HT2A receptor, producing profound changes in perception, mood, and cognition. Some of these drugs have been or are curr...
Psychedelics (serotonergic hallucinogens) are powerful psychoactive substances that alter perception and mood and affect numerous cognitive processes. They are generally considered physiologically safe and do not lead to dependence or addiction. Their origin predates written history, and they were employed by early cultures in many sociocultural and ritual c...
To date, pharmacological treatments for mood and anxiety disorders and for drug dependence show limited efficacy, leaving a large number of patients suffering severe and persistent symptoms. Preliminary studies in animals and humans suggest that ayahuasca, psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) may have antidepressive, anxiolytic, and antiaddictive ...
The mixed serotonin (5-HT) 1A/2A/2B/2C/6/7 receptor agonist psilocybin dose-dependently induces an altered state of consciousness (ASC) that is characterized by changes in sensory perception, mood, thought, and the sense of self. The psychological effects of psilocybin are primarily mediated by 5-HT2A receptor activation. However, accumulating evidence sugge...
Stimulation of serotonergic neurotransmission by psilocybin has been shown to shift emotional biases away from negative towards positive stimuli. We have recently shown that reduced amygdala activity during threat processing might underlie psilocybin's effect on emotional processing. However, it is still not known whether psilocybin modulates bottom-up or to...
Recent clinical trials suggest that 3 single biological treatments have effects that persist. Based on research showing that the muscles involved in facial expressions can feed back to influence mood, a single trial diminishing glabella frown lines with botulinum toxin demonstrated a significant antidepressant effect for 16 weeks. Based primarily on research...
BackgroundSerotonin (5-HT) 1A and 2A receptors have been associated with dysfunctional emotional processing biases in mood disorders. These receptors further predominantly mediate the subjective and behavioral effects of psilocybin and might be important for its recently suggested antidepressive effects. However, the effect of psilocybin on emotional process...
Psilocybin and related hallucinogenic compounds are increasingly used in human research. However, due to limited information about potential subjective side effects, the controlled medical use of these compounds has remained controversial. We therefore analysed acute, short- and long-term subjective effects of psilocybin in healthy humans by pooling raw data...
After a pause of nearly 40 years in research into the effects of psychedelic drugs, recent advances in our understanding of the neurobiology of psychedelics, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin and ketamine have led to renewed interest in the clinical potential of psychedelics in the treatment of various psychiatric disorders. Recent behavio...
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The goal of this paper is to draw conclusions about the usefulness of the standard EEG in psychiatry. In general, two thirds of psychiatric referrals for an EEG are expected to provide useful information. The emphasis in schizophrenia is placed on left-sided abnormalities, especially on the left temporal area. In mood disorders the emphasis is on right-sided...
