When the Saskatchewan-based British psychiatrist Humphry Osmond first wrote to his fellow British émigré, novelist Aldous Huxley, he could have had little idea of how the ripples of their private correspondence of the early 1950s would reverberate across the world and into the future. But here we are in 2024, and the term that Osmond coined-‘psychedelic’-is ...
Abstract Background Previous international clinical trials have indicated that mystical experiences resulting from the consumption of classic psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin, may represent a subjective psychological mechanism of action associated with therapeutic effects for various mental disorders. The revised 30-item Mystical Experience Questionnair...
The extent of changes in functional connectivity (FC) within functional networks as a common feature across hallucinogenic drug classes is under-explored. This work utilized fMRI to assess the dissociative hallucinogens Psilocybin, a classical serotonergic psychedelic, and Salvinorin-A, a kappa-opioid receptor (KOR) agonist, on resting-state FC in nonhuman p...
Introduction: Psilocybin is a naturally occurring tryptamine derivative psychedelic compound potently produced by fungi members of the genus Psilocybe. Previous literature has highlighted psilocybin as a serotonin 2A receptor agonist with striking effects on neural plasticity and cognition. Recent studies explore the usage of psilocybin in addressing addicti...
The turn of the century brought a resurgence of interest in psychedelics as a treatment for addiction and other psychiatric conditions, accompanied by extensive positive media attention and private equity investment. Government regulatory bodies in Australia, Israel, Canada and the United States now permit use of psychedelics for medical purposes. In the Uni...
Psilocybin is gaining popularity as research shows potential benefits to those with anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions. Individuals with risk factors for psychosis are typically excluded from such studies, limiting the empiric research of the risks and benefits in vulnerable populations. In the real-world setting, many individuals who se...
Serotonergic psychedelics hold promise as a treatment modality for various psychiatric disorders and are currently applied in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. We investigated the learning effects of the serotonin receptor agonist psilocybin in a probabilistic cue-reward task with emotional cues in the form of neutral or fearful faces, presented either con...
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Results from randomized clinical trials of psilocybin in depressive disorders highlight the therapeutic potential of serotonergic psychedelic compounds in mental health disorders. The synthetic 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A receptor agonist 4-hydroxy- N, N -diisopropyltryptamine (4-OH-DiPT) is structurally similar ...
During the 1960s, several studies were conducted to test the therapeutic effects of hallucinogenic drugs, also known as psychedelics, on various disorders, such as major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the non-medical use of these substances became rampant due to their hallucinogenic effects, leading to their classification as narcotics in numerous count...
Diverse symptomatology makes Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) difficult to treat, and currently there are no approved prevention or treatment methods for FXS. Current therapies, including pharmaceutical and behavioural interventions, offer a patchwork of solutions that have limited efficacy and high toxicity. The current study aims to examine psilocybin as a safe tr...
Entheogens, a class of psychoactive substances with profound cultural and religious significance, have been utilized for centuries across diverse traditions for healing, spiritual exploration, and communication with the divine. Their historical usage spans continents, from the pre-Columbian Americas to traditional African practices and Ayurvedic medicine in ...
Introduction: Patients with incurable illnesses often experience existential distress, profoundly impacting their well-being. Current medical approaches have limitations in addressing these burdens. Psilocybin, a promising psychedelic compound, may offer therapeutic benefits. This pilot survey study aimed to investigate the attitudes and openness toward psil...
Rationale: Psychedelic research re-emerged from a period of suppression into the so-called psychedelic renaissance. In parallel, most media reporting has shifted from the overstatement of the risks of psychedelics to overly positive hype. As the empirical evidence is more equivocal than frequently portrayed, the conclusions about the effectiveness of psyched...
Psilocybin, and its metabolite psilocin, induces psychedelic effects through activation of the 5-HT2A receptor. Psilocybin has been proposed as a treatment for depression and anxiety but sometimes induces anxiety in humans. An understanding of mechanisms underlying the anxiety response will help to better develop therapeutic prospects of psychedelics. In the...
The practice of microdosing classic psychedelic drugs (e.g. LSD [lysergic acid diethylamide] and psilocybin) has not only become more commonplace, but has also been shown to have potential in treating various psychological impairments. Much is still unknown about how people who microdose psychedelic drugs learn the processes and protocols for microdosing. To...
Psychedelics are mainly from the class of psychoactive substances whose action is to produce changes in the perception, mood, cognitive behavior, and processes of a person. This psychedelic drug creates an alteration in a person’s thinking, sense of time, and emotions. Hallucinations can be a main cause for people who take psychedelics. Mainly, these psyched...
