International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 9, 2026
Orla Mallon
Abstract Background Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality, with relapse remaining common despite the availability of opioid agonist and antagonist pharmacotherapies. Scotland continues to experience a disproportionate burden of drug-related deaths relative to other parts of the United Kingdom and Europe, reflecting the ongoing clinical and public...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 9, 2026
P-C Wu, T-P Su, C-T Li et al.
Abstract Background While ketamine produces rapid antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant depression (TRD), response heterogeneity necessitates robust biomarkers to optimize clinical decision-making. Aims & Objectives To validate a machine-learning (ML) framework for predicting ketamine antidepressant response from pre-treatment multimodal neuroimaging features across independent...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 9, 2026
Gabriella Gobbi
Abstract Background While the monoaminergic hypothesis has long dominated the treatment of mood disorders, its limitations have prompted the exploration of alternative mechanisms. Early work by Skolnick et al. (1996) demonstrated that chronic antidepressant treatment induces adaptive changes in N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, suggesting glutamatergic signaling as a convergent pathway in...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 9, 2026
Romain Hacquet, P Pantiya, G Gotti et al.
Abstract Background Psychedelics such as psilocybin have demonstrated rapid and sustained antidepressant effects in humans, particularly when administered in carefully designed therapeutic environments (Borkel et al., 2024; Carhart-Harris et al., 2021). DMT and 5-MeO-DMT, distinguished by their brief duration of psychedelic effects, have also shown encouraging preliminary outcomes in depressive...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 9, 2026
R Freire, C Chaves, M Cabo et al.
Abstract Background Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent psychiatric disorders worldwide, causing significant impacts on physical and emotional health and substantial functional impairment. Not only individuals with anxiety disorders have severe and debilitating anxiety symptoms; patients with PTSD, OCD and mood disorders often present with anxiety. The term classic psychedelics...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 9, 2026
Lisa Harada, K Yonezawa, K Kusudo et al.
Abstract Background Despite sequential treatments with conventional antidepressants, many patients with depression experience insufficient clinical improvement, referred to as treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Psilocybin, a serotonergic psychedelic acting as a 5-HT2A receptor agonist, has attracted increasing attention as a novel treatment, with clinical trials demonstrating rapid and...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 9, 2026
Sota Tomiyama, K Yonezawa, K Kusudo et al.
Abstract Background Cognitive dysfunction is associated with impaired psychosocial functioning in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) exhibit more pronounced cognitive dysfunction than those with non-resistant MDD, underscoring the need for effective therapeutic strategies. Psilocybin has emerged as a promising treatment for...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 9, 2026
V Bruno, Martha López-canul, B Richardson et al.
Abstract Background Psilocybin has shown therapeutic potential for several neuropsychiatric disorders; however, concerns remain regarding its abuse liability and long-term neurobiological effects following repeated use. While acute psychedelic administration is generally considered to have low addictive potential, the consequences of repeated exposure on reward processing, withdrawal-related...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 1, 2026
W. Cubała, Kelly Doolin, Fiona Ryan et al.
Abstract Background Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) represents a particularly challenging form of major depressive disorder (MDD), defined by an inadequate response to at least two antidepressants given at adequate dose and duration within the current depressive episode. TRD affects nearly one-third of individuals with MDD and is consistently linked to greater psychiatric and medical...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 1, 2026
C. Penkov, K. Friedrich, J. Krieger et al.
Abstract Background Studies and the S3 practice guidelines in psychiatry and psychotherapy show that health-promoting measures are highly relevant in the treatment of mental illness. Current psychiatric care research still shows ambivalent findings regarding the effects of specific diets on psychopathogenic symptoms. In particular, the quality of nutrition and different effects in a...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 1, 2026
Bernhard T Baune, T. Benway, D. Gregory et al.
Abstract Background Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is a chronic condition affecting approximately 30% of patients with major depressive disorder, posing a significant unmet need for safe and effective treatments. GH001, an inhaled formulation of mebufotenin (5-MeO-DMT), has shown good tolerability and safety in early stage clinical trials in healthy volunteers and patients with TRD. Aims...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 1, 2026
