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...
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...
Commun Psychol
April 13, 2025
Martha N. Havenith, Max Leidenberger, Jelena Brasanac et al.
14 citations
Abstract Altered states of consciousness (ASCs), induced e.g. during psychedelic-assisted therapy, show potential to treat prevalent mental health disorders like depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. However, access to such treatments is restricted by legal, medical, and financial barriers. Circular breathwork may present a non-pharmacological and hence more accessible alternative to...
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...
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...
Deutsches Ärzteblatt international
December 16, 2024
Moritz Spangemacher, Andrea Jungaberle, Henrik Jungaberle et al.
3 citations
Treatment with psilocybin differs fundamentally from classic psychopharmacotherapy. Its potentially transdiagnostic, rapid, and sustainable efficacy and its positive effect on further dimensions of mental health beyond the patient's symptoms and psychopathology imply that it may have diseasemodifying and salutogenic mechanisms of action. Psychotherapy accompanied by the administration of...
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...
Research Square
February 22, 2024
Martha N. Havenith, Max Leidenberger, Jelena Brasanac et al.
3 citations
Abstract Altered states of consciousness (ASCs), induced e.g. by psychedelics, show great potential to treat widespread mental health disorders like depression and PTSD. However, access to such treatments is restricted by legal, medical, and financial barriers. Here, we explore the potential of circular breathwork to serve as an accessible, non-pharmacological alternative to engage similar...
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...
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...
Pharmacopsychiatry
May 12, 2021
Gerhard Gründer, Henrik Jungaberle
32 citations
Abstract Serotonergic psychedelics such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), or dimethyltryptamine (DMT), as well as psychoactive drugs that trigger phenomenologically- related experiences like 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and ketamine, belong to the most promising treatment approaches in contemporary psychiatry. Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is not only a new...
Psychopharmacology
May 1, 2020
Toby Lea, Nicole Amada, Henrik Jungaberle et al.
The regular consumption of very small doses of psychedelic drugs (known as microdosing) has been a source of growing media and community attention in recent years. However, there is currently limited clinical and social research evidence on the potential role of microdosing as therapies for mental and substance use disorders. This paper examined subjective experiences of microdosing...
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...
International Journal of Drug Policy
November 25, 2019
Toby Lea, Nicole Amada, Henrik Jungaberle et al.
119 citations
BackgroundIn recent years there has been growing media attention on microdosing psychedelics (e.g., LSD, psilocybin). This refers to people routinely taking small doses of psychedelic substances to improve mental health and wellbeing, or to enhance cognitive performance. Research evidence is currently limited. This paper examines microdosing motivations, dosing practices, perceived short-term...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
October 24, 2019
Toby Lea, Nicole Amada, Henrik Jungaberle
121 citations
Self-administration of very low doses of psychedelic drugs to improve mental health and wellbeing and enhance cognitive function, known as microdosing, has received recent media attention, but little research has been conducted. We conducted a content analysis of discussions about microdosing from the online forum Reddit. We examined motivations, dosing practices, and perceived benefits and...
Journal of Substance Use
May 21, 2019
Sascha Thal, J. Daniels, Henrik Jungaberle
11 citations
ABSTRACT Background: Childhood trauma severity is associated with the level of subsequent substance use as well as with the self-reported severity of dissociation. Classic psychedelics and dissociatives target neurotransmitter systems thought to be involved in the onset of dissociative symptoms and may evoke severe and long-lasting symptoms of depersonalization in some users. However, it is...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
March 6, 2019
Ansgar Rougemont-Bücking, Henrik Jungaberle, Milan Scheidegger et al.
6 citations
Differences in mental health (MH) of users of distinct psychoactive substances have been shown. Both substance use (SU) and MH in users are influenced by stressful life events. This study compared MH parameters in distinct groups of substance users and evaluated the impact of stress factors on these outcomes. Data stem from the longitudinal Swiss Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors...
Neuropharmacology
November 1, 2018
Henrik Jungaberle, Sascha Thal, Andrea Zeuch et al.
70 citations
RationaleWe reviewed the concepts and empirical findings in studies with psychedelics and entactogens related to positive psychology - the study of healthy human functioning, well-being and eudaemonia. It is an unresolved question how beneficial effects of psychedelics and entactogens are related to the potential risks of these substances - particularly in non-clinical settings.MethodsWe...
Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
February 2, 2018
Simon Reiche, Leo Hermle, Stefan Gutwinski et al.
125 citations
Anxiety and depression are some of the most common psychiatric symptoms of patients suffering with life-threatening diseases, often associated with a low quality of life and a poor overall prognosis. 5-HT2A-receptor agonists (serotonergic hallucinogens, 'psychedelics') like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin were first investigated as therapeutic agents in the 1960s. Recently,...
Fortschritte der Neurologie · Psychiatrie
July 1, 2017
Tomislav Majić, Henrik Jungaberle, Timo Torsten Schmidt et al.
10 citations
Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Der Einsatz von serotonergen Halluzinogenen (Psychedelika) wie Lysergsäure-Diethylamid (LSD) und Psilocybin und Entaktogenen wie 3,4-Methylendioxymethamphetamin (MDMA) im Rahmen von Psychotherapie ist in den letzten Jahren wieder zunehmend ins Licht des wissenschaftlichen Interesses gerückt. Die vorliegende Arbeit fasst die aktuelle Evidenz zur substanzunterstützten...
Zeitschrift für Medizinische Psychologie
August 1, 2011
Lisa Fiedler, Henrik Jungaberle, Rolf Verres
4 citations
Objectives: The Santo Daime Church is a religious community originally founded in Brazil which has increasingly attracted followers in Europe and worldwide. An important element of the religious ceremonies is the ingestion of a psychoactive substance known as ayahuasca. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive or visionary-state-inducing concoction of plants, which contains, amongst other substances,...
Anthropology of Consciousness
August 23, 2010
Janine Tatjana Schmid, Henrik Jungaberle, Rolf Verres
25 citations
ABSTRACT Ayahuasca is a psychoactive beverage that is mostly used in ritualized settings (Santo Daime rituals, neo‐shamanic rituals, and even do‐it‐yourself‐rituals). It is a common practice in the investigated socio‐cultural field to call these settings “healing rituals.” For this study, 15 people who underwent ayahuasca (self‐)therapy for a particular disease like chronic pain, cancer,...