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David J Hellerstein

15 papers in the library · 1,788 citations · publishing 2013-2026

Papers

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The role of therapeutic alliance in psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression: A post hoc path analysis.

Journal of Affective Disorders August 1, 2026 Guy M. Goodwin, Scott T Aaronson, Oscar Alvarez et al. 2 citations

The contribution of patient support to psilocybin's antidepressant effects remains uncertain. Relationships between therapeutic alliance (Scale to Assess Therapeutic Relationship-Patient version; STAR-P), psychedelic experience (Five-Dimensional Altered States of Consciousness Questionnaire and Emotional Breakthrough Inventory; 5D-ASC and EBI) and clinical outcomes (Montgomery-Åsberg Depression...

Trends in the psychedelic renaissance: applying artificial intelligence to measure media portrayal of psychedelic drugs in the 21st century

BJPsych Open February 12, 2026 David A Bender, Holly Dunn, Amanda Pekau et al. 1 citation

Background The relationship between media portrayal of psychedelic drugs, scientific research and drug policy is an area of debate. Aims To apply artificial intelligence technology to measure trends in media sentiment towards the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs. Method Up to 300 of the most relevant articles from Google News searches for the term ‘psychedelics’ were sampled for each...

Provider perspectives on challenges in treatment during psychedelic therapy.

Psychopharmacology October 27, 2025 David A Bender, Sandeep M. Nayak, Joshua S. Siegel et al.

Psychedelic treatments are considered to involve unique treatment challenges relative to other psychiatric interventions, though these are typically not explored in detail within clinical trial reports. To determine the types of challenges that providers encounter while administering psychedelic drugs in research settings and to assess provider opinions on safeguards that may be pursued to...

Corrigendum to "The role of the psychedelic experience in psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression" [Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 372 (2025), Pages 523-532].

J Affect Disord October 10, 2025 Guy M. Goodwin, Scott T Aaronson, Oscar Alvarez et al. correction

Corrigendum to "The role of the psychedelic experience in psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression" [Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 372 (2025), Pages 523-532].

The Role of Touch in Psychedelic Therapy: Perspectives From a Survey of Practitioners in Research Settings.

American Journal of Psychotherapy May 6, 2025 David A Bender, Sandeep M. Nayak, Joshua S. Siegel et al. 7 citations

Psychedelic therapies are promising new treatment options in psychiatry. Including the use of physical touch as part of treatment is an area of debate. This study aimed to characterize the viewpoints of practitioners on the use of touch in psychedelic therapy. An anonymous survey was distributed via e-mail to the contacts listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for trials of psilocybin and lysergic acid...

Results From a Long-Term Observational Follow-Up Study of a Single Dose of Psilocybin for a Treatment-Resistant Episode of Major Depressive Disorder.

The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry March 3, 2025 Guy M. Goodwin, Ania Nowakowska, Merve Atli et al. 14 citations

Background: The largest randomized study of psilocybin to date demonstrated the efficacy of COMP360 25 mg (Compass Pathways' investigational proprietary pharmaceutical-grade synthesized psilocybin formulation) in participants with treatment-resistant depression (COMP 001), compared with 10 mg and 1 mg doses. Here, we report findings from COMP 004, a 52-week observational follow-up of patients...

The role of the psychedelic experience in psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression.

Journal of Affective Disorders March 1, 2025 Guy M. Goodwin, Scott T Aaronson, Oscar Alvarez et al. 35 citations

To determine the relationships between psilocybin dose, psychedelic experiences, and therapeutic outcome in treatment-resistant depression. For treatment-resistant depression, 233 participants received a single dose of 25, 10, or 1 mg of COMP360 psilocybin (a proprietary, pharmaceutical-grade synthesized psilocybin formulation, developed by the sponsor, Compass Pathfinder Ltd.) with...

Psychological Support Approaches in Psychedelic Therapy: Results From a Survey of Psychedelic Practitioners.

