Communications Biology
August 31, 2026
Niloufar Pouyan, Chelsea Kaplan, Tony E. Larkin et al.
Pharmacological agents that alter consciousness, including classic psychedelics and non-classic agents such as nitrous oxide, are known to affect multiple domains of conscious experience, including visual perception. While most neuroimaging studies rely on resting-state data to characterize altered states of consciousness, task-based approaches enable investigation of specific perceptual...
Drugs
June 4, 2026
Kevin F. Boehnke, Niloufar Pouyan, Jacob S. Aday
Chronic pain is common, costly, and for many, remains inadequately treated by existing pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic approaches. In parallel with growing dissatisfaction with conventional therapies, classic serotonergic psychedelics, such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ayahuasca, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and mescaline, administered alone or within...
Scientific Reports
April 15, 2026
Jacob S. Aday, Nicolas G. Glynos, Anne Baker et al.
Psychedelic drugs show promise in facilitating a variety of long-term psychological changes, but they may also lead to unexpected major life changes that have not been captured by measures typically used in clinical trials. The Psychedelic-related Major Life Changes Questionnaire ( P-MLCQ ) was created to assess psychedelic-related major life changes across 10 different domains and evaluated in...
Research Square
January 12, 2026
Niloufar Pouyan, Chelsea M Kaplan, Tony E. Larkin et al.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) produces perceptual alterations and changes in large-scale brain network organization, yet its effects on task-specific visual processing remain unclear. Given the prominence of visual alterations during psychedelic exposure, we investigated how subanesthetic N2O modulates functional connectivity during visual stimulation. Thirteen healthy adults completed a...
Harm Reduct J
November 25, 2025
Daniel J. Kruger, Gina Mersereau, Ashley Sullivan et al.
1 citation
BACKGROUND: The use of psychedelics is currently increasing in the United States. Awareness of clinical trials investigating the therapeutic applications of psychedelics may result in a record number of people who use psychedelics for the first-time. This study aimed to develop a harm-reduction resource to facilitate safe and successful psychedelic experiences outside of regulated clinical and...
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
May 1, 2025
Niloufar Pouyan, Jacob S. Aday, Steven E. Harte et al.
1 citation
Patients with refractory conditions often identify themselves with their illness, which affects multiple aspects of their lives. The pictorial representation of illness and self measure (PRISM) is a tool used to assess the enmeshment of individuals' perception of self with a particular medical condition, broadly termed self-condition enmeshment. This study aimed to evaluate changes in PRISM...
Universität Zürich, ZORA
May 1, 2025
Niloufar Pouyan, Jacob S. Aday, Steven E. Harte et al.
Background: Patients with refractory conditions often identify themselves with their illness, which affects multiple aspects of their lives. The pictorial representation of illness and self measure (PRISM) is a tool used to assess the enmeshment of individuals' perception of self with a particular medical condition, broadly termed self-condition enmeshment. Aims: This study aimed to evaluate...
Frontiers in Pain Research
March 18, 2025
Jenna McAfee, Avinash Hosanagar, Vijay Tarnal et al.
18 citations
Introduction Fibromyalgia (FM) is the prototypical nociplastic pain condition, characterized by widespread pain and issues with cognition, mood, and sleep. Currently, there are limited treatment options available that effectively treat FM symptoms. Psilocybin-assisted therapy (PAT) is an emerging combined drug-therapy intervention, but no studies to-date have investigated PAT for FM. Methods...
Figshare
2025
Daniel J. Kruger, Gina Mersereau, Ashley Sullivan et al.
Abstract Background The use of psychedelics is currently increasing in the United States. Awareness of clinical trials investigating the therapeutic applications of psychedelics may result in a record number of people who use psychedelics for the first-time. This study aimed to develop a harm-reduction resource to facilitate safe and successful psychedelic experiences outside of regulated...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
September 19, 2024
Anne Baker, Niloufar Pouyan, Julie Barron et al.
9 citations
Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) has shown preliminary efficacy for psychiatric and physical health conditions. Although some people report naturalistic psychedelic use with so-called "underground" practitioners, little is known about PAT that occurs outside of controlled clinical settings or perspectives of these practitioners. We conducted an anonymous online survey of individuals who...
CNS Drugs
December 1, 2023
Niloufar Pouyan, Farnaz Younesi Sisi, Alireza Kargar et al.
12 citations
The renewed interest in psychedelic research provides growing evidence of potentially unique effects on various aspects of reward processing systems. Using the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework, as proposed by the National Institute of Mental Health, we aim to synthesize the existing literature concerning the impact of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) on the RDoC's Positive Valence...
CNS Drugs
October 1, 2022
Niloufar Pouyan, Zahra Halvaei Khankahdani, Farnaz Younesi Sisi et al.
16 citations
Preliminary results from randomized controlled studies as well as identified molecular, cellular, and circuit targets of select psychedelics (e.g., psilocybin) suggest that their effects are transdiagnostic. In this review, we exploit the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) transdiagnostic framework, to synthesize extant literature on psilocybin. We aimed to identify RDoC-based effects of...