Abstract Background A substantial proportion of patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) fails to derive significant clinical benefit from current standard-of-care treatments. In particular, complex PTSD exhibits a pronounced tendency toward chronicity. For this refractory population, MDMA-assisted psychotherapy has emerged as a highly promising therapeutic avenue. However, the...
Abstract Background Serotonergic psychedelics have recently re-emerged as promising therapeutic agents in psychiatry, showing positive outcomes in clinical trials for treatment-resistant depression, major depression, and PTSD. However, their effects on the immune system are poorly characterized. It remains unclear whether these compounds exert immunomodulatory effects that contribute to their...
Foster youth often experience complex trauma, instability, and systematic inequities that contribute to long-term mental health challenges. This conceptual review synthesizes evidence from randomized controlled trials, systematic reviews, and applied practice to examine how Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs) can support trauma recovery among foster youth. Drawing from recent Randomized...
The amygdala is a key structure within the medial temporal lobe involved in emotional processing, fear responses, social behaviour, and stress regulation, and growing evidence suggests that structural and functional alterations of the amygdala contribute to several psychiatric disorders. This case report and systematic review with meta-analysis examined the relationship between amygdala anatomy...
Background Autonomic dysregulation is increasingly recognized as a central mechanism complicating psychotherapeutic work across anxiety, trauma-related, and mood disorders. Persistent hyperarousal (sympathetic activation) or hypoarousal (persistent parasympathetic activation or shutdown/ dissociation) may put clients out of their “window of tolerance,” thus limiting access to cognitive,...
A continuously updated systematic mapping of the scientific literature at the intersection of contemplative practice, scuba diving, freediving-adjacent breathwork (surface only), blue-space psychology, and wellbeing outcomes. Version 2.0 covers 65 studies, including randomized and controlled evidence for meditative diving programs, stress reduction, PTSD symptom outcomes, and mechanisms....
Recent interdisciplinary scholarship has demonstrated how systemic racism, racialized mental health disparities, and histories of colonial and biomedical violence shape psychedelic experiences, therapeutic outcomes, and processes of integration. Emerging literature has foregrounded concerns including racial underrepresentation in research, the violent legacy of the War on Drugs, systemic racism...
Clinical trials and naturalistic studies describe psychedelics under markedly different exposure conditions. This narrative review searched PubMed/MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, and regulatory sources through 15 July 2026, and examined safety and outcomes across four dimensions of exposure: dose, frequency, person, and context. In screened adults receiving one to three...
Clinical PsychologistAugust 13, 2026Rita Ildiko Csako, Daniel Shepherd, Emese E. Vitalis et al.
Objective MDMA-Assisted Therapy (MDMA-AT) has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of several mental health conditions, most notably post-traumatic stress disorder. To better understand what shapes the attitudes of healthcare professionals we investigated whether psychologists’ own experience with MDMA impacts the attitudes towards the therapeutic and recreational uses of MDMA. Method The...
Background/Objectives: Psilocybin-assisted therapy has progressed from early proof-of-concept work to a substantially expanded evidence base, with four pivotal studies published in 2025–2026 that were not incorporated into earlier reviews. This review synthesizes the pharmacological and neurobiological foundations of psilocybin and appraises clinical evidence across major depressive disorder...