Serotonergic psychedelics are re-emerging as therapeutic candidates across psychiatry, particularly for treatment-resistant depression. Their rapid and sustained antidepressant effects, alongside evidence for neuroplastic, dopaminergic, and glutamatergic modulation, have prompted interest in whether they could address depressive and negative symptoms in schi...
Abstract Depression and anxiety affect one in five adults, with age affecting prevalence. While clinical trials suggest classic psychedelics (e.g., psilocybin, LSD) and non-classic psychedelics (e.g., MDMA, ketamine) may alleviate these symptoms, it remains unclear how these relationships function in naturalistic settings or how they vary across the lifespan...
Abstract Background: This case describes a substance-induced manic episode with psychotic features in which interaction with an AI (artificial intelligence) chatbot appeared to corroborate and reinforce the patient’s delusional thought content and to contradict medical advice. Excerpts from the patient’s interactions with the AI chatbot provide novel clinica...
Support for the legal use of psilocybin mushrooms (23%) is much lower than it is for cannabis (65%), according to a new RAND research report, released Feb. 24. For LSD and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted therapy, support for legal use is closer to 10%.
A novel class of hybrid molecules is described in which nicotinic acid (vitamin B3) is covalently conjugated to substituted tryptamine scaffolds via an amide bond. Twelve compounds are presented in total; eleven represent new chemical entities. The series encompasses 4-hydroxy-, 5-methoxy-, 4-acetoxy-, 4-phosphoryloxy-, and N-alkyl-substituted variants, incl...
Intestinal inflammation is a complex gastrointestinal condition, arising from immune dysfunction, epithelial cell abnormalities, and gut microbiota imbalances. Intestinal inflammation contributes to many pathological conditions, including irritable bowel disease and depression. This study seeks to find the potential anti-inflammatory properties of psilocybin...
This paper follows 8 scientists who ventured into the world of psychedelics on a quest to find transformational pathways forward. Each have worked on aspects of global environmental change for decades, and observing environmental crises converging into a global polycrisis/metacrisis with genuine potential for collapse, we have all carried psychological burde...
Abstract Repeated mild traumatic brain injury (RmTBI) can produce lasting cognitive, emotional, and social deficits (e.g., persistent post-concussion symptoms; PPCS). Despite the prevalence of RmTBI in sports, military, and domestic violence settings, effective treatments to alleviate the neurological consequences of RmTBI remain limited. Psilocybin, a serot...
Abstract IMPORTANCE Microdosing psilocybin may be a novel treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD). OBJECTIVE Assessing the antidepressant effects and safety of repeated low doses of psilocybin in participants diagnosed with MDD. DESIGN This was a Phase II, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. SETTING The trial was conducted from...
People with cancer often experience anxiety and depression following a diagnosis and can face barriers to accessing treatment for their mental health. An increasing number of patients are considering alternative approaches to managing their mental health symptoms, such as the psychedelic, psilocybin. A growing number of clinical trials show significant and e...
Abstract Rapid-acting antidepressants like ketamine and serotonergic psychedelics show promise for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), but the molecular mechanisms that contribute to their therapeutic effects remain unclear. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offer a platform to model human cortical neurons and investigate drug effects in a human-relev...
Psychedelic compounds, particularly psilocybin, have demonstrated remarkable therapeutic potential for mental health disorders through mechanisms involving structural neural plasticity. This comprehensive review examines recent breakthrough research revealing how psilocybin triggers activity-dependent rewiring of large-scale cortical networks. Using monosyna...
Recent advances in neuroscience have revealed unprecedented insights into how psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms, induces therapeutic neural plasticity. This paper reviews groundbreaking research conducted by Cornell University and the Allen Institute for Brain Science, which employed genetically modified rabies virus for monosynaptic c...
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...
Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) has re-emerged over the past decade as a promising therapeutic approach for a range of mental health conditions, including treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety associated with life-threatening illness, and substance use disorders. Substances such as psilocybin, MDMA, ketamine, and LS...
Psilocybin is a psychoactive tryptamine produced by a phylogenetically discontinuous yet ecologically diverse subset of fungi. Despite decades of chemical, pharmacological, and ethnobiological research, the evolutionary forces driving the emergence and persistence of this compound remain insufficiently explained. Recent hypotheses proposing that psilocybin e...
This review examines the therapeutic efficacy of psilocybin for major depressive disorder by integrating findings from clinical trials, meta-analyses, and mechanistic research. A comprehensive literature search across major scientific databases identified empirical studies evaluating psilocybin’s effects on depressive symptomatology, safety, and underlying n...
Background: As public and scientific interest in psychedelics grows, unsupervised use for health purposes is increasing. In the U.S., past-year hallucinogen use nearly doubled from 2015 to 2023. Many individuals report self-treating physical or psychological symptoms without medical supervision using psychedelics-a practice termed self-medication. Despite th...
