Background Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) remains a challenging condition to treat. Nonpsychedelic pharmacotherapies have modest efficacy, and trauma-focused therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) demonstrate higher response rates than medications, yet they suffer from high dropout rates (25–35%) and limited...
Abstract Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) is a novel and promising form of treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, clinicians may experience challenges in interpreting the existing evidence for PAT to make informed decisions about treatment recommendations and selection with their patients. Prior commentators have noted the hype surrounding public discussions of PAT. This...
Background: Post-traumatic stress disorder often leads to ongoing sleep difficulties such as insomnia and nightmares, which can interfere with mood, concentration, and daily activities. Guided imagery, a relaxation method that uses calming, multisensory visualizations, has shown potential to improve sleep and reduce distress in people experiencing high stress or trauma. This study evaluates the...
Abstract Introduction Targeted Dream Incubation (TDI) is the process of giving an individual auditory cues (i.e., “think of a tree”) while they are falling asleep, with the goal of shaping dream content (into something such as a tree). Recent research has demonstrated TDI may be able to increase dream self-efficacy (DSE) and influence other mental health outcomes. Thus, our study explored how...
SleepMay 1, 2026Holland Doise, A. Gonzalez Quesada, Garrett Baber et al.
Abstract Introduction Nightmares are associated with more severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The advent of large language models (LLM) offers unique advantages to efficiently code affective dream content over human methods, which can be resource intensive and prone to error. This study tested whether dream affect (DA), measured via self-report, human-rated narrative coding, and LLM...
The phase 2 data presented here support the development of TSND-201 for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a disorder for which there is a significant unmet need for rapid-acting and effective treatments. TSND-201 (methylone) is a highly selective, rapid-acting neuroplastogen that releases serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine without direct activity at 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) 2A...
Four weekly doses of TSND‐201 (methylone), an analog of 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), resulted in significant improvement relative to placebo in reducing symptoms of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a Phase 2 study has found. Treatment‐emergent adverse events associated with TSND‐201 were generally mild to moderate in severity, with no significant suicidal ideation. Study...
When assessing sleep disturbances in PTSD, count disturbed awakenings as nightmares at baseline. This is a key symptom of PTSD-related sleep problems and a target for treatment. Investigate nicotine withdrawal in pack-a-day smokers who awaken after several hours. An important indicator is the patient’s ability to return to sleep after smoking a cigarette. For sleep terrors with thrashing and...
Scientific ReportsApril 25, 2026Audrey G. Evers, Elizabeth C. Stade, Aadesh Salecha et al.1 citation
Enthusiastic media coverage of psychedelics as a treatment for mental health disorders is perceived as hyped compared to coverage of established treatments. To measure potential hype, we conducted pre-registered analyses comparing media coverage (e.g., newspaper articles) of psychedelics to FDA-approved antidepressants for major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. We used...
Introduction. Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, there has been a substantial increase in the need for accessible, rapid-acting, and non-pharmacological approaches to alleviate symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression among Ukrainian refugees. One potentially useful intervention is the Transcendental Meditation program. Aim. To assess the effectiveness of the...