Beckley Foundation
65 papers in the library · 13,107 citations · publishing 2010-2025
Br J Pain September 4, 2025 Mauro Cavarra, Nadia R. P. W. Hutten, Jan Schepers et al.
A randomised placebo-controlled study of the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide microdosing (15 μg) on pain perception in healthy volunteers.
Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) October 1, 2024 Valerie Bonnelle, Amanda Feilding, Fernando E. Rosas et al. 16 citations
Non-ordinary states of consciousness induced by psychedelics can be accompanied by so-called "peak experiences," characterized at the emotional level by their intensity and positive valence. These experiences are strong predictors of positive outcomes following psychedelic-assisted therapy, and it is therefore important to better understand their biology. Despite growing evidence that the...
ACS Omega August 27, 2024 Marcelo N. Costa, Livia Goto-Silva, Juliana Nascimento et al. 3 citations
Proteomic analysis of human cerebral organoids may reveal how psychedelics regulate biological processes, shedding light on drug-induced changes in the brain. This study elucidates the proteomic alterations induced by lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in human cerebral organoids. By employing high-resolution mass spectrometry-based proteomics, we quantitatively analyzed the differential...
Translational Psychiatry July 15, 2024 Nadia R. P. W. Hutten, Conny W E M Quaedflieg, Natasha L. Mason et al. 16 citations
The repeated use of small doses of psychedelics (also referred to as "microdosing") to facilitate benefits in mental health, cognition, and mood is a trending practice. Placebo-controlled studies however have largely failed to demonstrate strong benefits, possibly because of large inter-individual response variability. The current study tested the hypothesis that effects of low doses of LSD on...
ACS Chemical Neuroscience February 7, 2024 Pedro A. M. Mediano, Fernando E. Rosas, Christopher Timmermann et al. 60 citations
Recent findings have shown that psychedelics reliably enhance brain entropy (understood as neural signal diversity), and this effect has been associated with both acute and long-term psychological outcomes, such as personality changes. These findings are particularly intriguing, given that a decrease of brain entropy is a robust indicator of loss of consciousness (e.g., from wakefulness to...
Brain Behavior and Immunity September 7, 2023 Natasha L. Mason, Attila Szabo, Kim P. C. Kuypers et al. 83 citations
Patients characterized by stress-related disorders such as depression display elevated circulating concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines and a hyperactive HPA axis. Psychedelics are demonstrating promising results in treatment of such disorders, however the mechanisms of their therapeutic effects are still unknown. To date the evidence of acute and persisting effects of psychedelics on...
European Journal of Pain August 20, 2023 Mauro Cavarra, Amanda Feilding, Pamela Kryskow et al. 28 citations
Abstract Background Chronic pain is a major cause of suffering and disability and is often associated with psychiatric complications. Current treatments carry the risk of severe side effects and may lead to limited or no relief at all in a relevant portion of this patient population. Preliminary evidence suggests that classical psychedelics (e.g. LSD and psilocybin) may have analgesic effects...
International Journal of Molecular Sciences May 30, 2023 Tobias Buchborn, Taylor Lyons, Chenchen Song et al. 6 citations
(1) From mouse to man, shaking behavior (head twitches and/or wet dog shakes) is a reliable readout of psychedelic drug action. Shaking behavior like psychedelia is thought to be mediated by serotonin 2A receptors on cortical pyramidal cells. The involvement of pyramidal cells in psychedelic-induced shaking behavior remains hypothetical, though, as experimental in vivo evidence is limited. (2)...
Psychological Medicine March 1, 2023 Isabel Wießner, Marcelo Falchi, Fernanda Palhano-Fontes et al. 53 citations
For a century, psychedelics have been investigated as models of psychosis for demonstrating phenomenological similarities with psychotic experiences and as therapeutic models for treating depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. This study sought to explore this paradoxical relationship connecting key parameters of the psychotic experience, psychotherapy, and psychedelic experience. In...
European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology March 1, 2023 Isabel Wießner, Marcelo Falchi, Dimitri Daldegan-Bueno et al. 6 citations
Language has been explored as a window into the mind. Psychedelics, known to affect perception and cognition, seem to change language, but a systematic, time-dependent exploration is lacking. Therefore, we aimed at mapping the psychedelic effects on language over the time course of the acute and sub-acute effects in an explorative manner. For this, 24 healthy volunteers (age [mean±SD, range]:...
medRxiv November 1, 2022 Natasha L. Mason, Attila Szabo, Kim P. C. Kuypers et al. 6 citations preprint
Abstract Patients characterized by stress-related disorders such as depression display elevated circulating concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines and a hyperactive HPA axis. Psychedelics are demonstrating promising results in treatment of such disorders, however the mechanisms of their therapeutic effects are still unknown. To date the evidence of acute and persisting effects of...
Br J Pain July 14, 2022 Valerie Bonnelle, Will J Smith, Natasha L. Mason et al. 26 citations
Analgesic potential of macrodoses and microdoses of classical psychedelics in chronic pain sufferers: a population survey.
Experimental Neurology June 1, 2022 Isis M. Ornelas, F. A. Cini, Isabel Wießner et al. 37 citations
The therapeutic use of classical psychedelic substances such as d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) surged in recent years. Studies in rodents suggest that these effects are produced by increased neural plasticity, including stimulation of the mTOR pathway, a key regulator of metabolism, plasticity, and aging. Could psychedelic-induced neural plasticity be harnessed to enhance cognition? Here we...
