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Frontier mental health research: psychedelics & drug studies

Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.

Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research Addiction

3 papers

Addiction

Based on 33 papers

Researchers are testing several new and old approaches to treat addiction. The most attention is on psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy — that is, giving a drug like psilocybin, MDMA, or ibogaine together with careful therapy — and on new drug compounds tested in animals. Some early clinical trials and many reviews call these approaches “promising,” but most evidence is still limited, mixed, or from small studies. At the same time, for some substances like methamphetamine there are no approved medicines that clearly reduce use. Animal studies and new chemical versions of old drugs show strong early results, but human safety and larger trials are still needed. Researchers also stress that the drug effect and the therapy around it (preparation, setting, and follow-up) both matter for how well treatment works.

Key findings

  • Giving psychedelic drugs together with psychotherapy has shown promising results in small clinical trials and reviews for some addictions and other mental illnesses. 15063 15051 15085 15073
  • MDMA-assisted therapy has the strongest and most consistent trial evidence for PTSD, and psychedelic therapies more broadly have growing but still limited evidence for some forms of addiction. 15063 15053 15085
  • Ibogaine has shown signs of helping with addiction in some studies, but it carries serious heart and neurological risks that stopped some earlier trials. 15085
  • Researchers made new “oxa-iboga” compounds that in lab heart-cell tests did not show the heart-rhythm risk of ibogaine, and in rats a single dose reduced long-term opioid use and relapse-like behavior. 15115
  • For methamphetamine use disorder, there are currently no approved medicines that clearly reduce cravings or lead to lasting abstinence in people. 15116
  • 5‑MeO‑DMT (a fast, short-acting psychedelic) is being explored as a possible treatment for alcohol use disorder, but the evidence is early; human reports show powerful subjective effects and brain-rhythm changes that might be relevant. 15122
  • Good preparation and therapeutic support before and after a psychedelic session — things like safety screening, building trust, and planning the setting — are widely agreed to be important for safety and likely for outcomes, but exact methods vary across studies. 15065 15051 15063
  • Some promising findings come from small studies, animal work, or historical reports. That means results may not always apply to people yet, and researchers note limits like small sample sizes and underrepresentation of people of color in trials. 15073 15095 15085
  • When ketamine is used under medical supervision for depression, large reviews find few clear cases of dependence, but patients still report worry about addictive risk and want more long-term safety data and monitoring. 8828 12365
  • In some communities, traditional healers use plant remedies for alcohol-related problems. These reports document local practices but do not prove those plants are effective in controlled clinical trials. 15118

A Multi-Level Analysis of Biological, Social, and Psychological Determinants of Substance Use Disorder and Co-Occurring Mental Health Outcomes

Cecilia Ilaria Belfiore, Valeria Galofaro, Deborah Cotroneo, Alessia Lopis, Isabella Tringali, Valeria Denaro, et al.
Psychoactives Summary & key facts 2024 40 citations

Researchers looked at sixty studies to see how biology, social life, and psychology mix together to affect substance use problems and mental health. They found that brain systems, genes, childhood experiences, parenting, personality, and existing mood or anxiety problems all interact. This makes addiction and related psychiatric symptoms complicated, especially…

Bipolar Disorder and Treatment Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development Cannabis Other

Recommendations for Reducing the Risk of Cannabis Use-Related Adverse Psychosis Outcomes: A Public Mental Health-Oriented Evidence Review

Benedikt Fischer, Wayne Hall, Thiago Marques Fidalgo, Eva Hoch, Bernard Le Foll, María Elena Medina‐Mora, et al.
Journal of Dual Diagnosis Summary & key facts 2023 24 citations

This paper reviewed studies since 2016 to identify cannabis-related factors linked with higher risk of psychosis. It found that personal and genetic vulnerability, earlier age of first use, more frequent use, higher-THC products, how cannabis is taken, and using other drugs all raise the odds of cannabis-related psychosis. Evidence that…

Bipolar Disorder and Treatment Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research Homelessness and Social Issues Cannabis

The potential of 5‐methoxy‐N,N‐dimethyltryptamine in the treatment of alcohol use disorder: A first look at therapeutic mechanisms of action

Stephan Tap
Addiction Biology Summary & key facts 2024 11 citations

This paper is a first look at whether the fast-acting psychedelic 5‑MeO‑DMT might help people with alcohol use disorder. The authors reviewed existing studies in humans and animals and found early signs that 5‑MeO‑DMT can cause intense mystical feelings and a loss of self-boundaries, and that it changes brain rhythms…

Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior Psychedelics and Drug Studies LSD Other
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