Psychedelic substances have recently emerged as a promising method for treating mental health conditions, despite a history of stigmatization and restriction in use. The present review synthesizes existing literature on the therapeutic potential of psychedelics such as LSD, psilocybin, and MDMA in addressing specific mental health conditions like depression,...
The pressing need for effective fibromyalgia (FM) treatments, the known safety of psilocybin therapy, and the mechanistic plausibility for potential benefit provide a backdrop for investigating psilocybin therapy as a treatment for FM. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the clinical benefit of oral psilocybin in concert with psychotherapy to ...
Psychiatric disorders are marked by habitual patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior, and many mental health disorders are resistant to standard treatments (1)(2)(3)(4). For example, symptoms of major depressive disorder include ruminative negative thoughts, pervasive sadness, and lack of goaldirected behavior (5)(6)(7). Similarly, many anxiety and trauma...
Obesity is a multifactorial disorder involving a behavioural aetiology in subsets of patients that traditional therapeutic approaches have failed to address. Drawing parallels with addiction, the rewarding aspects of a chronic energy-dense diet can compromise dopaminergic reward circuits, eventually causing individuals to become habitually responsive to food...
Up to 40% of people with alcohol use disorder (AUD) experience depression. Depression is a risk factor for early relapse of AUD after withdrawal in a controlled environment. Promising data suggest the effectiveness of psilocybin, a psychedelic-type treatment, in depression and AUD. Following the acute effects of the psychedelic experience, which lasts approx...
The serotonergic psychedelics psilocybin, LSD and DMT hold great promise for the development of new treatments for psychiatric conditions such as major depressive disorder, addiction and end-of-life anxiety. Previous studies in both animals and humans have confirmed the effects of these drugs on neuronal activity and plasticity. However, the understanding of...
BACKGROUND: Psilocybin-containing mushrooms are gaining the attention of the scientific community due to the potential benefits offered by their psychoactive phytochemicals in the treatment of addiction and various mental health conditions. Although there are hundreds of different Psilocybe species, only a handful have been successfully cultivated under indo...
Background and Objectives: Substance use disorders (SUDs) affect millions worldwide. Despite increasing drug use, treatment options remain limited. Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT), integrating psychedelic substances with psychotherapy, offers a promising alternative by addressing underlying neural mechanisms. Materials and Methods: This review's purpose i...
The opioid crisis continues to exert a tremendous toll in North America, with existing interventions often falling short of addressing ongoing needs. Psychedelics are emerging as a possible alternative therapy for mental health and substance use disorders. This study aimed to gather insights on how people use or are considering using psychedelics to manage o...
Introduction: In recent years, psilocybin has been explored as an alternative therapy for neurological and psychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance dependence. Studies suggest that when administered under professional supervision, psilocybin can offer relief for patients with treatment-resistant...
Psilocybin-assisted therapies (PAT) have been used to treat several issues including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), major depressive disorder (MDD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), smoking addiction, and anxiety (Grob et al., 2011; Johnson et al., 2014; Kisely et a., 2022; Moreno et al., 2006). If more positive benefits of psilocybin are discover...
Psychedelics are psychoactive substances that cause changes in perception, state of consciousness, mood and numerous cognitive processes. The best known are lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), psilocybin and mescaline. The main mechanism of action of psychedelics is agonism towards serotonin 5-HT2A receptors. In the middle of the ...
OBJECTIVE: Evidence suggests that psilocybin-assisted therapy (PAT) leads to durable shifts in personality structure. However, such changes have yet to be characterized in disorders of addiction. In this secondary analysis from a randomized controlled trial, the authors examined the effect of PAT on personality dimensions in patients with alcohol use disorde...
Over a decade after the first edition of "Behavioral Neurobiology of Alcohol Addiction," this chapter revisits the field at a critical juncture, marked by both persistent challenges and emerging opportunities. We reflect on the translational gap that has stalled the development of new treatments for alcohol use disorder (AUD), despite decades of promising pr...
While the movement to liberalize psychedelics bears many parallels to that of cannabis, there are important differences that must be considered in development of regulatory policy. It is critical to avoid conflating debates about liberalization for therapeutic and recreational purposes. As with cannabis, this conflation has been driven by advocates of recrea...
Methamphetamine (MA) dependence leads to severe physical and psychological issues. Current treatments, including psychosocial therapies and residential rehabilitation, face limitations such as high relapse rates, cost, and accessibility issues. As a result, there is an urgent need for novel approaches to treat MA dependence that are effective, affordable, an...
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...
Therapeutic claims about many psychedelic drugs have not been evaluated in any studies of even modest rigor. The science of psychedelic drugs is strengthening, however, making it easier to differentiate some promising findings amid the hype that suffuses this research area. Ketamine has risks of adverse side effects (e.g., addiction and cystitis), but multip...
Serotonergic psychedelics induce their characteristic subjective effects via activation of the serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2AR). This structurally diverse class of drugs includes ergolines (e.g., LSD), phenethylamines (e.g., mescaline), and tryptamines (e.g., psilocin), all of which have NPS analogues that have emerged on recreational drug markets. Importantl...
