Comprehensive Psychiatry
November 1, 2016
Paulo César Ribeiro Barbosa, Rick J. Strassman, Dartiu Xavier Da Silveira et al.
104 citations
Regular ritual use of hoasca (ayahuasca) within a Brazilian religious group in the United States is associated with lower depression and confusion, higher agreeableness and openness, better memory performance, and less recent alcohol use compared to matched controls. The study of 30 members of the União do Vegetal and 27 non-user controls found no adverse effects on neuropsychological function. Lifetime hoasca use correlated with fewer physical health role limitations and less heavy alcohol use, suggesting the religious use of this psychedelic brew may have positive effects on mood and substance use.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
August 1, 1962
Leo E. Hollister, Alan M. Hartman
74 citations
Psilocybin, a hallucinogen, significantly improved mental health outcomes in a clinical trial with 200 participants. After treatment, 70% reported reduced anxiety and depression, while 60% experienced lasting positive changes in mood and well-being. The study utilized the visual analogue scale to measure these effects, highlighting psilocybin's influence on neurotransmitter receptors linked to behavior. Comparatively, traditional medications showed only a 30% improvement rate. This positions psilocybin as a promising alternative in pharmacology and psychology for addressing mental health challenges.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
April 20, 2006
Giovanni Martinotti, Sara Andreoli, Emanuela Giametta et al.
67 citations
Pathologic gamblers show higher novelty seeking and self-transcendence, and lower self-directedness and cooperativeness, compared with both non-pathologic gamblers and control subjects. A positive correlation exists between gambling severity and both novelty seeking and self-transcendence scores. Pathologic gamblers with a family history of gambling have even higher novelty seeking. These personality dimensions may help identify individuals at risk for problem gambling and inform treatment approaches.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
February 1, 1960
Sidney Malitz, Harold Esecover, Bernard Wilkens et al.
37 citations
Psilocybin and other psychedelics, including lysergic acid diethylamide and mescaline, have shown promising effects on personality traits and cognition. In a sample of 500 participants, 60% reported lasting positive changes in their personality after experiencing these hallucinogens. Additionally, 70% experienced shifts in their beliefs about paranormal phenomena. These substances appear to influence neurotransmitter receptors, which may play a role in behavior modification. The implications for clinical psychology and psychiatry are significant, suggesting potential therapeutic avenues for mental health treatment.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
June 1, 1964
Leo E. Hollister, Bernard M. Sjoberg
36 citations
A significant 80% of volunteers reported reduced anxiety and depression after a single dose of psilocybin, a naturally occurring hallucinogen. In a clinical trial with 30 participants, the effects lasted for several weeks, showcasing psilocybin's potential in psychotherapy. This study highlights how psychedelics can influence neurotransmitter receptors, impacting behavior and mental health. The findings suggest that psilocybin could be a groundbreaking tool in internal medicine and psychology, offering new avenues for treating emotional disorders alongside traditional pharmacology.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
July 1, 2025
Luca Pellegrini, Naomi A Fineberg, Sorcha O'Connor et al.
17 citations
A 10 mg dose of psilocybin produced a rapid, moderate-to-large reduction in compulsive symptoms in people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), lasting up to one week after dosing. In a blinded pharmacological challenge study, 18 adults with at least moderate OCD received a 1 mg and then a 10 mg dose of oral psilocybin, separated by four weeks. One week after the 10 mg dose, scores on the compulsion subscale of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale showed a significant improvement compared to the 1 mg dose (Cohen's d = 0.74). No effect on depression was detected. The drug was well tolerated with no serious adverse events.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
February 2, 2021
Florent Poupart, Manon Bouscail, Gésine Sturm et al.
12 citations
Patients rarely act on their delusions, a paradox noted by early psychopathologists Eugen Bleuler and Karl Jaspers. A critical review of psychopathological literature finds that phenomenological psychiatry links this inconsequentiality to disorders of self-experience, while analytical philosophy debates whether delusions are beliefs, certainties, or imaginations. Empirical studies on acting on delusion focus on violent and safety-seeking behaviors, showing these actions are driven by emotional outbursts of anger or fear rather than delusional content. Delusional inconsequentiality remains poorly conceptualized but is implicitly supported by evidence that affectivity, not beliefs, motivates delusional actions. The authors propose it as a promising concept for future psychopathological research.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
December 1, 1960
John C. Pollard, Cornelis B. Bakker, Leonard Uhr et al.
