Clinical Neuropsychopharmacology and Addiction
September 1, 2026
Beatrice Dal Bianco, Matteo Buonarroti, Alessandro Lo Jacono et al.
Background: Epidemiological data on psychedelic use in Italy is limited. In this study, Italian responders in the Global Psychedelic Survey 2025 were subanalyzed to describe patterns of use, motivations, subjective experiences, and health correlates. Methods: Adults (≥21 years) with lifetime psychedelic exposure, residing in or born in Italy or San Marino, were surveyed in a web-based,...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 29, 2026
Marlene L. Tai, B. Szigeti, Amanda E. Downey et al.
BACKGROUND Psilocybin, a serotonergic psychedelic found in hallucinogenic mushrooms, is metabolized to psilocin, the compound responsible for its psychoactive effects. Psilocybin has demonstrated therapeutic potential for neuropsychiatric conditions. While recent trials have primarily used orally administered synthetic psilocybin, alternative formulations and delivery methods may offer...
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
April 8, 2026
Oliver Robinson, David Luke, Jules Evans et al.
1 citation
As psychedelic use increases and integrates with mainstream medicine, understanding the prevalence and nature of postpsychedelic adverse outcomes is critical. We investigated extended difficulties after psychedelic use via the Global Psychedelic Survey (GPS) 2025, which is a multilingual online survey of people who have used psychedelics. Data on the prevalence, characteristics, and...
Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
February 8, 2026
Michael J. Haupt, Savannah Pointe, Kevin F. Boehnke et al.
Ayahuasca is a psychedelic plant brew that has been used in Central and South America for centuries. Recently, there has been an increase in "drug tourism" to places where ayahuasca is legally available as well as increased scientific interest in its potential mental and physical health benefits. Despite a growing body of research over the last decade, no studies to date have systematically...
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews
February 1, 2026
Mallet R Reid, Jonathan Song, Kevin F. Boehnke et al.
People of color have been significantly underincluded in psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) research, despite facing challenges commonly addressed in PAT and often more severe symptoms. It may be the case that people of color are underincluded because PAT researchers have not used approaches designed to promote sample diversity. Community-engaged research (CEnR) is a research paradigm that has...
American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry
2026
Jacob S. Aday, Robin Carhart-Harris, Kevin F. Boehnke
2 citations
Classic psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, and ayahuasca/N,N-dimethyltryptamine, are increasingly being studied as therapeutics for myriad health conditions; however, predicting individual responses is notoriously difficult. An arguably underappreciated variable potentially moderating responses to psychedelics is age. Older adults exhibit unique pathogenesis of...
Drug Science, Policy and Law
2026
Jacob S. Aday, Zoe Zong, Jonathan Song et al.
The Five Dimensional Altered States of Consciousness (5D-ASC) Rating Scale is a self-report measure used to characterize changes in consciousness induced by pharmacological (e.g., psychedelics) and non-pharmacological methods (e.g., meditation), and predict clinical outcomes. Although it has been widely used with English-speaking participants, there is no version that has been adapted for...
SSRN Electronic Journal
2026
Dennis Parker Kelley, Gabriel Sturm, Katy Venable et al.
Serotonergic psychedelics produce therapeutic effects in clinical trials of diverse neuropsychiatric disorders, and preclinical models of inflammatory, cardiometabolic, and neuropsychiatric diseases. These effects appear largely mediated by the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor (5-HT2AR). How could psychedelics elicit transdiagnostic therapeutic effects through a single receptor across tissues as...
SSRN Electronic Journal
2026
Jake Payne, Arthur Pont, Jacob S. Aday et al.
Background: Emerging adults between 18 and 29, particularly males, are the predominant naturalistic consumers of classic psychedelic substances compared to all other demographics. Previous evidence suggests psychedelic use may interact with positive developmental outcomes and processes. Despite the high prevalence of psychedelic use by emerging adults, limited previous research has...
Scientific Reports
November 29, 2025
Leehe Peled-Avron, Jacob S. Aday, Madeline M. Pantoni et al.
