Many terms have been invented to describe different types of hallucinogenic drugs, sometimes based on an analogy with the symptoms of schizophrenia, such as “psychotomimetic” and “phrenotropic.” “Psychedelics” refers to drugs that act as agonists at serotonin 5-HT2A receptors in the brain; they include psilocybin, 5-methoxydimethyltryptamine, and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (tryptamine derivatives),...
Psychedelic drugs produce effects on the mind that manifest as an apparent expansion of consciousness often accompanied by hallucinations. Psychedelics, which act as agonists at serotonin 5-HT2A receptors in the brain, include psilocybin, 5-methoxydimethyltryptamine, and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (tryptamine derivatives), mescaline (a phenethylamine derivative), and lysergic acid diethylamide...
Over the past 15 years, psychedelic treatments have garnered substantial clinical interest, with psilocybin and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) advancing to phase 3 trials for various psychiatric conditions. This state-of-the-art review examines the evidence for these treatments and their proposed mechanisms of action, and identifies key challenges in clinical translation. Psychedelic...
BMJFebruary 16, 2026Jonathan S Abramowitz, Amitai Abramovitch, Dean Mckay et al.1 citation
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic, often debilitating psychiatric condition characterized by intrusive thoughts and behavioral or mental rituals. Although exposure and response prevention (ERP) remains the first line treatment, many individuals do not experience full remission, highlighting the need for innovation. This review provides a comprehensive and up-to-date synthesis of...
Without parallel public health action, reclassifying ketamine risks being a symbolic gesture rather than a strategy to reduce harm, write Adam Winstock, David Nutt, and Caroline Copeland
BMJNovember 19, 2024Cédric Lemarchand, Raphaël Chopin, M Paul et al.9 citations
Cédric Lemarchand and colleagues highlight weaknesses in the evidence on efficacy and safety of hallucinogens and question the use of expedited regulatory pathways
Abstract Objective To evaluate the comparative effectiveness and acceptability of oral monotherapy using psychedelics and escitalopram in patients with depressive symptoms, considering the potential for overestimated effectiveness due to unsuccessful blinding. Design Systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis. Data sources Medline, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials,...
Major depressive disorder (MDD) affects a substantial portion of the population; however, much is still unknown about the pathophysiology of this disorder. Treatment resistance highlights the heterogeneous nature of MDD and the need for treatments to target more than monoamine neurotransmission. This review summarizes research into the new and emerging targets of MDD. These include drugs such...
The journal and the authors are investigating the problem.The study analysed data from randomised trials of psilocybin for the treatment of depression in adults.A methodological concern has been raised about an error in the calculation of standardised mean differences.This is likely to have overestimated the benefits of psilocybin.The authors are reviewing and responding to the error and its...
Abstract Objective To determine the efficacy of psilocybin as an antidepressant compared with placebo or non-psychoactive drugs. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources Five electronic databases of published literature (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Medline, Embase, Science Citation Index and Conference Proceedings Citation Index, and PsycInfo) and four...
To determine whether a single low dose of esketamine administered after childbirth reduces postpartum depression in mothers with prenatal depression. Randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trial with two parallel arms. Five tertiary care hospitals in China, 19 June 2020 to 3 August 2022. 364 mothers aged ≥18 years who had at least mild prenatal depression as indicated by Edinburgh...
at the age of 77, was an American psychopharmacologist widely credited with reviving the study of psychedelic drugs."He was almost the opposite of what I imagined a psychedelic researcher would be like," said Nassim Assefi, who curated a talk Griffiths gave in 2015."He was serious, gentle, and had a straight laced appearance, with a deeply calm, spiritual sense about him."When Griffiths learnt...
As a flurry of US states approve psilocybin for medicinal use, Joanne Silberner asks whether the most carefully studied of psychedelic drugs will revolutionise treatment of depression and other psychiatric ailments
Credit: Dassima Kathleen Murphy Nothing in Richard Alpert’s early life could have predicted that he would come to embody the spirit of the psychedelic 1960s. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the youngest of three sons, to George and Gertrude (Levin) Alpert. His father, a prominent lawyer in Boston, was a founder of Brandeis University and went on to become president of the New York and New...
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Not so fast. There’s a long way to go. But a study in London has shown that the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, psilocybin, may be effective against treatment resistant depression. Its effects were quick—within a week—and more than 40% of the patients treated were still in remission three months later.1 Yes, as far as it goes. These were people whose depression had …
Trials of physiologically safe and non-addictive drugs such as LSD are almost impossible, writes James J H Rucker, calling on the authorities to downgrade their unnecessarily restrictive class A, schedule 1 classification
“We have had recent experience with renal toxicity caused by deliberate ingestion of psilocybin mushrooms, which are eaten for their hallucinogenic effects. Acute renal failure secondary to the recreational use of mushrooms is rarely reported.”1 Each of these statements is problematic. The authors give no …
A doctor in private practice has been suspended for six months by the General Medical Council for giving the unlicensed hallucinogenic drug ibogaine to a man obsessed with internet pornography without fully explaining the drug’s risks. Peter Brackenridge, who saw private patients in London’s Harley Street, was medical director of Ibogaine Therapy UK, which advertised the treatment on a website....
The number of people experiencing problems after taking club drugs such as ketamine and mephedrone is rising, says the founder of the first NHS clinic in the United Kingdom set up specifically to tackle the issue. The Club Drug Clinic in west London opened its doors this week to deal with problems associated with excessive use of drugs such as ketamine, mephedrone, GHB (γ-hydroxybutyric acid)...
The belief that the theory of evolution and the neurosciences have something important to tell us about the inescapable problems of human existence has once again become fashionable. In my view, this is false and facile; a reading of the first chapter of William James’s The Varieties of Religious Experience should explain why. James (1842–1910) was one of three distinguished siblings. His...
OBJECTIVE: To determine whether use of cannabis in adolescence increases the risk for psychotic outcomes by affecting the incidence and persistence of subclinical expression of psychosis in the general population (that is, expression of psychosis below the level required for a clinical diagnosis). DESIGN: Analysis of data from a prospective population based cohort study in Germany (early...
Since the recent ban on mephedrone,1 2several alternative products have been introduced on internet websites. One of the most prominently discussed second generation products is Energy 1 (NRG-1), also advertised as naphyrone (naphthylpyrovalerone, O-2482), which originated from a group of compounds previously described in the medicinal chemistry …