Journal of Psychopharmacology
November 5, 2026
Benjamin R. Lewis, Eric L Garland
Background: Relapse in opioid use disorder (OUD) remains common despite pharmacotherapy. Altered interoceptive processing may contribute to addiction, and ketamine-induced changes in salience and insula-related networks may facilitate mindfulness-based interoceptive learning. Aims: This secondary analysis examined whether ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) added to Mindfulness-Oriented...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
October 30, 2026
Andreea Chiorean, Helena Kyunghee Kim, Andrew Lustig et al.
Background: Since the Food and Drug Administration designated lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) as a “breakthrough” treatment for generalized anxiety disorder, accumulating randomized clinical trials (RCTs) evaluating LSD’s anxiolytic effects have also reported improved depression symptoms. Evaluating the safety and efficacy of LSD in treating depression symptoms is warranted. Methods:...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
October 27, 2026
José Augusto Silva Reis, Lara Zancaner Ueta, José Carlos Bouso et al.
This systematic review evaluates the relationship between classical psychedelic drugs (D-Lysergic acid N,N-diethylamide, psilocybin, ayahuasca/N-N-dimethyl-tryptamine, and mescaline) and the emergence of psychotic symptoms, aiming to synthesize evidence from contemporary studies (1984-2025) regarding the risk factors, prevalence, and clinical characteristics of psychosis related to psychedelic...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
October 8, 2026
Gianluca A. Florineth, Anna L. Boeker, Tobias Bracht et al.
Background: Psilocybin-assisted therapy (PAT) has emerged as a promising intervention for alcohol use disorder (AUD), yet contemporary clinical evidence has not been systematically synthesized to validate its clinical utility and safety profile. Methods: Contemporary clinical trials of PAT for AUD were identified systematically from PubMed, PsycINFO, and Scopus by two independent reviewers....
Journal of Psychopharmacology
September 25, 2026
Jennifer Jones, Joseph Redding, Emily Amador
Tobacco use remains a leading preventable cause of morbidity and mortality. Although several pharmacotherapies and behavioral treatments for tobacco use disorder (TUD) exist, their overall efficacy is modest, underscoring the need for innovative treatment approaches. Ketamine, a rapid-acting glutamate receptor antagonist with neuroplasticity-enhancing properties, has shown promise in the...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
September 22, 2026
Maria Niedernhuber, Dila Suay, Bigna Lenggenhager et al.
BACKGROUND: Psychoactive serotonin 5-HT2A receptor agonists are potent modulators of awareness. Influential theories propose that psychedelics alter whole-brain dynamics by increasing neural signal diversity and dynamic flexibility. Beyond temporal variability, it is an open question whether psychedelics impact the characteristics of transient neural state sequences themselves. AIMS: Our goal...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
September 7, 2026
Sabrina Wong, Gia Han Le, Simryn Selby et al.
Extant literature indicates mitochondrial dysfunction may contribute to the pathophysiology of depressive disorders. Preclinical data indicate that anesthetic doses of ketamine are associated with deficits in mitochondrial viability and function. Ketamine and esketamine have demonstrated rapid antidepressant effects in persons with difficult-to-treat depressive disorders. Herein, we aim to...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
September 7, 2026
Torsten Passie, Michiel van Elk
Common wisdom in the psychedelic literature suggests that early controlled trials of psychedelic therapy were methodologically flawed. In this review we challenge this view and discuss 11 controlled studies that were conducted in the United States and Canada between 1965 and 1977 to evaluate psychedelic (peak) therapy for individuals suffering from alcohol and opioid use disorder and...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
September 4, 2026
Marek Nikolič, Tom Froese, Pedro A. M. Mediano et al.
Background: Psilocybin’s therapeutic potential is neurophysiologically characterized by acute alpha power reductions and increased entropy. However, the systematic time-course of these changes from administration through the 24-hour sub-acute phase remains poorly characterized. Methods: In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial ( N = 20, 10 females), healthy participants received a...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
September 3, 2026
Katelijne V. van der Heijden, Gabriël E. Jacobs, Ellen James et al.
Serotonergic psychedelics, such as N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), have shown therapeutic potential in various psychiatric disorders. However, DMT demonstrates pharmacokinetic (PK) variability and a short half-life. This exploratory study investigated the PK, pharmacodynamic (PD), and safety profile of CYB004, a deuterated DMT analogue, following intravenous administration in healthy volunteers....
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 31, 2026
Katelijne V. van der Heijden, Soma Makai‐bölöni, Amir Inamdar et al.
BACKGROUND: -dimethyltryptamine (DMT) might have therapeutic effects in various psychiatric disorders. AIMS: Prior to exploring this clinical potential, it is essential to determine an optimal administration regimen for DMT, explore the relationship between its pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics and identify potential sources of pharmacokinetic variability. METHODS: Therefore, DMT was...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 30, 2026
Tiffini N Lovell, Peter B James, Skylar L Hodgins et al.
