Translational Psychiatry
June 24, 2026
Mauro Pettorruso, Giacomo D’andrea, Antonio Inserra et al.
Clinical trials investigating psychedelic compounds for depression and anxiety-related disorders are yielding promising preliminary results. Psychedelics produce profound alterations in brain function—such as suppression of the default mode network and thalamocortical dysregulation—leading to intense subjective experiences including ego dissolution and mystical-type states. While often...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
June 23, 2026
Lenka Seillier, Alexandre Seillier, Morgan A. Zvolska et al.
BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder is one of the most debilitating psychiatric disorders worldwide. First-line treatments such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have significant limitations, including delayed onset of therapeutic effects and treatment resistance in about 30% of patients. Increasing evidence suggests that acute administration of serotonergic psychedelics, such as...
Monash University
June 23, 2026
Sheida Shadani
This thesis examined how psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) affects social behaviour in mice with and without anorexia-like symptoms. It found that psilocybin's effects varied dramatically between male and female mice and changed over time. Female mice became more social and showed increased brain reward signals, while males displayed reduced stress behaviours and dampened...
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
June 20, 2026
Agnieszka Bysiek, Izabela Szpręgiel, Adam Wojtas et al.
Psychedelics have emerged as a promising novel therapeutic approach for major depressive disorder (MDD). Altered activity and structural atrophy of the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and limbic structures are associated with depressive disorders. Psilocybin may reverse the loss of synaptic connections and restore the function of these brain regions. In this study, we investigated the effects...
June 19, 2026
Jules Evans, Christian Jurlando, David Luke et al.
preprint
Sorcery, black magic, and supernatural harm are central to many Amazonian shamanic traditions, yet their role in contemporary Western psychedelic culture has received little systematic empirical attention. Ethnographic work suggests that Western participants in ayahuasca tourism often downplay indigenous sorcery frameworks in favour of psychological or therapeutic interpretations of difficult...
Research Square
June 19, 2026
Aline Frick, Grace Blest‐hopley, Manesh Grin et al.
preprint
Abstract Rationale: Major depressive disorder (MDD) shows marked sex differences in prevalence, symptomatology, and treatment response. However, women remain underrepresented in many clinical trials, and sex-specific treatment outcomes are rarely examined. Objectives This study reanalyzed data from a randomized controlled trial comparing psilocybin and escitalopram for MDD to evaluate sex...
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
June 18, 2026
Jacob J. Baker, Emily Kogan, Shaorong Ma et al.
preprint
It is unclear how serotonin 2A receptors (5-HT 2A Rs) in cortical layer 5 pyramidal neurons (L5 PyrNs) differentially contribute to psilocybin-induced hallucinations versus neuroplasticity. Here we show that psilocybin promotes synapse formation and maturation while accelerating the elimination of pre-existing synapses. Cell type-specific manipulation further demonstrated that 5-HT 2A R...
Molecules
June 18, 2026
Mengxuan Dong, Yi Zhang, Manzhu Cao et al.
Psilocybin, a psychedelic drug with reported anxiolytic and antidepressant potential, is rapidly metabolized to its active metabolite psilocin. However, a lack of adequate toxicity studies and tissue distribution studies currently restricts its development and application. This study combined behavioral assays in zebrafish with desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging...
Annals of Medicine and Surgery
June 18, 2026
Astrit Sabani, Adnan Khatak
Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) remains a major clinical challenge and is typically defined as the persistence of depressive symptoms despite at least two adequate antidepressant trials. Individuals with TRD experience substantial morbidity, impaired functioning, and elevated suicide risk, highlighting the need for therapeutic strategies beyond incremental refinements of conventional...
ACS Chemical Neuroscience
June 17, 2026
Anoushka Bhat, Elmira Zolali, Mahfuz A Sakib et al.
Psychedelics have re-emerged as promising therapeutics for neuropsychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorders. While their beneficial effects are largely attributed to serotonin 2A (5-HT2A) receptor activation, psychedelics exhibit substantial diversity in chemical structure, receptor binding kinetics, metabolism, and duration...