The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry February 5, 2025 David A Bender, Sandeep M. Nayak, Joshua S. Siegel et al. 3 citations

Objective: To assess the viewpoints of psychedelic practitioners in research settings on approaches to psychological support for psychedelic treatments. Methods: An anonymous survey was distributed via email to contacts listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for clinical trials of psilocybin and LSD, personal contacts of authors, and through snowball sampling. The survey included Likert type, multiple...

Single-dose psilocybin alters resting state functional networks in patients with body dysmorphic disorder

Psychedelics. September 24, 2024 Xi Zhu, Chen Zhang, David J Hellerstein et al. 6 citations

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a severe psychiatric condition characterized by preoccupation with perceived flaws in one's appearance, which the individual views as defective or ugly. Psilocybin, a serotonin 2A receptor agonist with psychedelic properties, has emerged as a potential therapeutic agent for depression and other psychiatric disorders. This study aimed to identify subacute neural...

Psilocybin therapy for treatment resistant depression: prediction of clinical outcome by natural language processing

Psychopharmacology August 22, 2023 Robert F. Dougherty, Patrick Clarke, Merve Atli et al. 21 citations

Abstract Rationale Therapeutic administration of psychedelics has shown significant potential in historical accounts and recent clinical trials in the treatment of depression and other mood disorders. A recent randomized double-blind phase-IIb study demonstrated the safety and efficacy of COMP360, COMPASS Pathways’ proprietary synthetic formulation of psilocybin, in participants with...

Pilot study of single-dose psilocybin for serotonin reuptake inhibitor-resistant body dysmorphic disorder.

Journal of Psychiatric Research May 1, 2023 Franklin R. Schneier, Jamie D. Feusner, Michael G. Wheaton et al. 79 citations

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is an often-severe condition in which individuals are preoccupied by misperceptions of their appearance as defective or ugly. Only serotonin reuptake inhibitors and cognitive-behavioral therapy have been demonstrated efficacious in randomized controlled trials. Psilocybin is a psychedelic drug with growing evidence for safety and efficacy in treatment of...

Single-dose psilocybin for a treatment-resistant episode of major depression: Impact on patient-reported depression severity, anxiety, function, and quality of life

Journal of Affective Disorders February 3, 2023 Guy M. Goodwin, Scott T Aaronson, Oscar Alvarez et al. 168 citations

Three weeks after dosing, psilocybin 25 mg and, to a lesser degree, 10 mg improved measures of patient-reported depression severity, anxiety, affect, and functioning. These results extend the primary findings from the largest randomised clinical trial of psilocybin for TRD to examine other outcomes that are of importance to patients.

Single-Dose Psilocybin for a Treatment-Resistant Episode of Major Depression.

The New England journal of medicine November 3, 2022 Guy M. Goodwin, Scott T Aaronson, Oscar Alvarez et al. 1,095 citations

Psilocybin is being studied for use in treatment-resistant depression. In this phase 2 double-blind trial, we randomly assigned adults with treatment-resistant depression to receive a single dose of a proprietary, synthetic formulation of psilocybin at a dose of 25 mg, 10 mg, or 1 mg (control), along with psychological support. The primary end point was the change from baseline to week 3 in the...

Assessing the risk–benefit profile of classical psychedelics: a clinical review of second-wave psychedelic research

Psychopharmacology January 13, 2022 David A Bender, David J Hellerstein 82 citations

RationaleA broad reassessment of the potential benefits of psychedelic drugs has led to the initiation of multiple major clinical trials in an effort to advance their status to become FDA-approved medications, as well as local legislative efforts to legalize or decriminalize their use.ObjectivesTo use recently published data to assess potential risks and benefits of psychedelic drugs as...

Antidepressants Normalize the Default Mode Network in Patients With Dysthymia

JAMA Psychiatry February 6, 2013 Jonathan Posner, David J Hellerstein, Inbal Gat et al. 275 citations

IMPORTANCE: The default mode network (DMN) is a collection of brain regions that reliably deactivate during goal-directed behaviors and is more active during a baseline, or so-called resting, condition. Coherence of neural activity, or functional connectivity, within the brain's DMN is increased in major depressive disorder relative to healthy control (HC) subjects; however, whether similar...