BackgroundDepression and anxiety are prevalent psychiatric disorders that carry significant morbidity. Pharmacological and psychosocial interventions are used to manage these conditions, but their efficacy is limited. Recent interest into the use of psychedelic-assisted therapy using ayahuasca, psilocybin or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) may be a promisin...
Background: Evidence suggests that classical psychedelics can promote enduring changes in personality, attitudes and optimism, as well as improvements in mental health outcomes. Aim: To investigate the effects of a composite intervention, involving psilocybin, on pessimism biases in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Methods: Patients with T...
In recent years, the scientific study of meditation and psychedelic drugs has seen remarkable developments. The increased focus on meditation in cognitive neuroscience has led to a cross-cultural classification of standard meditation styles validated by functional and structural neuroanatomical data. Meanwhile, the renaissance of psychedelic research has she...
RationalePrevious research suggests that classical psychedelic compounds can induce lasting changes in personality traits, attitudes and beliefs in both healthy subjects and patient populations.AimHere we sought to investigate the effects of psilocybin on nature relatedness and libertarian-authoritarian political perspective in patients with treatment-resist...
The classical psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide and mescaline, were used extensively in psychiatry before they were placed in Schedule I of the UN Convention on Drugs in 1967. Experimentation and clinical trials undertaken prior to legal sanction suggest that they are not helpful for those with established psychotic disorder...
Given the plethora of new studies and published papers in the scientific press and the increasingly emerging presence of articles about positive psychedelic experiences appearing in the popular media, there is little doubt that we are in the midst of a Psychedelic Renaissance. The classical psychedelic drugs LSD and psilocybin and the entactogen MDMA are sho...
BackgroundA resurgence of neurobiological and clinical research is currently underway into the therapeutic potential of serotonergic or 'classical' psychedelics, such as the prototypical psychedelic drug lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N,Ndimethyltryptamine), and ayahuasca - a betacarboline- and dimethyltryptamine (DMT)-containi...
Serotonergic hallucinogens produce alterations of perceptions, mood, and cognition, and have anxiolytic, antidepressant, and antiaddictive properties. These drugs act as agonists of frontocortical 5-HT2A receptors, but the neural basis of their effects are not well understood. Thus, we conducted a systematic review of neuroimaging studies analyzing the effec...
BackgroundSalvinorin-A is a terpene found in the leaves of the plant Salvia divinorum. When administered to humans, salvinorin-A induces an intense but short-lasting modified state of awareness, sharing features with those induced by the classical serotonin-2A receptor agonist psychedelics. However, unlike substances such as psilocybin or mescaline, salvinor...
Use of hallucinogenic substances as a public health concern has increased over the past decade. Among adolescents, there are increasing emergency department presentations for intoxication with these drugs, contrary to decreasing reported use of classical hallucinogens such as LSD. Academic and governmental groups have monitored use of hallucinogens, highligh...
In the area of psychotropic drugs, tryptamines are known to be a broad class of classical or serotonergic hallucinogens. These drugs are capable of producing profound changes in sensory perception, mood and thought in humans and act primarily as agonists of the 5-HT2A receptor. Well-known tryptamines such as psilocybin contained in Aztec sacred mushrooms and...
Hallucinogens have been part of spiritual practice for millennia, but controversy surrounding their mind-manifesting effects led to their proscription by the mid-20th century, largely without evidence of harm or toxicity and despite nascent data suggesting therapeutic utility in treating depressive illnesses. This review explores their pharmacodynamic action...
BackgroundThe classical serotonergic psychedelics LSD, psilocybin, mescaline are not known to cause brain damage and are regarded as non-addictive. Clinical studies do not suggest that psychedelics cause long-term mental health problems. Psychedelics have been used in the Americas for thousands of years. Over 30 million people currently living in the US have...
Activation of 5-HT(2A) receptors is thought to mediate the hallucinogenic effects of LSD. Nevertheless, in a previous report we provided evidence that a delayed temporal phase of the behavioral pharmacology of LSD is mediated by D(2)-like dopamine receptor stimulation. In this study rats were trained to discriminate LSD with either a 30 min preinjection time...
PrincipleThe various mushroom poisoning syndromes are summarised together with elements underlining uncertainty and lack of knowledge. For each of the classical syndromes concerned, classified in delays inferior or superior to 6 hours, the toxins and their mechanisms of action, the main mushrooms responsible, the symptoms and their treatment are all presente...
The classical taxonomic methodologies for determining taxa of mushrooms are based primarily on morphological traits. If the mushroom specimens are dried or pulverized, the morphological characteristics are frequently disguised or no longer apparent. Included among these fungi are known to produce psilocybin, which are hard to identify by their macroscopic fe...
The aim of this survey is to present an overview of research into psychopharmacology as regards the effects of different psychoactive drugs and neuroleptics (NL) on language in normal subjects and schizophrenic patients. Eighteen studies that have investigated the effects of different drugs (alcohol, amphetamines, secobarbital, L-dopa, psilocybin, ketamine, ...
The classical conditioning potential of several drugs was tested in rats by pairing a light CS with the drug UCSs; these stimuli were superimposed in a variable-interval 30 sec schedule for water reinforcement. Conditioning (suppression of bar-pressing in the presence of the CS) was definitely demonstrated with psilocybin (2.0 mg/kg), was suggested but not c...
