Interest in psychedelic therapies for adults is rapidly growing, with substances like 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine for posttraumatic stress disorder, psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, and lysergic acid diethylamide for generalized anxiety disorder showing promise. However, research on these therapies in children and adolescents is limited, with no recent trials. Despite this...
Book of Proceedings2025Marina D. Kostić, Jana Nedić, Jovana S. Dragojević et al.
Serotonin receptors, also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) receptors, are a diverse family of G protein-coupled and ligand-gated ion channel receptors that mediate the physiological effects of the neurotransmitter serotonin. These receptors are widely distributed throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems, where they regulate numerous processes including mood, cognition,...
Why do people seek a connection to something beyond the social dimensions of the world? Ecstatic experiences are often labelled religious, spiritual, mystical or even sacred. However, ecstasy is not just extraordinary; for many people throughout the world it is an ordinary part of daily life. The Handbook highlights the diverse individuals who have experienced ecstasy in the past and present...
This paper is about the search for the "truth serum" (i.e., a drug that prevents an individual from lying), which the US intelligence agencies, especially the Central Intelligence Agency (the CIA) and its forerunners, carried out from 1941 (when the Office of the Coordinator of Information [COI] was founded) until 1973 (when the CIA director Richard M. Helms ordered all the MKULTRA-related...
Background: The Altered States of Consciousness Scale (3/5D-ASC or 11-ASC) is widely used to assess non-ordinary states of consciousness, particularly for psychedelic research. However, its original dimensional model (3D-ASC within 5D-ASC) and later 11-subscale structure (11-ASC) have a hierarchically incompatible higher/lower-order structure. Although the 11-ASC offers superior model fit, the...
Psychedelics are psychoactive substances that cause changes in perception, state of consciousness, mood and numerous cognitive processes. The best known are lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), psilocybin and mescaline. The main mechanism of action of psychedelics is agonism towards serotonin 5-HT2A receptors. In the middle of the 20th century, interest in the use of...
Classic psychedelics such as LSD, psilocybin, and DMT from unregulated markets pose considerable risks through unknown adulterants and potencies. In this chapter, we explore the importance of drug checking in minimizing harm among users of classic psychedelics and examine the opportunities and challenges associated with intervention settings, analytical techniques, and risk communication...
The use of drugs for recreational purposes has changed dramatically, involving a variety of substances such as opioids, hallucinogens, and cannabinoids. Although these substances are often initially used for recreational purposes, their psychoactive properties can contribute to the development of addiction, withdrawal syndromes, and significant physical and mental health complications. The...
OBJECTIVE: Despite growing research on the potential mental health benefits of psychedelics, there has been limited study of these drugs in populations with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and with Hispanic and Latin American (H/L) ancestry. METHODS: Demographic and clinical assessments were conducted as part of the Latin American Trans-ancestry Initiative for OCD genomics (LATINO) Study in...
Psychedelic compounds, including psilocybin, psilocin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT), and mescaline, have long been recognized for their recreational effects and involvement in forensic cases. They have recently gained attention also for their potential therapeutic applications in treating neurological and psychiatric disorders [1]. Despite this...