NeuropsychopharmacologySeptember 15, 2026Alexandra Gaillard, Daniel J Fehring, Philip J Sumner et al.
Chronic cannabis use drives neuroadaptations in reward and stress-related circuits that condition the brain to the drug and its associated cues. These changes underlie craving and heighten its sensitivity to cue- and stress-induced triggers, sustaining drug intake and promoting relapse. Task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging of drug cue reactivity paradigms has shown the dorsolateral...
Background Integration — the ongoing process of revisiting, making sense of, and incorporating the content of a psychedelic experience into daily life — is a core component of psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT), but is variably operationalised and poorly reported in clinical research. Objective To map how integration is described, delivered, and reported in clinical studies of classic...
Background: Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) may be an effective intervention for a range of mental disorders. However, there appears to be a relative lack of qualitative evidence to complement emerging quantitative findings. To our knowledge, no reviews have systematically mapped the literature on qualitative studies on PAP for the treatment of mental disorders with the intent to...
Psilocybin has been reported to decrease depression symptoms among individuals with bipolar disorder (BD), but has also been associated with reports of mania, psychosis and increased depression. With increasing recreational use of psilocybin, and the potential for psilocybin to be used as a treatment for depression, a better understanding of the risks and benefits of this psychedelic among...
Background Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a debilitating mental disorder commonly treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, atypical antipsychotic augmentation and cognitive–behavioural therapy. However, up to 60% of people with OCD do not respond to these treatments. Therefore, a novel intervention, psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PAP), is an option of interest....
Background: Depressive disorders are a major global health challenge, with many individuals unresponsive to existing treatments. Novel psychedelic therapies show promise but require further research. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility, safety and effectiveness of psilocybin with psychotherapeutic support for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), investigate predictors of...
Abstract Background Depressive disorders are a major global health challenge, with many individuals unresponsive to existing treatments or left with residual symptoms such as impairments in cognition and social functioning. Emerging psychedelic therapies show promise for treating depression but require further research. Aims & Objectives This pilot study aimed to evaluate the feasibility,...
Abstract Background Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), and anorexia nervosa (AN) are some of the most debilitating and chronic mental health conditions, with impairments across multiple domains of functioning, leading to poor quality of life and well-being. These conditions share overlapping psychopathological determinants in terms of cognitive-behavioural...
BMJ OpenApril 1, 2025Vanessa L. Beesley, Tom Kennedy, Fiona Maccallum et al.2 citations
Introduction Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) represents a substantial public health issue, especially in oncology settings where it affects up to 30% of bereaved carers. Current best-practice treatments are lengthy, and up to 50% of participants have persistent PGD. Building on encouraging recent research with psychedelic-assisted therapies, the Psilocybin-Assisted suppoRtive psychoTherapy IN...
October 7, 2024Jennifer Pincombe, M.l. Williams, Sean Carruthers et al.1 citation
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IntroductionThere has been a surge in research into psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy over the past decade, with many studies indicating this may be an effective novel intervention for several mental health disorders. Researchers are increasingly incorporating qualitative analysis into their studies in recognition of the rich, contextual information this provides. This scoping review aims to...
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH), or voice-hearing, can be a prominent symptom during fluctuating mood states in bipolar disorder (BD). The current study aimed to: (i) compare AVH-related distress in BD relative to schizophrenia (SCZ), (ii) examine correlations between phenomenology and voice beliefs across each group, and (iii) explore how voice beliefs may uniquely contribute to distress...
Research SquareJuly 27, 2023Claire Finkelstein, Olivia Soha, Alana Roy et al.2 citations
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Abstract Background: Body Image Disturbance (BID) is the distorted experience of one’s body. BID presents a risk for the onset, maintenance and relapse of body dysmorphic disorder and eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa (AN). Current treatments tend to focus on the cognitive and behavioural aspects while overlooking the perceptual symptoms and BID frequently persists beyond physical...
Objectives: At least one in four persons with bipolar disorder (BD) are estimated to have experienced auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) or heard voices at some point. Yet few studies have investigated AVH in detail in this population. This preliminary study examined the phenomenology of AVH in BD to identify commonalities and differences relative to other psychiatric disorders where AVH are...
Abstract Psychedelics are a unique class of drug that commonly produce vivid hallucinations as well as profound psychological and mystical experiences. A grouping of interconnected brain regions characterized by increased temporal coherence at rest have been termed the Default Mode Network (DMN). The DMN has been the focus of numerous studies assessing its role in self-referencing, mind...
Hallucinations and delusions in borderline personality disorder (BPD) are understudied. The authors explore the phenomenology of multisensory hallucinations and delusions in individuals with BPD and compare them to those in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD). Clinical psychopathology was also explored. Eighty-nine adults participated and were categorized into four groups:...
The study of hallucinations across multiple senses in psychosis has garnered renewed interest. Recent studies have adopted the term multimodal hallucinations to describe these experiences, yet some appear to be investigating a different, but related, phenomenon. In the current paper, we suggest use of the terms multimodal hallucinations and multisensory hallucinations to categorise distinct...
The medical use of psychedelic substances (e.g. psilocybin, ayahuasca, lysergic acid diethylamide and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is attracting renewed interest, driven by a pressing need for research and development of novel therapies for psychiatric disorders, as well as promising results of contemporary studies. In this Viewpoint, we reflect upon the ‘Clinical Memorandum on...
There has been burgeoning interest in studying hallucinations in psychosis occurring across multiple sensory modalities. The current study aimed to characterize the auditory hallucination and delusion profiles in patients with auditory hallucinations only versus those with multisensory hallucinations. Participants with psychosis were partitioned into groups with voices only (AVH; n = 50) versus...
In the quest for new treatment options for depression, attention is being paid to the potential role of psychedelic drugs. Psilocybin is of particular interest given its mechanism of action, its benefits in early trials and its relatively low side effects burden. This viewpoint outlines a number of key issues that remain to be elucidated about its potential use in the clinical environment,...
A prominent area of advancement in the psychological treatment for people with persisting psychosis has been the application of mindfulness-based therapies. Recent literature has recommended the investigation of focused mindfulness interventions for voices (auditory hallucinations) as a specific experience. To date, only mindfulness programs in group format have been examined. This...
In clinical settings, there is substantial evidence both clinically and empirically to suggest that approximately 50% of individuals with borderline personality disorder experience auditory verbal hallucinations. However, there is limited research investigating the phenomenology of these voices. The aim of this study was to review and compare our current understanding of auditory verbal...
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are not uncommon in bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD), but there has been scant research in the area. The current paper aims to draw together and provide a critical overview of existing studies of AVHs in BD and MDD. A systematic review was undertaken using the search terms 'hallucinations' or 'hearing voices' in conjunction with...