PsychoactivesDecember 24, 2025Brendan Driscoll, Shaheen E. Lakhan1 citation
Psychedelic-assisted therapy offers rapid and profound benefits for treatment-resistant psychiatric conditions but remains constrained by the need for intensive, clinic-based administration. Concurrently, advances in digital health technologies have introduced scalable tools. This systematic review evaluates the safety, efficacy, and implementation of digitally enabled psychedelic-assisted...
The paper, “Tragic Person Evolved: Transforming Tragedy Into Hope Through New, Alternative Treatments” was presented at the 45th IAPSP International Conference in Rome in October of 2024. The paper explores the integration of relational psychoanalysis and alternative treatments, including ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, for individuals with OCD, ADHD, and ASD. Two case studies illustrate how...
Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) has emerged as a promising and innovative approach to treating a range of mental health disorders, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance use disorders. Once sidelined due to regulatory bans and social stigma, psychedelics such as psilocybin, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and...
The purpose of this study was to compare mindfulness meditation-based interventions (MMBIs) and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies (PAP) in PTSD and examine altered-state mediators as a shared mechanism. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, PubMed, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost were systematically searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published through January 2024. Trials reporting...
Schizophrenia (SCZ), a chronic psychiatric disorder, is characterized by cognitive impairment, hallucinations, and delusions, with current antipsychotic treatments offering limited efficacy and considerable side effects. Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive compound from Cannabis sativa, has shown promise in treating neurological and psychiatric conditions, though its precise mechanisms in...
NPJ Digital MedicineDecember 8, 2025Joseph Geraci, Bessi Qorri, Mike Tsay et al.
Clinical trial failures are frequently driven by patient heterogeneity and limited sample sizes that obscure treatment effects by diluting statistical power. We introduce NetraAI, a novel explainable artificial intelligence (AI) platform that integrates dynamical-systems modeling, evolutionary long-range memory feature selection, and large-language model (LLM)-generated insights, to discover...
Background: Bipolar disorder secondary to traumatic brain injury (TBI) is common, mechanistically distinct, and notoriously treatment-resistant. Rapid-acting glutamatergic antidepressants such as ketamine are effective in bipolar depression but remain inaccessible to most patients.Case presentation: We describe a woman in her mid-thirties with documented right frontal atrophy after a severe...
Psychedelics are gaining recognition for their effectiveness as modulators of neuroplasticity in the treatment of a range of neuropsychiatric disorders. Psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, N,N-dimethyltryptamine, and ketamine are substances that mainly affect the serotonergic and glutamatergic systems. They induce rapid synaptogenesis, dendritic remodeling, and changes in functional...
Novel interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) leverage the psychoactive properties of psychedelic compounds, such as ketamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine and psilocybin, which may overcome limitations of conventional treatments. Through the modulation of pathways involved in synaptic plasticity, psychedelic interventions are believed to enhance the mechanisms underlying...
Humphry Osmond coined the term ‘psychedelic’ in 1956, conjoining ‘psyche’ for ‘soul’ and ‘delic’ from ‘dêlos’ for ‘to manifest’ or ‘illuminate.’ Soul-illumination is an adjective that describes a psychological state or process. However, Osmond’s intention was to use the adjective to name— not just a state— but a category of drug that can induce the subjective effect as its principal action;...