Background: Psilocybin is a psychedelic drug with potential therapeutic effects in patients with mood and substance use disorders. Little is known about its impact on the immune system. Methods: Multiplex immunoassay pro-inflammatory cytokine panels (Meso-Scale Discovery, Rockville, MD) were used to examine the serum from participants in three separate rando...
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...
BACKGROUND: To investigate the association between pre-trial expectancy, suggestibility, and response to treatment in a trial of escitalopram and investigational drug, COMP360, psilocybin, in the treatment of major depressive disorder (ClinicalTrials.gov registration: NCT03429075). METHODS: = 55) from our recent double-blind, parallel-group, randomized head-...
Introduction to the Special Section on Psychedelics Research and Treatment Dominic Sisti Against a backdrop of post-pandemic malaise, diseases of despair, and a fragmented mental health care system, psychedelics have enjoyed a resurgence of interest as powerful psychotherapeutic agents and as catalysts of personal growth. The true power of these substances-s...
Background: Psilocybin has demonstrated promising clinical outcomes for nicotine and alcohol use disorders, yet its potential clinical utility in the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) remains unreported in modern literature. This technical report presents methodological considerations and preliminary data from a safety-feasibility trial examining the in...
Background: Psilocybin, a classic hallucinogen, may eventually be approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for treatment-resistant depression. However, we are aware of only one published national survey of American psychiatrists regarding their opinions about hallucinogens and hallucinogen-assisted therapy, conducted by our group in 2016. H...
Background: Recent studies suggest that one to two administrations of psilocybin have acute antidepressant effects for people with major depressive disorder. These data on psilocybin have generated considerable enthusiasm, but little empirical attention has been paid to the therapy that adjoins psilocybin treatment (psychedelic-assisted therapy, or PAT). Mat...
Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) has re-emerged as a promising intervention for addressing mental health conditions and existential concerns. Despite growing enthusiasm, PAT may be difficult to integrate into mainstream health systems. The rich sacramental traditions of psychedelics, their centering of the human experience, proposed substrates of action, c...
Rationale: N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor-mediated dissociatives and serotonergic hallucinogens are being increasingly used in therapeutic interventions that involve nonordinary states of consciousness and may represent a unique mental health paradigm wherein pharmacologically induced experiences are conducive to psychological well-being. Objective: The aim o...
Background: Psilocybin and psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) have gained renewed interest due to recent findings that PAT can enhance therapeutic outcomes. In 2019, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved breakthrough therapy status to psilocybin for the treatment of depression, but PAT has yet to be approved as a therapeutic treatment for mental...
Context: Measuring therapeutic connection during psilocybin-assisted therapy is essential to understand underlying mechanisms, inform training, and guide quality improvement. Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of directly observing indicators of therapeutic connection during psilocybin administration encounters. Methods: We evaluated audio and video data f...
A multidisciplinary pharmacognostic, forensic and pharmaceutical, organizational and legal, clinical and pharmacological, forensic and medical, toxicological, chemical evaluation of the irrational use of spices in smoking mixtures from the group of entheogens was carried out. An expert assessment of spices - plants and mushrooms containing psychoactive subst...
BACKGROUND: There is growing evidence to support the use of the psychedelic drug psilocybin for difficult-to-treat depression. This paper compares the cost-effectiveness of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) with conventional medication, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and the combination of conventional medication and CBT. METHODS: A decision mode...
Abstract Background Psilocybin Therapy (PT) is being increasingly studied as a psychiatric intervention. Personality relates to mental health and can be used to probe the nature of PT's therapeutic action. Methods In a phase 2, double-blind, randomized, active comparator controlled trial involving patients with moderate-to-severe major depressive disorder, w...
More than 50 million people in the United States serve as uncompensated informal caregivers to chronically ill friends or family members. Providing care to a sick loved one can contribute to personal growth but can also cause significant strain. Caregiver distress refers to a constellation of physiological, psychological, interpersonal, and spiritual impairm...
Background: Recent years have seen a resurgence in clinical interest in, and increased public acceptance of, psychedelic drugs in Canada. However, our understanding of how psychedelic drugs are currently used in Canada remains limited. We developed the Canadian Psychedelic Survey (CPS) to gather real-world evidence about psychedelic drug use in Canada. This ...
Introduction: Psilocybin has shown long-lasting antidepressant effects in preclinical and clinical trials, but the mechanisms responsible are unclear. As both passive coping strategies and pattern separation deficits are characteristics of major depression, we used adult female rats subjected to adolescent chronic restraint stress (aCRS) to investigate the e...
