Current neuroscience research calls into question the binary model of anesthesia as a state of consciousness shifted by unconsciousness, replacing it with an idea of consciousness as a continuum created by interactions between large-scale cortex and subcortical regions.Meanwhile, psychedelic drugs are making a comeback as potential treatments for treatment-r...
Recent years have witnessed a rise in microdosing psilocybin. Individuals who engage in this practice report diverse motivations for use which suggests heterogeneity among microdosers. However, research to date has taken a monolithic approach to the examination of microdosers which may overlook potentially important differences. To address this limitation, w...
Tobacco use remains a leading cause of preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide, and current smoking cessation treatments are limited by low long-term efficacy. An interplay between positive and negative reinforcement drives high relapse rates. Psychedelic compounds, particularly psilocybin, have shown promising clinical outcomes for smoking cessation, ...
OBJECTIVE: Anxiety is common in patients receiving end-of-life care and significantly impacts their quality of life. However, pharmacological management remains challenging due to complex clinical presentations and potential side effects, emphasizing the need for systematically reviewing existing treatments. Here we aim to systematically evaluate the efficac...
Psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) have remerged as agents of psychiatric and cultural relevance. However, public discourse has outpaced empirical understanding of their effects. Although hallucinogens have demonstrated a potential to treat certain mental disorders, their effect on aggression and violen...
The purpose of this research study is to investigate whether a single administration of psilocybin can improve interoceptive awareness (awareness of bodily sensations) in individuals with chronic low back pain undergoing physical therapy, and whether these improvements are linked to pain relief and better physical therapy outcomes. Preclinical and human stud...
In a recent Psychoactives article, Bor Luen Tang argues against psychedelic moral bioenhancement (PMBE)-the use of classic psychedelics such as psilocybin to foster moral growth in healthy individuals [...]
Australia's reclassification of psilocybin as a Schedule 8 substance for treatment-resistant depression represents a significant shift in psychiatric policy. While this regulatory change positions Australia as a global leader in psychedelic medicine, its implementation has revealed substantial challenges. This article critically examines the regulatory, ethi...
Metastability of BOLD fMRI signals is a commonly used proxy of brain dynamics in behavioral and clinical studies. To date, little has been done to assess the confidence with which we can use estimates of metastability as reliable biomarkers of individual brain state. We analyze whole-brain and network-specific metastability for a highly sampled individual br...
IntroductionExtant literature suggests that anhedonia, defined as a loss of the ability to feel pleasure or interest, is subserved by dysregulation of reward processing in the central nervous system. Dextromethorphan (DXM), an uncompetitive N-Methyl-d-Aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist and sigma-1 (σ1) receptor agonist, is a glutamatergic modulator with an...
Introduction Mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), remain a significant global health concern, requiring novel therapeutic approaches. Psilocybin, a psychedelic compound found in certain mushrooms, has shown potential in modulating neuroplasticity, a critical process for cognitive flexibility and m...
Abstract This study explores the first-time use of psychedelic macrodoses among Latin American adults, addressing a gap in the literature regarding naturalistic use outside clinical settings. A total of 4,810 participants from six Latin American countries completed an online survey assessing sociodemographic characteristics, substances used, consumption cont...
BACKGROUND: Chronic pain affects nearly one in five adults worldwide and remains a major healthcare burden due to its persistence, multidimensional impact, and resistance to conventional therapies. The opioid crisis has further highlighted the urgent need for safer and more effective alternatives. Psilocybin, a serotonergic psychedelic compound, has re-emerg...
There are profound methodological challenges facing microdosing research. One way we can address some of these methodological issues is by understanding how psilocybin microdosing fits in the broader existential context of people’s lives. We recruited participants who underwent psilocybin microdosing on their own and consented to being monitored for harm mit...
Recent research into classical psychedelics, such as psilocybin, LSD, and DMT, has highlighted their therapeutic potential for mental health disorders. However, emerging evidence suggests their utility may extend beyond treatment into the realm of preventive medicine. This manuscript proposes a novel framework positioning psychedelics as agents of cellular a...
Today’s research highlights the therapeutic potential of the hallucinogen psilocybin in the treatment of pathologies associated with mood, cognitive, and affective dysregulation. These domains of function are regulated by the serotonergic system, which can be influenced by sex hormones, like estrogen and testosterone, and psychedelic compounds including psil...
Abstract High-grade gliomas are the most aggressive form of brain tumors, and neuronal activity has emerged as a driver of glioma pathophysiology. Activity-dependent glioma growth results from paracrine factor signaling and bona fide neuron-to-glioma synapses that integrate glioma cells into brain-wide neuronal circuits. Here, we report how glioma cells inte...
Psilocybin is a serotonergic psychedelic with growing evidence for efficacy in mood disorders, and its therapeutic potential in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and related conditions is increasingly recognised but remains understudied. We systematically evaluated clinical and preclinical evidence on psilocybin's effects on obsessive and compulsive behavi...
