Psychedelic Medicine
June 16, 2026
Max Wolff, Samuli Kangaslampi, Richard J. Zeifman et al.
This commentary critically examines the interpretation and analytic choices in Goodwin and colleagues’ recent analysis of therapeutic alliance in psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression. While the authors conclude that alliance did not meaningfully contribute to treatment efficacy, we argue that this interpretation is not supported by the reported results, which are, in...
Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics
May 27, 2026
Lea J. Mertens, Felix Betzler, Manuela Brand et al.
Psilocybin shows promise for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), but long-term data are limited. This study examined the antidepressant effect of one or two psilocybin doses with adjunct psychotherapy in TRD until twelve months. This is a naturalistic follow-up of a phase 2b, randomized, active placebo-controlled trial, where participants were randomized to receive two drug administrations...
JAMA Psychiatry
March 18, 2026
Lea J. Mertens, Michael Koslowski, Felix Betzler et al.
9 citations
Importance: Psilocybin shows promise in treating depression, although limitations of previous research warrant further research. Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of oral psilocybin, 25 mg, with adjunct psychotherapy in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Design, Setting, and Participants: This was a 2-center, triple-blinded (investigator, participant, rater), phase 2b, active...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
March 14, 2026
Aaron D. Cherniak, Pehr Granqvist, Mario Mikulincer et al.
Research has established that life stress may elevate the likelihood of challenging experiences with psychedelics, which may be linked to poorer outcomes from psychedelic use. Studies have highlighted the importance of therapeutic support, but questions remain about the type of effective support and its specific contribution. We examined the contribution of therapeutic-like contexts and support...
Psychological Medicine
2026
Ricarda Evens, Abdo Uyar, Emily Gosslau et al.
BACKGROUND: While clinical research on psychedelics often reports mild and transient side effects, broader survey studies indicate that a subset of users experiences lasting adverse mental health effects. This study investigated whether some of these meet diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). METHODS: = 243) was conducted with individuals reporting distressing...
Journal of Eating Disorders
December 4, 2025
Samuli Kangaslampi, Max Wolff, Manoj K. Doss et al.
1 citation
Abstract In their recent case report article, Peck and colleagues suggested that two patients recovered dissociated traumatic memories during psilocybin treatment for anorexia nervosa. These case reports are of clinical and scientific interest and confirm that psychedelics may induce vivid memory-like experiences. However, the reports warrant scrutiny. Here, based on what is known about...
Psychological review
November 1, 2025
Max Wolff, Hans Rutrecht, Lea J. Mertens et al.
Psychedelic therapy is commonly understood as a form of psychotherapy. However, despite promising results from clinical trials, scientific progress has been hindered by a lack of theoretical integration between the fields of psychedelic and psychotherapy research. This article seeks to bridge this divide by outlining a transtheoretical understanding of psychedelic-occasioned psychological...
October 27, 2025
Aaron D. Cherniak, Pehr Granqvist, Mario Mikulincer et al.
preprint
This article has been accepted for publication in Journal of Psychoactive Drugs - https://doi.org/10.1080/02791072.2026.2644857Background:Research has established that life stress may elevate the likelihood of challenging experiences with psychedelics, which may be linked to poorer outcomes from psychedelic use. Studies have highlighted the importance of therapeutic support, but questions...
Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology
September 1, 2025
Suresh Muthukumaraswamy, Matthew J. Baggott, Eduardo Ekman Schenberg et al.
8 citations
Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) has typically been evaluated using conventional randomised controlled trials (RCTs), which assess treatment efficacy under highly controlled conditions. However, PAT constitutes a complex intervention, integrating pharmacological, psychotherapeutic and contextual elements that interact dynamically with patient experiences and healthcare settings. Conventional...
Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science
July 1, 2025
Oscar Soto-Angona, Amanda Rodríguez‐Urrutia, Josep Antoni Ramos‐quiroga et al.
1 citation
Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Drug Science Policy and Law
June 16, 2025
Max Wolff, Natalie Gukasyan, Leor Roseman et al.
5 citations
Current regulation frameworks for medicines struggle to address the combination of pharmacological and psychotherapeutic elements in psychedelic therapy. We propose a more appropriate and advantageous approach may be to regulate psychedelic drugs as therapeutic tools or adjuncts to psychotherapy, rather than as treatments for specific mental disorders. Drawing parallels with anesthetics, which...
Der Nervenarzt
February 12, 2025
Nina Hartter, Marvin Däumichen, Christopher Schmidt et al.