June 17, 2026
Michał Wanke, Paweł Matuszewski, Piotr Siuda
PurposeThis paper aims to examine evolving practices and discourses surrounding psilocybin mushrooms on an online drug forum. Situating use within hybrid digital and ecological contexts, it traces shifts in user engagement before and after the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic to contextualize localized realities of the contemporary psychedelic renaissance.Design/methodology/approachUsing an agential cut...
Psychopharmacology
June 17, 2026
Pierre Klintefors, Chiranth Bhagavan, Richard Kanaan et al.
RATIONALE: Clinical interest in psilocybin-assisted rehabilitation for motor disorders is growing. However, psilocybin's motor effects are under-researched, and quantifying them is essential for assessing treatment risks and outcomes. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to clarify whether acute effects of psilocybin disrupt established patterns of manual dexterity and coordination. Specifically, we...
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
June 17, 2026
Fernando Valinsky
preprint
This report presents a detailed phenomenological analysis of a self-observed psilocybin experience conducted under controlled conditions and documented through contemporaneous notes and post-session reconstruction. The study focuses on the structure of subjective experience rather than on pharmacological outcomes alone. Particular attention is given to alterations in bodily awareness, spatial...
Frontiers in Public Health
June 17, 2026
Lawrence Leeman, Maya Armstrong, Dara Menashi et al.
Informed by a community engagement process, we have developed a pragmatic, open-label, hybrid feasibility-implementation study of Group Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy (GPAT) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As psychedelic-assisted therapies begin to enter the broader mental health arena, engaging communities in the design of research and care models is essential to ensuring that those...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
June 16, 2026
Paulina Clara Dagnino, Irene Acero-Pousa, Gorka Zamora-López et al.
1 citation
preprint
Abstract In recent decades, the psychedelic psilocybin has been studied as a potential treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), offering an alternative to traditional antidepressants. However, the brain changes underlying the clinical effects of different interventions remain unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of psilocybin and a conventional antidepressant, escitalopram, from the...
Psychedelic Medicine
June 16, 2026
Max Wolff, Samuli Kangaslampi, Richard J. Zeifman et al.
This commentary critically examines the interpretation and analytic choices in Goodwin and colleagues’ recent analysis of therapeutic alliance in psilocybin treatment for treatment-resistant depression. While the authors conclude that alliance did not meaningfully contribute to treatment efficacy, we argue that this interpretation is not supported by the reported results, which are, in...
June 15, 2026
Nandita Jowaheer
preprint
This project is a scoping review examining the current evidence base for psilocybin-assisted therapy across depression, anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, and their comorbid presentations. The review aims to map the scope of existing research, summarise reported therapeutic outcomes, and evaluate the methodological quality of the evidence base. The full study rationale, objectives,...
Journal of Affective Disorders
June 15, 2026
Marc J. Weintraub, Jessica K Jeffrey, Megan Ichinose et al.
Psilocybin-assisted therapy has emerged as a promising treatment for major depressive disorder, but little attention has been paid to the psychotherapy that adjoins psilocybin. Providing an adjunctive psychotherapy that is manualized and evidence-based may make psilocybin treatment more acceptable, effective, and disseminable. We examined the acceptability, feasibility, and clinical outcomes of...
CNS Drugs
June 15, 2026
Edward P. Hackett, Aditi Chaudhri -, Linda Hasman et al.
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Dextromethorphan (DXM), widely used as an over-the-counter antitussive in the United States, exhibits psychoactive effects at supratherapeutic levels that overlap with those of classic and dissociative psychedelics. Reported psychoactive effects have generated interest in DXM as a potential therapeutic agent for treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders. Despite this...
SAIMSARA Journal
June 15, 2026
This scoping review aims to comprehensively map and synthesize the breadth of evidence from original research on the relationship between psilocybin and health, spanning clinical trials, epidemiological surveys, mechanistic experiments, and cross-sectional attitudinal studies. The review uses 145 references and builds its evidence map from 216 original studies with 271241797 total...