Fentanyl is the leading cause of fatal overdoses worldwide, and repeated use may lead to substance use disorder (SUD). In SUD, drug-associated contexts can trigger reward-related behavior even in the absence of the drug. Psychedelic compounds may weaken context-drug associations, reducing reward-related behavior to fentanyl. We evaluated the effects of the psychedelic psilocin and its...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 29, 2026
Marlene Tai, Balázs 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...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 25, 2026
Wolfgang Emanuel Zürrer, Johann Liesner, David Brüschweiler et al.
, is a highly selective κ-opioid receptor agonist and a rare example of a κ-opioid receptor-mediated psychedelic drug. Preclinical work of salvinorin A has shown promising effects in neuropsychiatric animal models. However, human studies remain heterogeneous and fragmented, highlighting the need for synthesis. Thus, we conducted a systematic review to synthesize available human studies of...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 25, 2026
Praachi Tiwari, Bryan W. Jenkins, Catherine F Moore et al.
Psychedelics have emerged as promising pharmacological agents for treating a range of neuropsychiatric disorders. While preclinical studies have provided valuable insight into the neural mechanisms underlying their effects, systematic characterization of psychedelic effects on inherent spontaneous behaviors in animal models remains limited. In the current study, male and female Sprague-Dawley...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 17, 2026
Lana Strika-Bruneau, Chérine Elhssaini, Baptiste Fauvel et al.
Background: Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) shows promise for substance use disorders (SUDs), yet the respective contributions of pharmacological, experiential, psychotherapeutic, and contextual factors remain insufficiently understood. Objective: To synthesize contemporary clinical evidence on PAP for SUDs, with particular attention to therapeutic frameworks, dosing strategies,...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 17, 2026
David Eckert
The re-emergence of serotonergic psychedelics has introduced rapid-acting antidepressant effects and has been widely described as a paradigmatic shift in depression treatment. Recently, there has been intense debate about whether the acute subjective effects of psychedelics are necessary for their therapeutic efficacy or merely byproducts of underlying neuroplastic processes. Recent...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 6, 2026
Tijmen Bostoen, Erwin Krediet, Annette van Schagen et al.
Background: The potential safety and efficacy of the psychedelic 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been researched in phase 2 and phase 3 clinical trials. We examined the occurrence and role of mystical experiences in MDMA-AT. Methods: Data were sourced from two phase 2 randomized trials of MDMA-AT for chronic PTSD, in...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 5, 2026
BACKGROUND: Cannabidiol (CBD) has emerged as a potential antipsychotic treatment, acting as a negative allosteric modulator of cannabinoid type-1 (CB1) receptors within the endocannabinoid system. Although previous neuroimaging studies have shown that CBD induces changes in aberrant brain activity and functional connectivity (FC) in psychosis, they have not directly integrated information about...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 3, 2026
Where is the sweet spot for psychedelic-enhanced fear extinction? An integrative quantitative synthesis of dose-effect patterns in rodent models.
Journal of Psychopharmacology
July 16, 2026
Robert F. Dougherty, Nadav Liam Modlin, Niall M. Mcgowan et al.
Background: When administered alongside monitoring and support, psilocybin has shown promise in the treatment of multiple psychiatric conditions. However, the contribution and nature of participant support in the context of psychedelic trials are much debated. Aims: We sought to further illustrate the structure and format of the monitoring and support used in Compass Pathfinder Ltd (Compass)...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
July 15, 2026
Lucy Chester, François-Olivier Hebert, Pamela Lachance-Touchette et al.
BACKGROUND Cannabidiol (CBD) is widely consumed in low-dose products. However, evidence for its psychotropic effects at non-clinical doses is sparse and inconsistent. AIMS To characterise the acute behavioural effects of low-dose synthetic CBD in healthy volunteers. We hypothesised that 200 mg of CBD would produce a greater peak pleasant drug effect than a placebo. METHODS In a triple-blind,...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
July 13, 2026
Todd D Gould, Sanjay J. Mathew, Maurizio Fava et al.
The occupancy-driven pharmacology model in psychopharmacology has guided drug discovery and development for decades, whereby the goal is stable receptor occupancy over an extended period with a direct relationship of drug exposure to pharmacodynamic and therapeutic response. Event-driven pharmacology (EDP) is a concept where the acute pharmacodynamic actions of a plastogen, a transient binding...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
July 8, 2026
Raynara Bolcont, Fernanda Palhano-Fontes, Handersson Barros et al.
BACKGROUND: -dimethyltryptamine (DMT); however, long-term effects, including broader well-being dimensions, are sparsely explored across populations. AIMS: Investigating whether DMT produces sustained improvements in anxiety, life satisfaction, and quality of life, in both healthy individuals and patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). METHODS: In 2 open-label clinical trials, 27...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
June 28, 2026
Yingjie Du, Xiangting Zhao, Yishan Yao et al.
BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder are often comorbid in humans. Psilocybin reportedly has beneficial therapeutic effects on depression, possibly by promoting neuroplasticity. PTSD is associated with the dysregulation of neuroplasticity in the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). We hypothesized that psilocybin might reduce fear memory by...