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...
Molecular Psychiatry
April 8, 2026
Johannes G. Ramaekers, Kim P. C. Kuypers, Franz X. Vollenweider
1 citation
MDMA's history spans military experimentation, recreational use, and clinical trials for PTSD treatment, reflecting both promise and controversy. While studies in heavy users suggested possible neurotoxicity, evidence remains inconclusive. Clinical trials show that one to three sessions of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy can alleviate PTSD symptoms, yet regulators have criticized inadequate...
Nature Medicine
April 1, 2026
Manesh Girn, Manoj K. Doss, Leor Roseman et al.
8 citations
Psychedelic drugs are re-emerging as promising scientific and clinical tools. However, despite a rapidly expanding literature on their therapeutic value, the neural mechanisms underlying psychedelic effects remain unclear. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of acute psychedelic effects, conducted independently by several research groups, have so far yielded fragmented...
Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
2026
Cheng-Teng Ip, Sebastian Olbrich, Mateo de Bardeci et al.
1 citation
BACKGROUND: Recent advancements in psychedelic research have highlighted psilocybin's potential therapeutic benefits for various mental disorders. Understanding its effects on brain function and identifying predictors of individual responses are essential for developing effective treatments. METHODS: This double-blind, randomized, crossover, and placebo-controlled study enrolled 25 healthy...
Psychopharmacology
November 5, 2025
Milad Soltanzadeh, Wang Zheng, Shona G. Allohverdi et al.
1 citation
RationaleKetamine and psilocybin have demonstrated therapeutic potential for mental disorders, including major depressive disorder, yet they engage distinct mechanisms of action. Ketamine, a dissociative hallucinogen, acts by blocking N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDAR), whereas psilocybin primarily targets serotonin receptors. These divergent mechanisms are reflected in their...
Molecular Psychiatry
June 1, 2025
Johannes Jungwirth, Robin von Rotz, Isabel Dziobek et al.
19 citations
Empathy plays a crucial role in interpersonal relationships and mental health. It is decreased in a variety of psychiatric disorders including major depression. Psilocybin, a promising candidate for treating depression, has been shown to acutely increase emotional empathy in healthy volunteers. However, no study has investigated this effect and its relevance for symptom improvement in a...
Molecular Psychiatry
April 1, 2025
Devon Stoliker, Katrin H. Preller, Leonardo Novelli et al.
19 citations
Visual alterations under classic psychedelics can include rich phenomenological accounts of eyes-closed imagery. Preclinical evidence suggests agonism of the 5-HT2A receptor may reduce synaptic gain to produce psychedelic-induced imagery. However, this has not been investigated in humans. To infer the directed connectivity changes to visual connectivity underlying psychedelic visual imagery in...
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...
Research Square
September 26, 2024
Shona G. Allohverdi, Milad Soltanzadeh, André Schmidt et al.
Abstract Ketamine and psilocybin show potential as therapies for various mental illnesses, including major depressive disorder. However, further investigation into their neural mechanisms is required to understand their effects on the brain. By combining computational modelling with electroencephalography (EEG), we examine the effects of ketamine and psilocybin on hierarchical sensory...
iScience
May 19, 2024
Andres Ort, John W Smallridge, Erich Seifritz et al.
1 citation
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 consciously or subconsciously. This...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
April 29, 2024
Jan Thomann, Oliver V Stoeckmann, Deborah Rudin et al.
52 citations
In vivo , psilocybin is rapidly dephosphorylated to psilocin which induces psychedelic effects by interacting with the 5-HT 2A receptor. Psilocin primarily undergoes glucuronidation or conversion to 4-hydroxyindole-3-acetic acid (4-HIAA). Herein, we investigated psilocybin’s metabolic pathways in vitro and in vivo , conducting a thorough analysis of the enzymes involved. Metabolism studies were...
Scientific Reports
April 23, 2024
Berit Singer, Daniel Meling, Matthias Hirsch-Hoffmann et al.
The original version of this Article contained an error in the name of author Berit Singer which was incorrectly given as Singer Berit.
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....
Nervenheilkunde
April 1, 2024
Eva Maria Schindowski, Franz X. Vollenweider
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Der Artikel stellt 2 Behandlungsverläufe von Patienten mit rezidivierender Depression gegenüber, welche mit Psilocybin behandelt wurden. Weltweit wächst stetig die Anzahl Studien, die die Verwendung von Psilocybin zur Behandlung von Depressionen untersuchen und damit mehr und mehr das Interesse an dieser Therapieform. Während einige Kollegen aus dem Forschungsumfeld einen...
Scientific Reports
March 26, 2024
Berit Singer, Daniel Meling, Matthias Hirsch-Hoffmann et al.
15 citations
In this study, for the first time, we explored a dataset of functional magnetic resonance images collected during focused attention and open monitoring meditation before and after a five-day psilocybin-assisted meditation retreat using a recently established approach, based on the Mapper algorithm from topological data analysis. After generating subject-specific maps for two groups (psilocybin...
Biological Psychiatry
January 5, 2024
Devon Stoliker, Leonardo Novelli, Adeel Razi et al.
42 citations
Our findings suggest that temporary amygdala signal attenuation is associated with mechanistic changes to resting-state network connectivity. These changes are significant for altered cognition and perception and suggest targets for research investigating the efficacy of psychedelic therapy for internalizing psychiatric disorders. More broadly, our study suggests the value of quantifying the...
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...
iScience
May 19, 2023
Andres Ort, John W Smallridge, Simone Sarasso et al.
47 citations
Exploring the neurobiology of the profound changes in consciousness induced by classical psychedelic drugs may require novel neuroimaging methods. Serotonergic psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin produce states of increased sensory-emotional awareness and arousal, accompanied by increased spontaneous electroencephalographic (EEG) signal diversity. By directly stimulating cortical tissue, the...
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...
Biological Psychiatry
February 1, 2023
Devon Stoliker, Leonardo Novelli, Franz X. Vollenweider et al.
49 citations
Classic psychedelic-induced ego dissolution involves a shift in the sense of self and a blurring of the boundary between the self and the world. A similar phenomenon is identified in psychopathology and is associated with the balance of anticorrelated activity between the default mode network, which directs attention inward, and the salience network, which recruits the dorsal attention network...
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...
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
December 22, 2022
Christopher Timmermann, Prisca R. Bauer, Olivia Gosseries et al.
145 citations
No contemporary unifying framework has been provided for the study of non-ordinary states of consciousness (NSCs) despite increased interest in hypnosis, meditation, and psychedelics. NSCs induce shifts in experiential contents (what appears to the experiencer) and/or structure (how it appears). This can allow the investigation of the plastic and dynamic nature of experience from a multiscale...
Biological Psychiatry
December 7, 2022
Flora Moujaes, Katrin H. Preller, Jie Lisa Ji et al.
44 citations
Precision psychiatry aims to identify markers of interindividual variability that allow for predicting the right treatment for each patient. However, bridging the gap between molecular-level manipulations and neural systems-level functional alterations remains an unsolved problem in psychiatry. After decades of low success rates in pharmaceutical research and development for psychiatric drugs,...