Psychopharmacology June 1, 2022 Isabel Wießner, Marcelo Falchi, Fernanda Palhano-Fontes et al. 22 citations
Stream of thought describes the nature of the mind when it is freely roaming, a mental state that is continuous and highly dynamic as in mind-wandering or free association. Classic serotonergic psychedelics are known to profoundly impact perception, cognition and language, yet their influence on the stream of thought remains largely unexplored. To elucidate the effects of LSD on the stream of...
European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology May 1, 2022 Isabel Wießner, Rodolfo Olivieri, Marcelo Falchi et al. 42 citations
Psychedelics acutely impair cognitive functions, but these impairments decline with growing experiences with psychedelics and microdoses may even exert opposing effects. Given the recent evidence that psychedelics induce neuroplasticity, this explorative study aimed at investigating the potential of psychedelics to sub-acutely change cognition. For this, we applied a randomized, double-blind,...
Journal of Psychopharmacology February 1, 2022 Isabel Wießner, Marcelo Falchi-Carvalho, Lucas Oliveira Maia et al. 43 citations
Background: Controversy surrounds psychedelics and their potential to boost creativity. To date, psychedelic studies lack a uniform conceptualization of creativity and methodologically rigorous designs. Aims: This study aimed at addressing previous issues by examining the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) on creativity using multimodal tasks and multidimensional approaches. Methods:...
Frontiers in Pharmacology May 5, 2021 Débora González, Jordi Cantillo, Irene Hidalgo Pérez et al. 39 citations
Promoting well-being is one of the main goals to improve health in the world. We examined the well-being and quality of life over the course of one year in a sample that participated in an Indigenous Shipibo healing program where traditional healers work in a series of ayahuasca ceremonies. We also explored the role of decentering as a mediator of psychological well-being. Participants who...
Translational Psychiatry April 8, 2021 Natasha L. Mason, Kim P. C. Kuypers, Johannes T. Reckweg et al. 132 citations
Abstract Creativity is an essential cognitive ability linked to all areas of our everyday functioning. Thus, finding a way to enhance it is of broad interest. A large number of anecdotal reports suggest that the consumption of psychedelic drugs can enhance creative thinking; however, scientific evidence is lacking. Following a double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group design, we...
Elife March 2, 2021 Balázs Szigeti, Laura Kärtner, Allan Blemings et al. 192 citations
Microdosing is the practice of regularly using low doses of psychedelic drugs. Anecdotal reports suggest that microdosing enhances well-being and cognition; however, such accounts are potentially biased by the placebo effect. This study used a 'self-blinding' citizen science initiative, where participants were given online instructions on how to incorporate placebo control into their...
December 11, 2020 Balázs Szigeti, Laura Kärtner, Allan Blemings et al. 1 citation
Article Figures and data Abstract eLife digest Introduction Materials and methods Results Discussion Appendix 1 Data availability References Decision letter Author response Article and author information Metrics Abstract Microdosing is the practice of regularly using low doses of psychedelic drugs. Anecdotal reports suggest that microdosing enhances well-being and cognition; however, such...
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology November 1, 2020 Natasha L. Mason, K P C Kuypers, F Müller et al. 261 citations
There is growing interest in the therapeutic utility of psychedelic substances, like psilocybin, for disorders characterized by distortions of the self-experience, like depression. Accumulating preclinical evidence emphasizes the role of the glutamate system in the acute action of the drug on brain and behavior; however this has never been tested in humans. Following a double-blind,...
European Neuropsychopharmacology October 17, 2020 Nadia R. P. W. Hutten, Natasha L. Mason, Patrick C. Dolder et al. 121 citations
There is a popular interest in microdosing with psychedelics such as LSD. This practice of using one-tenth of a full psychedelic dose according to a specific dosing schedule, anecdotally enhances mood and performance. Nonetheless, controlled research on the efficacy of microdosing is scarce. The main objective of the present dose-finding study was to determine the minimal dose of LSD needed to...
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics September 25, 2020 Friederike Holze, Matthias E. Liechti, Nadia R. P. W. Hutten et al. 63 citations
“Microdoses” of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) are used recreationally to enhance mood and cognition. Increasing interest has also been seen in developing LSD into a medication. Therefore, we performed a pharmacokinetic‐pharmacodynamic study using very low doses of LSD. Single doses of LSD base (5, 10, and 20 µg) and placebo were administered in a double‐blind, randomized, placebo‐controlled...
ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science August 31, 2020 Nadia R. P. W. Hutten, Natasha L. Mason, Patrick C. Dolder et al. 134 citations
Despite preclinical evidence for psychedelic-induced neuroplasticity, confirmation in humans is grossly lacking. Given the increased interest in using low doses of psychedelics for psychiatric indications and the importance of neuroplasticity in the therapeutic response, this placebo-controlled within-subject study investigated the effect of single low doses of LSD (5, 10, and 20 μg) on...
Journal of Psychopharmacology August 25, 2020 Johannes G. Ramaekers, Nadia R. P. W. Hutten, Natasha L. Mason et al. 95 citations
Background: Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is an ergot alkaloid derivative with psychedelic properties that has been implicated in the management of persistent pain. Clinical studies in the 1960s and 1970s have demonstrated profound analgesic effects of full doses of LSD in terminally ill patients, but this line of research evaporated after LSD was scheduled worldwide. Aim: The present...