There is increasing interest in the therapeutic potential of psilocybin. In rodents, the serotonin precursor, 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) and psilocybin induce a characteristic 5-HT2A receptor (5-HT2AR)-mediated head twitch response (HTR), which is correlated with the human psychedelic trip. We examined the role of other serotonergic receptors and the trace amine -associated receptor 1 (TAAR1)...
Summary Psilocin, the active compound in Psilocybe sp . mushrooms, is a serotonergic psychedelic that has recently gained renewed interest due to its potential as a therapeutic tool. Despite promising clinical findings, the underlying signaling mechanisms and brain region-specific effects of psilocin and other psychedelic drugs remain unclear. Psilocin, like other psychedelic compounds, is an...
OBJECTIVE: Psychedelics have over recent years been subject to a fast-paced growth in scientific research, clinical applications, commercial investment, and substance use trends by the general public. Yet, concerningly little is known about the frequency of adverse side effects of psychedelic use, despite a breadth of anecdotal reports and largely untested assumptions that inform the screening...
CureusNovember 13, 2022Berta Rita Martins Ramos, Ana Filipa Santos Martins, Eva Sofia Lima Osório5 citations
Cannabis use has been associated with several psychiatric comorbidities and there appears to be a dose-response relationship between the intensity and duration of its use and the risk of psychosis. More commonly, acute episodes of cannabis induced-psychosis manifest immediately following exposure, are precipitated after the use of large amounts of cannabis, resolve with abstinence, and are of...
The lack of standardized, efficient, and dependable lucid dream induction methods is one of the major barriers to studying the clinical and non-clinical applications of dream lucidity. Although the interest in therapeutic usage of lucid dreaming strategies in neuroscience of consciousness studies has increased in recent decades, many of the current induction approaches appear to not be...
PsyArXivNovember 9, 2022Yingtao Fu, Mei Zhou, Jifan Zhou et al.
preprint
One central question in the scientific and philosophical study of consciousness is regarding the scope of human consciousness. There remains lively debate whether high-level information integration is necessarily dependent on consciousness, or it could occur beyond the scope of consciousness. The current study discovered a novel type of unconscious high-level integration based on social...
The mindfulness trait is an intrinsic characteristic of one's disposition that facilitates awareness of the present moment. Meditation has proven to enhance situational awareness. In this study, we compared the performance of participants that were split into two groups depending on their experience in mindfulness meditation (a control group naive to mindfulness meditation and a group of...
A large body of research in the field of psychology currently points to a variety of therapeutic outcomes derived from psychedelically occasioned mystical experience. Moreover, additional research suggests that such benefits to mental and emotional well-being may depend directly upon the subjective mystical experience itself, rather than upon the substances that triggered it; for instance,...
Abstract The l ‐tryptophan decarboxylase PsiD catalyzes the initial step of the metabolic cascade to psilocybin, the major indoleethylamine natural product of the “magic” mushrooms and a candidate drug against major depressive disorder. Unlike numerous pyridoxal phosphate (PLP)‐dependent decarboxylases for natural product biosyntheses, PsiD is PLP‐independent and resembles type II...
Abstract Over its long period of development, Zen Buddhism in ancient China has adopted a unique method of enlightenment for the direct individual understanding of the Buddha-nature in the interaction between Zen masters and their disciples, instead of merely depending on written classics or oral teaching, which constitutes so-called “independence-from-words.” Communication between monks in Zen...