Australia became the first country to establish a national regulatory pathway permitting authorised psychiatrists to prescribe 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) through the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Authorised Prescriber Scheme. Two and a half years after implementation,...
Psilocybin, a prominent psychedelic, recently emerged as a potential therapeutic agent for psychiatric disorders, yet the molecular and cellular mechanisms driving its effects remain poorly understood. To address these knowledge gaps, we focused on the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a forebrain region that regulates reward, motivation, and emotion. Systemic administration of psilocybin (3 mg/kg)...
A resurgent therapeutic frontier, the contemporary renaissance in psychedelic science has accelerated investigation of classic serotonergic psychedelics (psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), mescaline), empathogenic entactogenic agents (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)), and glutamatergic dissociatives (ketamine) as adjuncts to psychotherapy. While...
Using serum samples collected from the PsiDeR trial—a randomised, double‑blind, placebo‑controlled study of a single 25 mg dose of psilocybin for treatment‑resistant depression (protocol: BMJ Open 2021;11:e056091)—we will investigate whether inflammatory marker trajectories and baseline inflammatory status are associated with antidepressant response at week 3 (endpoint). The inflammatory...
bioRxivJuly 9, 2026Christine Liu, Ellie M. Ho, Alexander S. Enos et al.
preprint
Psychedelic drugs show remarkable potential for treating psychiatric disorders, but the mechanisms underlying their therapeutic effects remain relatively unknown. Here, we demonstrate that psilocybin can powerfully ameliorate deficits in cognitive flexibility, but this effect depends on the specific circuit-level cause of those deficits. Using optogenetic models of cognitive inflexibility in...
Open Science FrameworkJuly 9, 2026Raul Edison Luna Lazo, Nicole Milagritos Cardoso Azorza, Jatziri Yanina Vilca Yanac et al.
preprint
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic neuropsychiatric condition characterized by intrusive thoughts and repetitive behaviors that cause distress and functional impairment worldwide. Although selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and cognitive behavioral therapy are first-line treatments, a considerable proportion of patients show an insufficient response, supporting the need for...
Stress exposure during periods of neurodevelopment is an established risk factor for the onset of stress-related mental illnesses in adulthood, which have differences in presentation and treatment response depending on an individual’s sex, and are difficult to treat due to a lack of complete biological understanding. A more holistic biological perspective of the adult brain after stress...
Background Anorexia nervosa is a debilitating eating disorder with high mortality and chronicity rates owing to the paucity of effective existing treatments. Several clinical trials using psilocybin therapy have demonstrated therapeutic efficacy and safety in psychiatric conditions, including anorexia nervosa. Aims This study aimed to further assess the safety, feasibility and potential...
Psilocybin is a rapid-acting antidepressant, but its mechanism of action in major depressive disorder remains unclear. In this secondary analysis of randomized, placebo-controlled trial with multimodal CSF and blood biomarker measurements, psilocybin selectively reduced CSF galanin and noradrenaline, implicating that normalization of these co-transmitters is a key pharmacodynamic signature.
Molecular PsychiatryJuly 7, 2026Axel F. Rosado, Abigail L. Yu, Jen-Hau Yang et al.
Classic serotonergic psychedelics such as psilocybin act as agonists at cortical serotonin (5-HT) 2A receptors (5-HT 2A R), inducing psychedelic effects in humans and head-twitch responses (HTRs) in rodents. Another class of psychedelic drugs called entactogens, exemplified by MDMA, function primarily as monoamine releasers and typically evoke minimal HTR despite causing serotonin release. The...
BMC MedicineJuly 6, 2026Hannah Adler, Rebecca Filipic, Dr Maria Gonzalez et al.
BACKGROUND: Existential distress is commonly experienced by people with cancer, yet there are limited treatment options. The therapeutic potential for psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) utilising psilocybin for this cohort is underexplored, with emerging literature showing clinical improvements in wellbeing. In Australia there is limited knowledge on healthcare professionals' (HCPs') attitudes,...
The Psilocybe cubensis mushroom is recognized as the primary source of psilocybin in the Americas, occurring naturally across various regions. This fungus has a long history of use in Mesoamerican rituals due to its capacity to induce altered states of consciousness. The defining characteristic of Psilocybe mushrooms is their psilocybin content. Following ingestion, psilocybin is metabolized...
Pupil diameter is a non-invasive biomarker of brain state, correlating with arousal, attention, cognitive processing, and consciousness. However, existing pupillometry software often lacks scalability and robustness across diverse experimental conditions and species. We introduce Pupil-DLC, an open-source, offline, DeepLabCut-based pipeline for scalable, marker-less pupil tracking, primarily...
Naturally derived psilocybin is widely used, yet its therapeutic potential, pharmacological distinctiveness and regulatory feasibility remain understudied. This review evaluates the potential of naturally derived psilocybin using a six-criterion framework to evaluate: (1) therapeutic benefit, (2) safety and tolerability, (3) pharmacological uniqueness vs. synthetic psilocybin, (4) identity and...
Abstract Despite growing interest in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, research investigating the psychotherapeutic components is lacking. This leaves unanswered questions regarding the psychotherapy's necessity and form. This observational study addresses this gap by measuring the outcomes of a psilocybin truffle retreat, followed by the outcomes of two psychotherapy interventions that...
There is growing interest in psychedelic compounds such as psilocybin, 3,4-metheylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and dimethyltryptamine (DMT) given emerging research on potential uses as treatments for a variety of health conditions. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted multiple “Breakthrough Therapy” designations to various...
OBJECTIVE: Eating disorders (EDs) are characterized by high rates of psychiatric comorbidity and suboptimal treatment outcomes. There remain critical gaps in research, including the exploration of effective transdiagnostic interventions. This forum article examines the potential of psilocybin treatment (PT) as a transdiagnostic intervention for EDs and common comorbidities, including the...
Psilocybin-producing mushrooms exhibit considerable biochemical diversity, yet the extent of variability among strains within a single species under standardized conditions remains insufficiently characterized. In this study, we quantified psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin, norbaeocystin, aeruginascin, and norpsilocin in the fruiting bodies of 14 distinct strains of Psilocybe cubensis. The...
Abstract Purpose Lifetime MDMA/ecstasy and psilocybin use have been associated with lower odds of psychological distress, suicidality, and depressive episodes, but these associations may vary by marginalized identity. Building on minorities' diminished psychedelic returns (MDPR) framework and extending Jones and Nock's race/ethnicity moderation work, this study tests whether sexual identity...
Data from the Open Psychedelic Evaluation Nexus (OPEN), which runs an ongoing single-arm prospective longitudinal cohort study of safety and outcomes for individuals receiving state-regulated psilocybin services.