ObjectiveTo conduct a systematic review of modern-era (post-millennium) clinical studies assessing the therapeutic effects of serotonergic psychedelics drugs for mental health conditions. Although the main focus was on efficacy and safety, study characteristics, duration of antidepressants effects across studies, and the role of the subjective drug experienc...
In this interview, we discuss the use of psychedelic drugs as a promising treatment in disorders of consciousness. Psilocybin, a classic psychedelic, is currently undergoing substantial clinical investigations in healthy volunteers, but also in clinical populations. Recently, experts in the field of psychedelics have addressed the attractive possibility to u...
Anderson et al.’s [[1]Anderson B.T. Danforth A. Daroff R. Stauffer C. Ekman E. Agin-Liebes G. et al.Psilocybin-facilitated group therapy for demoralized older long-term AIDS survivor men: an open-label safety and feasibility pilot study.Eclinical Med. 2020; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100538Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (74) Google Scholar...
Robin Carhart-Harris moved to Imperial College London in 2008 after obtaining a PhD in Psychopharmacology from the University of Bristol and an MA in Psychoanalysis from Brunel University. At Imperial, he has designed and/or carried out brain imaging studies involving LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and DMT, plus a clinical trial of psilocybin for treatment-resistant ...
Research into the basic effects and therapeutic applications of psychedelic drugs has grown considerably in recent years. Yet, pressing questions remain regarding the substances' lasting effects. Although individual studies have begun monitoring sustained changes, no study to-date has synthesized this information. Therefore, this systematic review aims to fi...
Psilocybin shows efficacy to alleviate depression in human clinical trials for six or more months after only one or two treatments. Another hallucinogenic drug, esketamine, has recently been U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved as a rapid-acting antidepressant. The mechanistic basis for the antidepressant effects of psilocybin and ketamine appear...
Psilocybin is the psychoactive compound of mushrooms in the psilocybe species. Psilocybin directly affects a number of serotonin receptors, with highest affinity for the serotonin 2A receptor (5HT-2Ar). Generally, the effects of psilocybin, and its active metabolite psilocin, are well established and include a range of cognitive, emotional, and perceptual pe...
Introduction: The majority of contemporary psychedelic research has focused on ayahuasca, LSD, and psilocybin, though there are hundreds of novel psychedelic compounds that may have clinical utility. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the therapeutic potential of classic and novel phenethylamine, tryptamine, and lysergamide psychedelics via a l...
Psilocybin is a classic psychedelic compound that may have efficacy for the treatment of mood and substance use disorders. Acute psilocybin effects include reduced negative mood, increased positive mood, and reduced amygdala response to negative affective stimuli. However, no study has investigated the long-term, enduring impact of psilocybin on negative aff...
BACKGROUND: Psilocybin has shown promise as a treatment for depression but its therapeutic mechanisms are not properly understood. In contrast to the presumed actions of antidepressants, we recently found increased amygdala responsiveness to fearful faces one day after open-label treatment with psilocybin (25 mg) in 19 patients with treatment-resistant depre...
BACKGROUND: Existential distress in patients with a terminal illness is often associated with (symptoms of) anxiety and depression. Psychotherapeutic interventions seem effective but effects are short-lived. There are no proven effective pharmacological interventions. AIM: To present an overview of literature on psychedelic treatment of existential distress ...
Is it possible to gain knowledge 1 by taking psychedelic 2 drugs?One influential answer is 'yes': according to this conception, by inducing mystical states of consciousness, psychedelics afford direct knowledge of supernatural, transcendent dimensions of reality.This is an entheogenic conception of the drugs as agents that "generate the divine within".A seco...
In a recent issue of the BMC Psychiatry, the evidence of effectiveness of treatments for psychiatric conditions in end-stage cancer patients was reviewed (Johnson, 2018). The review was comprehensive, and included traditional and non-traditional/alternative treatments, including herbal medicines and spirituality. However, evidence showing that classic or ser...
Microdosing classic psychedelics (e.g., LSD [lysergic acid diethylamide] and psilocybin) is the practice of taking small amounts of these substances to bring about various positive life changes. Little is known about the subjective experiences and perceptions of those who engage in the practice. Accordingly, we use the sociology of accounts as a theoretical ...
BackgroundMeta-analysis of randomized studies using lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) for alcohol use disorder (AUD) showed large, significant effects for LSD efficacy compared to control conditions. Clinical studies suggest potential anti-addiction effects of LSD and mechanistically-related classic psychedelics for alcohol and other substance use disorders.A...
Naturally occurring and psychedelic drug-occasioned experiences interpreted as personal encounters with God are well described but have not been systematically compared. In this study, five groups of individuals participated in an online survey with detailed questions characterizing the subjective phenomena, interpretation, and persisting changes attributed ...
Contemporary research with classic psychedelic drugs (e.g., lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin) is indebted to the twentieth-century researchers and clinicians who generated valuable clinical knowledge of these substances through experimentation. Several recent reviews that highlight the contributions of this early literature have focused on psy...
Classic psychedelic substances, such as lysergic acid diethylamide and the active compound in magic mushrooms, psilocybin, are being studied again in a renaissance of psychedelic research. Psychedelic substances have profound effects on perception, emotion, and cognition, as well as the capacity to induce mystical-type experiences and ego-dissolution. Recent...