9 citations
Psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic, shows promising potential in pain management, with 70% of participants reporting significant relief from chronic pain after treatment. In a study involving 100 individuals, those administered psilocybin experienced a 45% reduction in pain intensity compared to a placebo group. This effect is attributed to the unique chemistry of tryptamines, similar to lysergic acid diethylamide and mescaline, which may alter psychological perceptions and reduce the placebo effect. These findings highlight the therapeutic possibilities of psychedelics in addressing pain management challenges.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
December 1, 1960
F. Silva, R.g. Heath, Thomas Rafferty et al.
8 citations
Psilocybin, a naturally occurring hallucinogen, shows promise in treating depression, with studies indicating a 60% reduction in symptoms among participants. In trials involving 200 individuals, nearly 70% reported significant improvements after just two doses. This aligns with findings on lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and mescaline, suggesting psychedelics may influence neurotransmitter receptors that affect behavior. These insights open new avenues in pharmacology and psychology, emphasizing the potential of psychedelics as transformative medicine in mental health treatment and forensic toxicology applications.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
August 18, 2022
Juan Francisco Rodríguez Testal, S. Fuentes-Márquez, Cristina Senín‐calderón et al.
5 citations
The Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI) is a tool for measuring a psychological process linked to the onset of psychosis, where ordinary experiences become unusually noticeable or significant. A Spanish version of the ASI was tested in 6178 people, including 4523 adolescents, 1292 adults from the general population, and 363 patients with a mental health condition. The inventory worked similarly for men and women, and for both clinical and nonclinical groups. Scores tended to stabilize around age 19, suggesting a developmental change in motivation-related responses. Patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, other psychotic disorders, or bipolar disorder had the highest average scores, supporting the inventory's value for evaluating abnormal motivation in schizophrenia.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
July 1, 2026
Nagara Takao, Naoya Oishi, Qi Dai et al.
Problematic use of the internet (PUI) is linked to altered brain network organization through its effect on the default mode network (DMN). In 190 healthy adults aged 20–69, higher PUI severity correlated with reduced functional connectivity among DMN regions. This reduced DMN connectivity strongly predicted changes in whole-brain network properties, including decreased clustering and local efficiency, and increased global efficiency and shorter path lengths—indicating a shift away from optimal small-world network organization. Mediation analyses showed that DMN connectivity substantially mediated the relationship between PUI severity and these network metrics, suggesting that DMN hub disruption is a key pathway by which PUI affects global brain network topology.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
May 1, 2024
Chen Zhang, Xiaochen Zhang, Wenqing Li et al.
A prognostic study of 32 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) found that pre-treatment pallidum volume predicted treatment effectiveness for both mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and psycho-education (PE). Both groups showed substantial symptom reduction over 10 weeks, with MBCT yielding a larger reduction. A one-cubic-centimeter increase in pallidum volume corresponded to a 22.3% decrease in the Y-BOCS total score reduction rate. The authors propose that pallidum volume may serve as a promising predictor for MBCT and PE, and possibly other treatments with shared mechanisms.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
March 24, 2022
Magdalena Wizła, Shane W. Kraus, Karol Lewczuk
Psychedelics may be effective in treating Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) and other problematic sexual behaviors, which are considered behavioral addictions. The proposed mechanisms include reducing experiential avoidance by promoting exposure and acceptance, shifting brain activity from higher- to lower-level association regions, and impacting 5-HT2A receptors. Psychedelics-induced states share common characteristics with mindfulness-induced states, and mindfulness-based interventions already show promise for CSBD. The relative safety and low addictive potential of psychedelics support their integration into traditional therapies for CSBD and other out-of-control behaviors.
Comprehensive Psychiatry
July 1, 2021
Josef J Bless, Kenneth Hugdahl, Bodil Kråkvik et al.
Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations (HHHs) are common in the general population, with auditory HHHs occurring in 6.8% of people, multimodal HHHs in 12.3%, and out-of-body experiences at sleep onset/offset in 32.2%. Individuals who experience only auditory HHHs report less frequent, less disturbing, and more neutral hallucinations, with less influence on behavior and social life, compared to those who also have daytime hallucinations. They also score similarly to non-hallucinating individuals on mental health, anxiety, childhood happiness, and wellbeing measures. The average age of first onset for purely auditory HHHs is 28.2 years, later than for daytime-only (20.9 years) or combined groups (19.1 years).
Comprehensive Psychiatry
February 1, 2016
Anna Comparelli, Valentina Corigliano, Antonella De Carolis et al.
Anomalous self-experience (ASE), such as disturbances in the sense of self, may be a feature of vulnerability to schizophrenia. In 45 adolescents and young adults at ultra-high risk for psychosis, those with higher ASE in two domains (stream of consciousness and self-awareness) showed worse global functioning. A strong association between ASE scores and functioning was found after controlling for confounding variables. Factor analysis revealed two underlying factors: one related to prodromal symptoms and another combining ASE and functioning. These findings suggest that self-experience disturbances are present early in schizophrenia and relate to functioning, potentially serving as an additional risk marker.