Z. Li, D. Mukherjee, E. Dempster et al.
Abstract Background Adolescent cannabis use is associated with an increased risk of psychosis, yet the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Emerging evidence also pointed to genetic liability shaping individual risk of cannabis-induced psychosis. The neuregulin–ErbB4 signalling pathway, implicated in schizophrenia-related neurodevelopment, may modulate individual...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 1, 2026
Abstract Background Antidepressant effects of ketamine and esketamine are short lived, often lasting only weeks after multiple treatments. With that in mind, it has been considered addition of psychotherapy may enhance outcomes. One approach, knows as Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) focuses on "integration " of the dissociative experience induced by ketamine, and suggests this may produce...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 1, 2026
Abstract Background Depressive disorders affect approximately 280 million people worldwide, with many patients finding existing treatments ineffective or limited by adverse effects. Growing evidence from community microdosing reports suggests that psychedelic therapies may help alleviate depressive symptoms. Among these, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) microdosing has shown particular promise...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
September 1, 2026
Abstract Background As psychedelic therapies advance toward regulatory approval worldwide, significant questions arise about the adequacy of traditional evidence hierarchies for evaluating these complex interventions. Psychedelic-assisted therapies combine pharmacological, psychological, contextual, and phenomenological elements that challenge conventional randomized controlled trial (RCT)...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
May 3, 2026
Mostafa El Mansari, Naomichi Okamoto, Pierre Blier
Abstract Background In preclinical studies, an increase in α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) to N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor throughput is the predominant hypothesis posited to explain the rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine and S-ketamine. Several lines of evidence show that this AMPA increase takes place in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
April 1, 2026
Mary M Torregrossa, Tamara Racic, S. Baglot et al.
Abstract Background Most substance users are polysubstance users; however, little is known about how the combined use of different drugs affects the course of substance use disorder or effectiveness of treatment. Notably, co-use of cannabis and nicotine is very common, and we previously demonstrated that nicotine enhances the self-administration of a synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonist and...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 18, 2025
I Esquivel, I Soliman, F Ruto et al.
Abstract Background Alcohol use disorder (AUD) presents significant health and societal issues. The disorder is characterized by locomotor impairments and disruption of the dopaminergic neurotransmission in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Current AUD treatments are limited, necessitating the exploration of novel drugs. The potential therapeutic use of psychedelics, particularly lysergic acid...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 18, 2025
B Baune, E Van Assche
Abstract Background DNA methylation is a biomarker suited to investigate dynamic processes, such as treatment response. For this analysis we focus on DNA methylation changes during a randomised controlled trial (RCT) in treatment resistant depressed patients comparing racemic ketamine (s.c.) versus midazolam (s.c.) (the Ketamine for Adult Depression Study - KADS). This clinical trial showed a...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 18, 2025
Orla Mallon
Abstract Background The practice of psychedelic microdosing has grown outside of the medical realm from a community of self-medicating users who endorse improvements in cognitive functioning and mental health. The breadth and strength of this advocacy has led many to replace traditional psychotropic medication and well-being support with an under researched practice. This represents a divide...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 18, 2025
S Rossell
Abstract Background There has been a surge of interest in psychedelic research, especially with regards to the therapeutic properties of these compounds. This has led to the emergence of psychedelic assisted psychotherapy (PAP). PAP is showing promise for a range of mental health conditions, including major depressive disorder and PTSD, leading to (perhaps premature) international changes in...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 18, 2025
Pierre Blier, Mostafa El Mansari
Abstract Background Low dose ketamine has been shown, in animal studies, to enhance firing activity of norepinephrine neurons in the locus coeruleus, and burst as well as population activity of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area [1]. These brainstem monoamine nuclei densely innervate the PFC, where clinical studies have shown a facilitation of glutamatergic neurotransmission in the...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 11, 2025
Gihyun Yoon, Brian Pittman, E. Ralevski et al.
IMPORTANCE The comorbidity of major depressive disorder (MDD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) is often treated inadequately. This study evaluated the impact of adding the opioid receptor blocker, naltrexone, to the NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist, ketamine, for the treatment of MDD comorbid with AUD. In so doing, it also attempted to shed light on the contribution of opioid receptor...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 1, 2025
S. Ofori, R. Das
Abstract Background Maladaptive motivational memory (MMM) is the term given to a learned association between environmental predictors of reward (cues) and the receipt of rewarding stimuli (reward). A key characteristic of MMMs is that they drive excessive consumption behaviours in a variety of disorders such as substance use disorders (SUDs) and behavioural addictions. MMMs underlie the...
International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 1, 2025
P. Glue
Abstract Background Ketamine, a rapidly acting antidepressant, requires dosing in clinic because of strong symptoms of dissociation and sedation after IV/IN dosing. This need for dosing in clinic limits capacity to treat patients with Treatment Resistant depression (TRD). We hypothesize that ketamine formulations that maximize ketamine’s first pass metabolism and delay absorption will have...