In the past decade, interest in studying psychedelic compounds as potential therapeutic agents has resurged. These studies carefully exclude individuals at risk for developing psychotic symptoms in response to psychedelic use. Given the potential for psychedelics to be established as treatments in psychiatry, it is important to more robustly understand their...
Major depressive disorder (MDD) and treatment-resistant depression (TRD) are prevalent and debilitating conditions. Over 50% of patients have inadequate response to first-line serotonergic antidepressants and are left with suboptimal treatment options. Rapid-acting and individually tailored treatments for MDD remain major unmet needs. This review discusses p...
Clinical trials investigating psychedelic compounds for depression and anxiety-related disorders are yielding promising preliminary results. Psychedelics produce profound alterations in brain function-such as suppression of the default mode network and thalamocortical dysregulation-leading to intense subjective experiences including ego dissolution and mysti...
A prominent theory of psychedelics is that they increase brain entropy. Thirteen studies have evaluated psychedelic effects on fMRI brain entropy, each applying a distinct measure. Here we evaluated these metrics in an independent 28-participant healthy cohort with 121 pre- and post-psilocybin fMRI scans. We assessed relations between brain entropy and objec...
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous neurodevelopmental condition characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and interaction, restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, and sensory processing alterations, frequently accompanied by anxiety, emotional dysregulation, and other psychiatric comorbidities. Despite advances in be...
This study is being conducted to evaluate how of 30 days of intermittently microdosed psilocybin affects mood, cognition, subjective well-being and structural/functional MRI results compared to a placebo. Investigators hypothesize that compared to placebo, 30 days of intermittently microdosed psilocybin will produce observable changes in mood, cognition, sub...
The PEARL-C1 trial is a phase II open-label trial. Participants will receive a single high-dose (25 mg) of psilocybin in the context of Psilocybin-assisted Existential, Attachment and RelationaL (PEARL) therapy. Caregivers of patients with advanced cancer often experience high levels of distress but there is currently little evidence-based guidance on how to...
BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder is one of the most debilitating psychiatric disorders worldwide. First-line treatments such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have significant limitations, including delayed onset of therapeutic effects and treatment resistance in about 30% of patients. Increasing evidence suggests that acute administration of s...
This phase II trial studies whether psilocybin with psychotherapy is safe and if it works for improving chronic pain in cancer patients who require opioids to manage their pain. Psilocybin is taken from the mushroom Psilocybe mexicana. Psilocybin acts on the brain to cause hallucinations (sights, sounds, smells, tastes, or touches that a person believes to b...
The proposed open-label, controlled study at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research (CPCR) will test the following primary hypotheses in adult patients with chronic PTSD who are currently taking a serotonin reuptake inhibitor: psilocybin therapy will be feasible and safe for participants, significantly remediate PTSD symptoms, an...
The PEARL Pilot is a phase II open-label trial. Participants will receive a single high-dose (25 mg) of psilocybin in the context of Psilocybin-assisted Existential, Attachment and RelationaL (PEARL) therapy. Individuals with advanced cancer often experience high levels of distress due to physical suffering, difficult treatment decisions, social isolation, a...
= 26.38, ~50% past-month cannabis use by design) completed an online survey. Multivariable regression assessed sociodemographics, mental health, and adverse childhood events (ACEs) in relation to: (1) past-year psychedelic use; and (2) among those reporting lifetime use: (a) lifetime microdosing and (b) use motives. Lifetime and past-year psychedelic use wer...
Microdosing and related low-dose psychoactive practices have become increasingly visible in discussions of mental health, cognition, creativity, emotional regulation, pain, sleep, spirituality, and psychological flexibility. However, the term microdosing is often used as if it referred to a single pharmacological phenomenon. More precisely, it describes a lo...
Psilocybin, a psychedelic drug with reported anxiolytic and antidepressant potential, is rapidly metabolized to its active metabolite psilocin. However, a lack of adequate toxicity studies and tissue distribution studies currently restricts its development and application. This study combined behavioral assays in zebrafish with desorption electrospray ioniza...
PurposeThis paper aims to examine evolving practices and discourses surrounding psilocybin mushrooms on an online drug forum. Situating use within hybrid digital and ecological contexts, it traces shifts in user engagement before and after the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic to contextualize localized realities of the contemporary psychedelic renaissance.Design/metho...
Informed by a community engagement process, we have developed a pragmatic, open-label, hybrid feasibility-implementation study of Group Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy (GPAT) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As psychedelic-assisted therapies begin to enter the broader mental health arena, engaging communities in the design of research and care models i...
Psychedelics have re-emerged as promising therapeutics for neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders. While their beneficial effects are largely attributed to serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptor activation, psychedelics exhibit substantial diversity in chemical structure, receptor bindin...
In recent decades, the psychedelic psilocybin has been studied as a potential treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), offering an alternative to traditional antidepressants. However, the brain changes underlying the clinical effects of different interventions remain unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of psilocybin and a conventional antidepres...
Introduction: Contemporary psychiatry is grappling with a profound stagnation in innovation. It is primarily relying on the chronic management of symptoms through traditional daily-dose pharmacotherapy. The emergence of psychedelics and ketamine marks a significant departure from this model. It is offering rapid-acting, interventional alternatives that targe...
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Dextromethorphan (DXM), widely used as an over-the-counter antitussive in the United States, exhibits psychoactive effects at supratherapeutic levels that overlap with those of classic and dissociative psychedelics. Reported psychoactive effects have generated interest in DXM as a potential therapeutic agent for treatment-resistant ...
