Brain and Behavior
July 1, 2026
Lena K L Oestreich, Nathalie M. Rieser
Psychedelic and substance-assisted therapies are attracting renewed scientific, clinical, and public interest as potential interventions for mental health disorders, particularly treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders. However, as the field moves from early efficacy trials toward clinical implementation, major questions remain regarding...
European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology
May 28, 2026
L Belinger, Nathalie M. Rieser, Etna Engeli et al.
Maintaining effective blinding is a major methodological challenge in psychedelic research. This study provides a comprehensive evaluation of blinding integrity in 120 healthy volunteers who received either psilocybin, MDMA, or methylphenidate (active placebo) in a double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Using a multi-level assessment incorporating forced-choice substance guesses, certainty...
Translational Psychiatry
May 26, 2026
Marvin M. Urban, Lea Zillich, Nathalie M. Rieser et al.
1 citation
The serotonergic hallucinogen psilocybin has shown potential as a treatment for psychiatric conditions like alcohol use disorder (AUD) and depression in clinical studies. Epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, are hypothesized to contribute to its lasting therapeutic benefits. In this exploratory study, we present the first methylome-wide analysis of psilocybin-induced changes in a...
medRxiv
August 28, 2025
Franziska Stadler, Johan Saelens, Ioline D. Henter et al.
preprint
This international online study (N=759) examined the acute, subacute, and long-term effects of psychedelic drug use on cognitive performance and mental health. Participants completed cognitive tasks assessing working memory, selective attention, and visual/spatial perception, as well as questionnaires assessing mental health outcomes and quality of life. Based on self-reported substance use,...
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
August 18, 2025
Flora Moujaes, Nathalie M. Rieser, L. Belinger et al.
5 citations
Serotonergic psychedelics are being explored as treatments for a range of psychiatric conditions. Promising results in mood disorders indicate that their effects on emotional processing may play a central role in their therapeutic potential. However, mechanistic and clinical studies paint a complex picture of the impact of psychedelics on emotions and mood. Here, we review recent findings on...
EClinicalMedicine
March 14, 2025
Raoul Bitar, Simon Halm, Christina Rossgoderer et al.
42 citations
Swiss National Science Foundation under the framework of Neuron Cofund, Swiss Neuromatrix Foundation, and Heffter Young Investigator Fellowship Award.
Psychedelic Medicine
January 20, 2025
Marianna Graziosi, Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, Mary P Cosimano et al.
9 citations
Introduction: Serotonergic psychedelics, serotonin 2A receptor agonists such as psilocybin that can result in substantially altered states of consciousness, are used in recreational and research settings. The safety of psychedelic experiences in research settings is supported by controlled physical environments, presence of clinical and medical staff to address emergent issues, screening for...
Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences
July 31, 2024
Nathalie M. Rieser, Timo T Schmidt, Katrin H. Preller
5 citations
This chapter offers a comprehensive overview of our current understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying the effects of psychedelic drugs, with a primary focus on human neuroimaging studies. Whenever possible, we explore the neurobiological mechanisms that may underly acute and subacute adverse effects and describe hypotheses on how these results may inform on the pathophysiology of...
Elife
April 17, 2024
Flora Moujaes, Jie Lisa Ji, Masih Rahmati et al.
23 citations
Ketamine has emerged as one of the most promising therapies for treatment-resistant depression. However, inter-individual variability in response to ketamine is still not well understood and it is unclear how ketamine's molecular mechanisms connect to its neural and behavioral effects. We conducted a single-blind placebo-controlled study, with participants blinded to their treatment condition....
Scientific Reports
October 14, 2023
Nathalie M. Rieser, Ladina P Gubser, Flora Moujaes et al.
14 citations
Research into the use of psilocybin for the treatment of psychiatric disorders is a growing field. Nevertheless, robust brain-behavior relationships linking psilocybin-induced brain changes to subjective drug-induced effects have not been established. Furthermore, it is unclear if the acute neural effects are dependent on individual heterogeneity in baseline characteristics. To address this, we...
Biological Psychiatry Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging
July 17, 2023
Flora Moujaes, Nathalie M. Rieser, Christophe Phillips et al.
19 citations
BACKGROUND: Pharmacological and nonpharmacological methods of inducing altered states of consciousness (ASCs) are becoming increasingly relevant in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. While comparisons between them are often drawn, to date no study has directly compared their neural correlates. METHODS: To address this knowledge gap, we directly compared 2 pharmacological methods...
EClinicalMedicine
February 1, 2023
Robin von Rotz, Eva M Schindowski, Johannes Jungwirth et al.
345 citations
Psilocybin has been suggested as a novel, rapid-acting treatment for depression. Two consecutive doses have been shown to markedly decrease symptom severity in an open-label setting or when compared to a waiting list group. To date, to our knowledge, no other trial compared a single, moderate dose of psilocybin to a placebo condition. In this double-blind, randomised clinical trial, 52...
EClinicalMedicine
February 1, 2023
Robin von Rotz, Eva M Schindowski, Johannes Jungwirth et al.
8 citations
correction
We wish to provide a correction of the colour representation of Fig. 2 in order to harmonise the colours representing the Psilocybin and the Placebo condition with the corresponding figure caption and with the colour codes from all other figures across the manuscript. Fig. 2 now depicts the Psilocybin condition in blue and the Placebo condition in yellow. The error occurred as a result of an...