Abstract Psychedelic substances such as psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, DMT, or mescaline, when employed with knowledge and skill, can sometimes lead to profoundly meaningful and transformative subjective experiences. This chapter discusses how the predictive processing theory can further our understanding of these deeply meaningful spiritual psychedelic experience. It makes a more specific...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)July 17, 2026Bartosz Niciński, Magdalena Kloc, Ewa Wiench, Natasza Millan, Aleksandra Blicharz, Wojciech Kozdraś, Lidia Kozaczko, Gabriela Szewczyk, Elżbieta Bukowczan, Alicja Zając, Damian Broda, Alicja Benecka
preprint
Major depressive disorder is a highly burdensome psychiatric condition worldwide, and many patients do not achieve full remission after standard monoaminergic antidepressant treatment. This has contributed to growing interest in rapid-acting antidepressant interventionstargeting neurobiological pathways beyond traditional serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine mechanisms. This review...
Objective: The objective of this narrative review is to understand what forms of spirituality screening and spiritual support are available to individuals with serious or life-threating illness involved in psychedelic-assisted therapies. Introduction: In addition to physical pain related to disease and treatment processes, people encountering serious illness frequently experience psychological...
Medycyna PaliatywnaJuly 15, 2026Maciej Sulerzycki, Katarzyna Pomykała, Katarzyna Giemza et al.
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the therapeutic use of psychedelics. In palliative medicine, they are being considered as an alternative approach to treating depression, existential distress, and chronic pain conditions. This review presents current literature on the use of psychedelic substances such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide,...
Classic psychedelics, including psilocybin, LSD, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, mescaline, and phenethylamines such as DOI, exert their core effects through 5-HT2A receptor agonism, inducing widespread neurobiological and behavioral changes relevant to psychiatric research. Emerging evidence suggests that these effects are modulated by sex, yet this dimension remains underrepresented in studies. This review...
Serotonergic psychedelics are advancing as psychiatric treatments, yet acute responses vary between individuals and the contribution of sex, a fundamental biological variable, remains largely unexamined. We pooled two double-blind, placebo-controlled studies in healthy volunteers (N = 72; 31 male, 41 female) comparing psilocybin 15 mg, 2C-B 20 mg, and LSD 50 μg. Linear mixed models tested sex...
Published in Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio), this study extends inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy (IETS)—originally proposed as a model for olfactory receptor activation—to the mammalian serotonin receptor (5-HT2A) through quantum-chemical modeling. It finds that several serotonin agonists, including LSD and DOI, share a common vibrational peak near 1500 cm⁻¹ whose intensity...
Classic psychedelics such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and mescaline induce lasting changes in neuroplasticity and behavior that extend far beyond their acute pharmacological effects. Emerging evidence highlights that these enduring therapeutic benefits in neuropsychiatric conditions may be significantly mediated through complex epigenetic...
PharmaceuticalsJuly 8, 2026Rodrigo Foss da Silva, Lennon Machado Alves, Fernanda Conte et al.
Background/Objectives: The study sought to investigate the neurotoxicity of NBOHs, which are a class of new psychoactive substances (NPSs) that act as agonists of serotonin 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptors, resulting in hallucinogenic effects similar to those of LSD, often found in paper blotters. Methods: Differentiated SH-SY5Y cells were incubated for 24 h with 0.5, 1.0, 3.5, 5 and 10 nM of the...
Longevity science has increasingly shifted its focus from extending lifespan to improving healthspan, the years lived in good physical, cognitive, and social health. While much research targets biological hallmarks of aging, emerging frameworks emphasize upstream psychosocial drivers such as chronic stress, trauma, social isolation, and health behavior. In parallel, research on psychedelic...