A “UK first” trial will investigate whether psilocybin - the active ingredient in ‘magic mushrooms’ - can help prevent relapse in people recovering from opioid addiction. The psilocybin study, led by researchers at Imperial College London, will involve 28 participants who have recently undergone detoxification from ‘street’ opioids. Participants will receive...
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) share overlapping neurobiological mechanisms particularly reward deficiency and stress-like anti-reward processes. And so, BPD may be reclassified as a "traumatic personality stress disorder" (TPSD) with ensuing common therapeutic strategies that may stabilize dopaminergic reward...
Psilocybin is being studied for its therapeutic potential in various mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and addiction. Initial studies suggested that psilocybin is generally safe when used under controlled conditions, but more research is needed to better understand its safety profile. We report safety pharmacology data from a pooled analy...
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychoactive compound, which has been used for ages in traditional settings for religious and therapeutic use. Recent studies have renewed interest in psilocybin for its potential therapeutic benefits in treating depression and anxiety. The pharmacodynamics of psilocybin are complex, involving its rapid conversion to psilo...
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that may develop in people who have been exposed to a traumatic event, including actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. Exposure to a traumatic event is defined as directly experiencing the event, learning about the event, or repeated exposure to details of the event. PTSD is...
BACKGROUND: Psychedelic substances have demonstrated promise in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. Significant media coverage has been dedicated to psychedelic medicine, but it is unclear whether the public associates psilocybin with its potential therapeutic benefits. The COVID-19 pandemic led to an increase in depression, an...
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring hallucinogen found in different species of fungi. Psilocybin has gained extensive social popularity and political attention in the United States. Research has shown that psilocybin and psychological therapy may have promising therapeutic applications for safer and more effective treatment of mental illnesses such as major ...
Serotonergic psychedelics induce altered states of consciousness and have shown potential for treating a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression and addiction. Yet their modes of action are not fully understood. Here, we provide a novel, synergistic understanding of psychedelics arising from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of three h...
Chronic pain is a public health concern that affects approximately 1.5 billion people globally. Conventional therapeutic agents including opioid and non-opioid analgesics have been associated with adverse side effects, issues with addiction, and ineffective analgesia. Novel agents repurposed to treat pain via different mechanisms are needed to fill the thera...
Psychedelic therapy (PT) is an emerging paradigm with great transdiagnostic potential for treating psychiatric disorders, including depression, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, and potentially others. 'Classic' serotonergic psychedelics, such as psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), which have a key locus of action at the 5-HT2A receptor...
Psilocybin, a psychoactive alkaloid with hallucinogenic properties, exists in a variety of hallucinogenic mushrooms. As a study tool to imitate psychosis, psilocybin has aroused a lot of interest in the biological community due to its various possible therapeutic benefits. It is also a very popular and widely misused natural hallucinogens with distinct metab...
Introduction: The word “psychedelic” derives from the Greek language and can be loosely translated as “mind manifesting” which is to convey that these substances allow the mind to unleash its hidden potential. Psilocybin is considered to be a “classic psychedelic” and is most commonly found in the form of so-called “magic mushrooms”. Due to its unique proper...
This work is a literature review on the use of psilocybin in psychotherapeutic treatment of mental illnesses. The review answers the question of what opportunities and risks are associated with the use of the psychoactive substance psilocybin. Peer-reviewed studies between 2017 and 2022 were included. Nine studies were found regarding the following indicatio...
This work is a literature review on the use of psilocybin in psychotherapeutic treatment of mental illnesses. The review answers the question of what opportunities and risks are associated with the use of the psychoactive substance psilocybin. Peer-reviewed studies between 2017 and 2022 were included. Nine studies were found regarding the following indicatio...
BackgroundThe classical psychedelics, psilocybin, peyote, ayahuasca/N,N-dimethyltryptamine, and lysergic acid diethylamide are considered promising new treatments for psychiatric illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, addiction, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. However, their profound and characteristic subjective effects raise concern for distinctive bi...
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a surge in depression cases, a pervasive and debilitating mental illness1. This trend is evident in the increased prescriptions for antidepressants. Depression is a chronic condition that affects a significant proportion of the global population, with ~280 million people, or about 3.8%, suffering from it. As a result, it...
The purpose of this research study is to compare an oral dose of psilocybin and an intravenous (IV) infusion of psilocybin to assess differences in how the drug is absorbed by the body, the psychedelic experience, and any side effects when taken by healthy adult participants. Participants can expect to be in the study for approximately 12 weeks. Psilocybin, ...
Major depressive disorder presents a substantial global health burden, and at least 30-40% of patients exhibit treatment resistance to antidepressants. Ketamine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, is used as an anesthetic agent. In 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved esketamine (the S-enantiomer of ketamine) as a therapeutic agent for treatm...
Alcohol abuse is a leading risk factor for the public health burden worldwide. Approved pharmacotherapies have demonstrated limited effectiveness over the last few decades in treating alcohol use disorders (AUD). New therapeutic approaches are therefore urgently needed. Historical and recent clinical trials using psychedelics in conjunction with psychotherap...
