Major depressive disorder (MDD) remains a global health burden, with over 60% of patients failing to respond adequately to current treatments. Treatment-resistant depression (TRD), a form of MDD, highlights the urgent need for mechanistically novel antidepressants. Psychoplastogens—a class of fast-acting compounds that promote neuroplasticity—are emerging as promising alternatives to...
Depression is a highly prevalent and incident mental illness. Current pharmacological therapies fail in approximately 30-40% of patients, highlighting the urgent need for novel agents with pleiotropic effects. This preclinical study aimed to identify new antidepressants and cognitive modulators among five phytocannabinoids: cannabichromene, cannabidiol, cannabidivarin, cannabigerol and...
Ketamine exerts rapid, long-lasting antidepressant effects after a single administration and thus overcomes the limitations of classic drugs, but also induces psychomimetic effects. It is, therefore, essential to delve deeper into its mechanisms of action to optimize its use as an antidepressant. With this aim, we examined, in male mice, the temporal evolution of the antidepressant-like and...
To synthesize evidence on pharmacological treatments for major depressive disorder (MDD) to inform updated Brazilian clinical guidelines. This overview included systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in the last 10 years, identified through MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, and SciELO. Eligible studies involved adults with MDD receiving pharmacological interventions. Risk of bias was assessed...
Cancer ReportsMay 1, 2026Sepideh Hajivalizadeh, Kimia Farahmand, Kimia Kazemzadeh et al.
Depression is a prevalent comorbidity in cancer, yet conventional treatments show inconsistent efficacy. This review sought to provide a mechanism-based framework for managing cancer-related depression by exploring its unique pathophysiology and evaluating promising pharmacotherapies based on their alignment with these biological pathways. This narrative review synthesized evidence on promising...
The October 7th, 2023, attack at the Nova rave represents an unprecedented scenario in trauma research: A mass casualty event in which most participants were under the influence of psychedelics. Using a mixed-methods phenomenological design, 45 survivors were interviewed. Participants were categorized by substance use: classic psychedelics (n = 24), empathogens (n = 19), and ketamine (n = 2)....
Psychedelic drugs are serotonergic hallucinogens that can be divided into two types: naturally occurring (psilocybin, psilocin, and N,N-dimethyltryptamine) and synthetic (LSD, MDMA, 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine, and ketamine). Psychedelics generally work on 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors and might be useful in cognitive enhancement, brain connectivity, neuroplasticity, and neuronal...
The self is often described in terms of the narrative self, but the organization of first‑person experience extends beyond autobiographical continuity. The theory of self‑anchors introduces an architecture with three interacting axes: a stable self‑anchor, bodily grounding, and rhythm‑generating dynamics of the retrosplenial cortex. The stable self‑anchor is associated with the precuneus and...
РЕЗЮМЕ. Кетамін, відомий понад 60 років як дисоціативний анестетик, демонструє унікальний мультимодальний фармакологічний профіль, що виходить за межі класичного NMDA-антагонізму. Ця комплексна дія стала основою для його клінічної еволюції та «перевідкриття» у нових терапевтичних нішах, зокрема у психіатрії. Мета – систематизувати та проаналізувати наукові дані щодо клінічної еволюції кетаміну:...
Depression represents a critical global health burden, ranking as the second leading cause of disability worldwide. Although drug therapies remain an important cornerstone in treating depression, we must acknowledge their significant shortcomings: they often take too long to work, cause difficult side effects, and fail to prevent relapse. Critically, while current drugs target specific...