Brain Sciences
October 29, 2026
Adela G. Buciuc, Mark S. Gold, Brian S Fuehrlein
Substance use disorders remain a leading cause of preventable death, and existing care is better described as disease management than as cure. Medications for opioid, alcohol, and tobacco use disorders reduce substance use, and opioid agonist treatment reduces mortality, yet retention is poor and functional recovery is rarely measured. This review asks whether psychedelics treat addiction, or...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
October 23, 2026
Matthias Gruber
preprint
Proximity to a critical point is increasingly treated as a marker of the conscious brain: cortical dynamics sit closer to criticality in wakefulness than under anaesthesia, in seizures or in disorders of consciousness. Criticality characterises the regime of the substrate, however, and two systems poised at the same statistical edge can differ completely in what they compute. This Viewpoint...
Diálogos Interdisciplinares em Psiquiatria e Saúde Mental
October 19, 2026
Letícia Macedo Pinto, Lucas Macedo Pinto, Joel Porfírio Pinto
Introduction: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) presents approximately 20% of cases refractory to conventional treatments, driving the investigation of pathophysiological pathways, including the glutamatergic hypothesis. In this context, ketamine emerges as a potential intervention. This study reviewed the literature on ketamine use in OCD, focusing on efficacy, mechanisms, and safety....
Nature Neuroscience
October 19, 2026
Patricia Molina, Denys Osypenko, Josep Garnica et al.
Abstract Chronic stress has lasting adverse consequences that can lead, over time, to depressive disorders1‑4 yet identifying the optimal timeframe for effective therapies remains an unmet challenge. Enhanced neuronal activity and disrupted aversion-encoding in lateral habenula (LHb) are important mediators of stress-related behavioral repercussions5‑10, although the precise timing of its...
Journal of Neurotrauma
October 19, 2026
Hoda K AbouEich, Ali Izadi, Jonathan Lifshitz et al.
There are currently no available effective pharmacological therapies for treating chronic cognitive deficits after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Psychoplastogens, including atypical psychedelics, classical serotonergic psychedelics, and neuroplastogens, are a class of small molecule drugs that can enhance neuroplasticity by inducing rapid and sustained effects on neuronal architecture and...
Trials
October 14, 2026
Luca Pani, Fabio Tascedda
Abstract: Background: The registry record of psychedelic and related rapid-acting compounds is large, heterogeneous and laborious to synthesize by hand. We tested whether a large language model (LLM) with live access to the ClinicalTrials.gov application programming interface (API) could produce a timely, structured and reproducible characterization of this landscape. Methods: Cross-sectional...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
October 13, 2026
Claudio Agnorelli, Joseph Peill, Danielle Kurtin et al.
preprint
Neuroplasticity, the brain's capacity to reorganise its structure and function, is a transdiagnostic feature across psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases and a putative mechanism of action for pharmacological interventions. [11C]-UCBJ positron emission tomography (PET), which quantifies synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2A (SV2A) density, offers the most direct in vivo measure of human...
Cortica
October 10, 2026
Ayla Gay
Altered states of consciousness (ASCs) induced by psychological practices (mindfulness meditation, hypnosis, self-induced trance) and pharmacological agents (classical and atypical psychedelics) are increasingly linked to therapeutic change, yet their shared and unique neural signatures remain uncertain. We conducted three preregistered, coordinate-based meta-analyses using SDM-PSI, mindfulness...
Surgical Neurology International
October 9, 2026
Andrea Garcia-Bitar, Eduardo Jesus Castañeda, José Rafael Buenrostro-Rangel et al.
Background: Neurosurgical patients carry a high and frequently undertreated burden of psychological suffering, acute and chronic pain, and neurological deficits amenable to recovery. The resurgence of psychedelic research has produced relevant evidence in adjacent fields, but its applicability to neurosurgery has not been systematized. This review synthesizes that evidence across prevention,...
Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology
October 1, 2026
Xin Yang, Shuping Fang, Kejia Hu et al.
Background: Psychedelics, including classic psychedelics, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and ketamine, are increasingly investigated for psychiatric disorders, but their effects on sleep remain unclear. Objectives: To systematically evaluate the effects of these interventions on subjective and objective sleep outcomes and summarize sleep-related adverse events. Design: A systematic...