1 citation
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is an amphetamine derivative known as an "entactogen," influencing emotional and social processing. Phase III clinical trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder have reported promising results, and MDMA-assisted therapy is currently under regulatory review. However, the precise mechanisms underlying positive treatment...
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...
Brain Behav
November 1, 2025
Jake Payne, Oliver Robinson, Kevin O. St. Arnaud et al.
3 citations
Preliminary evidence suggests that classic psychedelics may exert lasting positive effects on individuals' mood, cognition, and personality, but little is known about how these effects may differ across the lifespan. Emerging adulthood (18-29) is a critical developmental stage in which individuals transition from dependence on community institutions toward full independence. It is a time when...
Drug Science Policy and Law
September 1, 2025
David Nutt, David Erritzøe, Anne Katrin Schlag et al.
9 citations
Psychedelics are undergoing a clinical research renaissance, with compounds such as psilocybin advancing to Phase 3 trials for treatment-resistant depression and receiving fast-track or breakthrough designations from regulatory agencies. Despite this progress, the field lacks standardized terminology to guide clinical development, dosing, safety monitoring, and regulatory classification. Here,...
Nature Medicine
June 3, 2025
Chloé Pronovost-Morgan, Kyle T. Greenway, Leor Roseman et al.
26 citations
Psychedelic substances exhibit complex interactions with the 'set and setting' of use, that is, the mental state of the user and the environment in which a psychedelic experience takes place. Despite these contextual variables' known importance, psychedelic research has lacked methodological rigor in reporting extra-pharmacological factors. This study aimed to generate consensus-based...
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...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
April 22, 2025
Nicolas G. Glynos, Mallet R Reid, Jacob S. Aday et al.
4 citations
People of Color have been under-included in psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) research. Researchers have argued that systemic issues resulting in harms to communities of color like the War on Drugs and recurrent exposure to discrimination in healthcare settings may reduce their willingness to engage in PAT research. However, there are no empirical data regarding People of Color's trust or...
Int J Neuropsychopharmacol
April 1, 2025
Jacob S. Aday, Otto Simonsson, Emmanuelle A. D. Schindler et al.
25 citations
Classic psychedelics have shown promise in the treatment of various neuropsychiatric disorders. However, weak blinding integrity has been argued to limit the interpretability of therapeutic effects observed in psychedelic clinical trials, highlighting the need to explore alternative active placebos. Here, we aimed to describe the drawbacks of current placebo conditions used in classic...
The Journal of Sex Research
March 28, 2025
Daniel J. Kruger, Eirini K. Argyri, Justin K. Mogilski et al.
7 citations
= 581). Most participants (70.2%) reported perceived impacts of psychedelic experiences on their sexuality and/or sexual experiences, with 65.4% noting short-term effects during psychedelic experiences and 52.8% reporting long-term effects, although no individual effect was endorsed by most participants. A higher proportion of participants indicated that psychedelic experiences enhanced, rather...
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...
Psychedelic medicine (New Rochelle, N.Y.)
March 1, 2025
Daniel J. Kruger, Jacob S. Aday, Christopher W Fields et al.
19 citations
Psychedelic substances have been used for centuries in various cultural and religious contexts, and more recently, in clinical research and therapy. There is a surge of interest in psychedelics, and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is becoming increasingly accessible. However, most individuals using psychedelics do so outside of therapeutic contexts. It is important to understand the adverse...
British Journal of Pain
February 11, 2025
Anne Baker, Stephanie Lake, Philippe Lucas et al.
7 citations
Psychedelic substances have shown preliminary efficacy for several neuropsychiatric disorders and are currently being investigated for chronic pain conditions. However, few studies have investigated outcomes of naturalistic psychedelic use among individuals with chronic pain, and none have assessed psychedelic-related changes in substance use patterns in this population. In a cross-sectional...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
February 5, 2025
Daniel J. Kruger, Jeff Albrecht, Jacob S. Aday et al.
3 citations
Psychedelic drugs are currently being explored for their therapeutic potential for a variety of health conditions. The recent increased public interest in psychedelics necessitates empirical investigation into motivations for use among users as well as how motivations may change over time. We asked a large sample of participants reporting naturalistic psychedelic use (N = 1221) about their...