Nature Mental HealthJune 19, 2026A. Hyatt, M. Flores, Lindsay N. Overhage et al.
Recreational cannabis legalization and commercialization are expanding rapidly in the USA, with potential negative effects for individuals with psychotic disorders. Here, to assess potential health risks associated with the opening of cannabis retail outlets, we conducted a longitudinal cohort study using a nationally representative survey to evaluate trends in emergency department utilization...
Delusions are a key feature of psychotic disorders, yet their fixity remains underexplored. Here, the authors propose a refined vocabulary for delusion fixity, review influencing factors, and present a working model. The Review calls for interdisciplinary longitudinal studies that could enhance the understanding of delusion fixity and facilitate the advancement of therapeutic strategies. Fixed,...
Psychosis and visual hallucinations (VH) in Parkinson’s disease (PD) substantially impact patient outcomes, yet the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear, limiting effective treatments. Here we used dynamic causal modeling to leverage the fast temporal dynamics captured with electroencephalography data during a visual mismatch negativity task in people with PD with (N = 20) and without (N...
This study presents a living systematic review and open-data meta-analytic database from 15 randomized controlled trials examining the effects of psilocybin treatment on depressive symptoms. Existing evidence suggests that psilocybin treatment alleviates depressive symptoms. Depression is a major cause of disability worldwide, motivating interest in psilocybin as a potential treatment. Here we...
Cannabis and tobacco use are highly prevalent among people with psychosis and are associated with medical comorbidities and poor prognosis. Concurrent use of cannabis and tobacco (‘co-use’) is rising in the general population, but has not been studied in psychosis. Given the devastating consequences of cannabis and tobacco use, it is critical to understand how their co-use affects psychiatric...
Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric condition with high rates of treatment resistance. Emerging neuroimaging evidence implicates dysfunction in large-scale brain networks, particularly the cortico–striatal–thalamo–cortical (CSTC) circuit, default mode network (DMN) and salience network (SN). Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin induce acute dysregulation of the DMN...
Psychedelic-assisted therapy shows promise for mental health treatment but faces regulatory, methodological and safety challenges. In this Comment, we propose using artificial intelligence and virtual reality to simulate similar experiences to those produced by traditional psychedelic compounds for use in psychedelic-assisted therapy modalities.
Socioeconomic status (SES) substantially influences mental health outcomes and treatment access, yet its reporting in psychedelic-assisted therapy trials remains underexplored. Here we systematically reviewed 98 articles (49 primary trials and 49 secondary analyses) published between 2006 and 2024 examining classic psychedelics and MDMA for mental health conditions. Only 12% of primary trials...
Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) has shown promise in treating mood and anxiety disorders in patients with cancer. However, patients with cancer often suffer from more than just depression and anxiety, and so far, PAP's effect on other psychiatric symptoms remains largely unknown. To address this gap, we pooled previously unpublished data from two phase II, randomized, placebo-controlled...
Over the past decade there has been a surge in interest in placebo-controlled trials using non-classical 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and classical psychedelics such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) to treat neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the success and reliability of these trials depend on the design of the trials, the choice...
Abstract Effective interventions for neuropsychiatric disorders may work by rebalancing the brain’s functional hierarchical organization. Here we directly investigated the effects of two different serotonergic pharmacological interventions on functional brain hierarchy in major depressive disorder in a two-arm double-blind phase II randomized controlled trial comparing psilocybin therapy (22...
The encouraging results of late-phase clinical trials investigating psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy suggests that US Food and Drug Administration approval and subsequent expansion of use is imminent in the USA. Without fit-for-purpose postmarket surveillance to proactively monitor utilization by patients and providers, there is a risk that the real-world benefits of psychedelic-assisted...
Ketamine may have antidepressant properties, but its acute psychoactive effects complicate successful masking in placebo-controlled trials. Here we present a single-center, parallel-arm, triple-masked, randomized, placebo-controlled trial assessing the antidepressant efficacy of intravenous ketamine masked by surgical anesthesia (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03861988). Adult patients (N = 40) with...
Mindfulness-based programmes (MBPs) are widely used to prevent mental ill-health that is becoming the leading global cause of morbidity. Evidence suggests beneficial average effects but wide variability. We aimed to confirm the effect of MBPs on psychological distress, and to understand whether and how baseline distress, gender, age, education, and dispositional mindfulness modify the effect of...