Psychedelic treatment with psilocybin is receiving increased attention following clinical trials showing it may help treat end-of-life anxiety, depression, and several other conditions. Despite this, physicians may be reluctant to prescribe psilocybin and carry out psilocybin treatment because of the stigma surrounding psychedelics and the potential for medi...
Background: The phenomenon of treatment-resistant depression (TRD) remains a problem in the sphere of mental health treatment since the majority of patients do not experience positive effects while receiving traditional treatments. Newer therapies are ketamine infusion therapy for depression, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and psilocybin-assisted psychot...
Introduction: Psychedelic compounds such as LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, and DMT can dramatically alter visual perception. However, the extent to which visual effects of psychedelics consistently vary for different substances is an open question. The visual effects of a given psychedelic compound can range widely both across and within individuals, so dataset...
Background: Psychedelics such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine are increasingly recognized for their potential therapeutic benefits in treating complex and chronic mental health conditions. Growing public interest in psychedelics may drive increased consumption outside of medically supervised clinical trials. C...
Objective: The aesthetic qualities of psychedelic experiences have long been documented, but their specific contribution to therapeutic outcomes remains unexplored. This study investigates the role of psychedelic-induced aesthetic experiences in predicting positive psychological outcomes. Methods: Using a cross-sectional naturalistic survey, participants who...
Background: Psilocybin therapy (PT) produces rapid and persistent antidepressant effects in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the long-term effects of PT have never been compared with gold-standard treatments for MDD such as pharmacotherapy or psychotherapy alone or in combination. Methods: This is a 6-month follow-up study of a phase 2, double-blind...
The purpose of this study is to determine the safety and feasibility of performing psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in patients hospitalized for treatment-resistant depression. The proposed study will assess the safety, feasibility, preliminary results and neurological aspects of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of hospitalized patients wi...
BackgroundThe applications of psilocybin, derived from 'magic mushrooms,' are vast, including a burgeoning practice known as microdosing, which refers to the administration of sub-hallucinogenic doses of psychedelic substances to obtain benefits without experiencing significant cognitive and perceptual distortion. However, current research is fairly new with...
There is increasing interest in the use of psychedelics for therapeutic and recreational use. Research has been hindered by federal prohibition, put in place in 1970. Despite the regulatory difficulty, research has rapidly expanded in the past decade. Multiple states and cities have drafted their own policies regarding the use of psychedelics. Assuming inter...
Introduction: In Colorado, both cannabis and psilocybin are legal and becoming more commonly used. However, there is almost no research detailing the public health concerns regarding negative outcomes (e.g., dependence) of cannabis and psilocybin co-use and motives that may perpetuate these negative outcomes (e.g., coping, boredom). Methods: Using data from ...
Several phase II studies have demonstrated that psilocybin-assisted therapy shows therapeutic potential across a spectrum of neuropsychiatric conditions, including major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the mechanisms underlying its often persisting beneficial effects remain unclear. Observational research suggests that improvements in psychological flexi...
INTRODUCTION: The global use of certain classical psychedelics has increased in recent years, but little is known about their spectrum of toxicity within Australia. We aim to describe calls to New South Wales Poisons Information Centre relating to exposures to classical psychedelics including lysergic acid diethylamide, psilocybin, N,N-dimethyltryptamine, ay...
Previous research has proposed that there may be potential synergies between psychedelic and meditation interventions, but there are still knowledge gaps that merit further investigation. Using a longitudinal observational research design with samples representative of the US and UK adult population with regard to sex, age, and ethnicity ( = 9732), we invest...
Introduction: Psilocybin, a tryptamine psychedelic, has been touted in the media both historically and recently as a potential game-changing mental health therapeutic. ClinicalTrials.gov has over one hundred and thirty psilocybin clinical trials listed covering the last twenty years. The single most important aspect of any therapeutic is to gain approval for...
Introduction: Recent research suggests that psychedelics may have potential for the treatment of various substance use disorders. However, most studies to date have been limited by small sample sizes and neglecting to include non-North American and European populations. Methods: We conducted a global, cross-sectional online survey of adults (n = 5,268, 47.2%...
Background: Internationally, there is a growing interest in the potential benefits of psilocybin-assisted therapy to treat existential distress at the end of life. However, the social acceptability of this therapy is not yet well known. Aim: This study assesses the social acceptability of the medical use of psilocybin to treat existential distress at the end...
To investigate the relationship between psychedelic microdosing and its effects on mental health, aiming to understand if microdosing can improve mental well-being. PubMed and Scopus were searched on December 25, 2022, using search terms related to psychedelics, microdosing, and mental health. The inclusion criteria focused on studies published between Janua...
Whereas findings from case reports and cross-sectional studies suggest that naturalistic psychedelic use may be associated with unusual visual experiences that occur after the acute pharmacological effects have subsided, such findings need to be replicated in longitudinal studies to better understand potential cause-and-effect relationships. To investigate l...
IntroductionDepression is a common disabling psychiatric disorder, which - in extreme cases - may lead to suicide if untreated or inadequately treated. Despite the availability of various treatments for depression, including pharmacotherapy, there is still a need to search for new agents with higher effectiveness and faster onset of action, especially for pa...
BACKGROUND: Chronic pain is a major cause of suffering and disability and is often associated with psychiatric complications. Current treatments carry the risk of severe side effects and may lead to limited or no relief at all in a relevant portion of this patient population. Preliminary evidence suggests that classical psychedelics (e.g. LSD and psilocybin)...