Background Serotonergic psychedelics and MDMA may improve mental health through reductions in neuroticism and changes in personal values. While decreases in neuroticism following serotonergic psychedelics are sometimes observed, it is unclear which facets of neuroticism respond the most, and MDMA remains understudied. People also report value shifts after psychedelic experiences, but...
Preclinical studies suggest that lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) may induce lasting changes in brain function and learning ability, but evidence in humans is uncertain. Motor learning, in particular, has clinical relevance but has not been investigated in human studies of psychedelics. Forty-five healthy subjects (24 women) participated in this randomized crossover trial comparing 100 µg LSD...
Existing tools assess psychedelic experiences, but none specifically measure altered processing of traumatic memories-a key mechanism in trauma-focused therapies and psychotherapy in general. The helioscope effect describes how psychedelics like psilocybin and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) enable revisiting challenging or traumatic experiences while remaining protected from...
The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health provides case-by-case exemptions allowing physicians to provide psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) using psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), or 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methamphetamine (MDMA). The study provided an overview of PAT as currently provided in Switzerland under the regulatory framework of the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH)....
Professor Gregor Hasler stands at the forefront of revolutionary psychedelic research and neuroplasticity studies, transforming our understanding of mental health treatment through groundbreaking scientific discoveries. As Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, where he directs the Molecular Psychiatry Lab, Hasler has pioneered research on how psychedelics like LSD,...
Psilocybin shows promise for treating neuropsychiatric disorders. However, insight into its acute effects on cognition is lacking. Given the significant role of executive functions in daily life and treatment efficacy, it is crucial to evaluate how psilocybin influences these cognitive domains. This meta-analysis aims to quantify the acute effects of psilocybin on executive functions and...
Psychedelic experiences involving extreme feelings of horror, helplessness, and perceived threats can be traumatizing. Traumatic psychedelic experiences are a rare, extreme, and largely preventable form of challenging experience which can arise due to frightening psychedelic drug effects, unsafe settings, and emergence of pre-existing trauma. Some people recover quickly, but others develop...
The Hallucinogen Rating Scale (HRS) has been widely used to measure the subjective effects of psychedelics and other psychoactive substances. Its advantages include a basis in phenomenological interviews and clinical studies, straightforward items, and broad coverage of psychedelic effects. Previous studies have attempted to resolve its factor structure but were limited by small samples of...
Abstract Background Peripheral levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are often used as a biomarker for the rapid plasticity-promoting effects of ketamine, psychedelics, and other psychoplastogens in humans. However, studies analyzing peripheral BDNF after psychoplastogen exposure show mixed results. In this meta-analysis, we aimed to test whether the rapid upregulation of...
Studies of psychedelic-assisted therapy with LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, and related substances show clinical promise but inadequately assess side effects. Measuring side effects is challenging because they are not always easily differentiated from treatment effects or disease symptoms and show high heterogeneity, variable duration and impact, and sensitivity to context. A systematic questionnaire...
Background: Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) is permitted in Switzerland under its limited medical use program. Data from patients in this program represent a unique opportunity to analyze the real-world practice of PAT. Aims: This study compared the subjective effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin between patients undergoing PAT and healthy volunteers. For the patients,...
Though microdosing psychedelics has become increasingly popular, its long-term effects on cardiac health remain unknown. Microdosing most commonly involves ingesting sub-threshold doses of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, or other psychedelic drugs 2–4 times a week for at least several weeks, but potentially months or years. Concerningly, both LSD and psilocybin share structural...
Social cognitive deficits and social behavior impairments are common in major depressive disorder (MDD) and affect the quality of life and recovery of patients. This review summarizes the impact of standard and novel treatments on social functioning in MDD and highlights the potential of combining different approaches to enhance their effectiveness. Standard treatments, such as antidepressants,...
Eating disorders are serious illnesses showing high rates of mortality and comorbidity with other mental health problems. Psychedelic-assisted therapy has recently shown potential in the treatment of several common comorbidities of eating disorders, including mood disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders. The theorized therapeutic mechanisms of psychedelic-assisted...
BACKGROUND: Despite the growth of psychedelic research, psychedelic-assisted group psychotherapy (PAGP) has received little attention in comparison to individual psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy models. METHODS: In this article, we aim to discuss the therapeutic potential of PAGP, as well as outline existing models and the challenges of this approach. Using Irvin Yalom's 11 therapeutic...
Classic psychedelics, such as LSD, psilocybin, and the DMT-containing beverage ayahuasca, show some potential to treat depression, anxiety, and addiction. Importantly, clinical improvements can last for months or years after treatment. It has been theorized that these long-term improvements arise because psychedelics rapidly and lastingly stimulate neuroplasticity. The focus of this review is...
Abstract Rationale and objectives Differences among psychedelic substances regarding their subjective experiences are clinically and scientifically interesting. Quantitative linguistic analysis is a powerful tool to examine such differences. This study compared five psychedelic substance report groups and a non-psychedelic report group on quantitative linguistic markers of psychological states...
In major depression, remission rate in response to monoaminergic antidepressant is around 50%. The lack of strong synergies between classical antidepressants and psychotherapy may be due to the molecular effects of classical antidepressants. They modulate synapses but they do not substantially influence synaptogenesis. They also increase brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). However, for...
Psychoactive drugs profoundly alter consciousness, but the neural mechanisms by which they do so remain poorly understood. Global workspace theory may provide a framework for investigating these mechanisms. The global workspace, a candidate neural substrate of consciousness, is a set of brain regions that integrate and disseminate information to the rest of the brain. According to a recent...