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.
Researchers are studying whether giving certain drugs together with guided psychotherapy can help people who feel stuck or cut off from others. The most studied drugs are MDMA and classic psychedelics like psilocybin. Early clinical trials and patient reports show these treatments can increase feelings of connectedness and reduce some symptoms of depression and post‑traumatic stress. The strongest clinical evidence so far is for MDMA paired with psychotherapy for PTSD, and for psilocybin in small trials for depression and end‑of‑life anxiety. But many studies are still small or early. Safety, cultural inclusion, and how to run fair trials are important current concerns. Non‑drug factors — the preparation, the therapist relationship, the setting, and follow‑up therapy — matter a lot for both benefit and risk.
This paper reviews the recent comeback of psychedelic research and points out that much of that work borrows from indigenous healing traditions. The authors say Indigenous people, ethnic and racial minorities, women, and other marginalized groups are often left out of research and the mainstream story about psychedelic medicine. The…
