The rapid growth in psychedelic research raises novel ethical challenges for both research and psychedelic-assisted therapy. Despite these challenges, there is no consensus among researchers, clinicians, patients, and regulators on how these ethical issues may be avoided or managed. This study aimed to identify key ethical issues in psychedelic research and practice in the literature. A scoping...
Treatment resistant depression (TRD) is frequently encountered in clinical practice. The lack of response of the condition to conventional medications and augmentation strategies has spawned the search for novel treatment approaches. Psychedelic medications used in conjunction with intensive psychotherapy, so-called psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP), have been evaluated in a limited...
Use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants has been associated with reduced intensity of emotional experience. Conversely, some research has shown that use of psilocybin in patients with depression leads to an increase in responsiveness to emotional face stimuli, suggesting that the psychedelic generates a transient elevation in mood. Investigators conducted a...
Front DementAugust 4, 2025Xenia Androni, Rachel J. Boyd, Paul B. Rosenberg et al.4 citations
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by a long preclinical phase lasting more than a decade before the onset of its clinical phase of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. Recent advances in psychedelic research underscore numerous neuroplastogenic and anti-inflammatory alterations induced by these compounds, making them promising therapeutic candidates for AD. In this mini review,...
This paper examines recent empirical research on the psychedelic experience and makes sense of the current literature in terms of ontic structural realism, a position in the metaphysics of science which holds that relations are fundamental. This interpretation is maintained by first providing a philosophical framework for the varieties of self-transcendent experiences by implementing a notion...
Despite growing evidence supporting the efficacy of LSD-assisted psychotherapy in treating major depressive disorder (MDD), identifying reliable psychopharmacological biomarkers remains necessary. Oxytocin, a neuropeptide implicated in social bonding and flexibility, is a promising candidate due to its release following serotonergic psychedelic administration in healthy individuals; however,...
CureusAugust 1, 2025Brett Hughes, Soz Mirza, Manasi Ponamala et al.
The stresses of the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlighted the burden of psychiatric disorders within the pediatric population, revealing a pre-existing need for rapid-onset therapies that have since driven efforts to expand effective therapeutic interventions. In this narrative review, we utilized the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis...
Abstract Background Depressive disorders affect about 280 million people worldwide, with many struggling to find effective relief. Conventional antidepressants are widely prescribed but often lack efficacy and have side effects, leaving many patients dissatisfied or untreated. Concurrently, psychedelic therapies have gained momentum in both research and ‘in the wild’, with emerging evidence...
Abstract Background Psycholicibin is now studied in clinical settings. Aims & Objectives To elaborate if side effects are part of the therapeutic process. Method Literature overview and personal statement. Results The recent development of the socalled “psychedelics” reminds us that unfortunately some medications which we used in psychiatry have a large burden of side effects, like the...
Abstract Background Psychedelics have long been explored as potential treatments for mental illnesses. Since the mid-20th century, clinical trials of psychedelics such as LSD for depression and anxiety in terminally ill patients have been conducted. In the 21st century, revived and accelerated efforts to promote the proper use of psychedelics in the medical field have led to increasingly...