1 citation
Clinical studies with psilocybin in combination with psychotherapy show promising results for the treatment of various mental disorders; however, there still exists a lack of knowledge, rejection and prejudice towards this new form of therapy among doctors, psychotherapists and patients. The aim of this study was to gain a representative impression, as far as possible, of the level of...
edoc Publication server (Humboldt University of Berlin)
February 12, 2025
Nina Hartter, Marvin Däumichen, Christopher Schmidt et al.
Hintergrund: Klinische Studien mit Psilocybin in Kombination mit Psychotherapie zeigen vielversprechende Ergebnisse bei der Behandlung verschiedener psychischer Störungen. In der Ärzte- und Psychotherapeutenschaft sowie unter Patient:innen bestehen auch Unwissen, Ablehnung und Vorurteile gegenüber dieser neuen Therapieform. Ziel dieser Studie war es, einen möglichst repräsentativen Eindruck vom...
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...
General Hospital Psychiatry
2025
Max Wolff, Hans Rutrecht, Gerhard Gründer et al.
9 citations
Psychedelic treatments are extending beyond research units and into hospitals, outpatient clinics, and community practices. Contrasting the constrained procedures of clinical trials with the realities of routine practice, this article outlines the competencies needed for safe, effective, and ethically sound psychedelic therapy in everyday mental health care. To accommodate mainstream adoption...
International review of psychiatry (Abingdon, England)
December 1, 2024
Helena Aicher, Max Wolff, Uwe Herwig
10 citations
The renewed interest in psychedelics as treatments for mental health disorders is often referred to as the "Psychedelic Renaissance." This article assesses whether this resurgence truly constitutes a paradigm shift in psychiatry, as some proponents claim, or if it should be viewed as an integration of existing therapeutic approaches. We explore historical contexts, noting that psychedelics were...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
May 1, 2024
Max Wolff, Ricarda Evens, Lea J. Mertens et al.
34 citations
Background: Therapeutic and salutogenic effects of psychedelic drugs have been attributed to psychotherapeutic or psychotherapy-like processes that can unfold during the acute psychedelic experience and beyond. Currently, there are no psychometric instruments available to comprehensively assess psychotherapeutic processes (as conceptualized by empirical psychotherapy research) in the context of...
The Lancet Psychiatry
December 12, 2023
Gerhard Gründer, Manuela Brand, Lea J. Mertens et al.
103 citations
Treatment of psychiatric disorders with psychedelic substances represents one of the most promising current treatment approaches in psychiatry. Since its inception in the 1950s, therapy with psychedelics has been conceptualised as psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy-ie, a form of psychotherapy that uses the profound biological effects of this class of substances as a catalyst for changing...
Fortschritte der Neurologie · Psychiatrie
June 20, 2022
Christopher W. Schmidt, Max Wolff, Gerhard Gründer et al.
5 citations
Zusammenfassung Ziel der Studie In den letzten Jahren konnten Studien, in denen die Verwendung von Psilocybin zur Behandlung psychischer Störungen untersucht wurde, vielversprechende Ergebnisse zeigen. Vor diesem Hintergrund wurden Einstellungen von ausgebildeten Psychiater*innen und Psychotherapeut*innen zu Psilocybin und Psilocybin-unterstützten Therapien untersucht. Methodik Eine...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
March 1, 2022
Max Wolff, Lea J. Mertens, Marie Walter et al.
57 citations
Background: Many benefits and some harms associated with psychedelic use could be attributable to these drugs’ acceptance/avoidance-promoting effects and corresponding changes in psychological flexibility. Underlying psychological mechanisms are insufficiently understood. Aim: The purpose of this study was the validation of a psychological model of acceptance/avoidance-promoting psychedelic...
Neuroscience Applied
2022
Lea J. Mertens, Michael Koslowski, Felix Betzler et al.
40 citations
Psychedelics such as psilocybin have recently gained remarkable interest in both the specialist literature and the lay press because studies suggest that these substances may have great therapeutic potential in various psychiatric disorders, including major depression. However, clinical trials with psychedelic drugs pose particular methodological challenges to researchers, some of which differ...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
February 21, 2020
Max Wolff, Ricarda Evens, Lea J. Mertens et al.
188 citations
The efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapies for mental disorders has been attributed to the lasting change from experiential avoidance to acceptance that these treatments appear to facilitate. This article presents a conceptual model that specifies potential psychological mechanisms underlying such change, and that shows substantial parallels between psychedelic therapy and cognitive...