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34 papers
Research on psilocybin for low mood and depression is promising but still early. Small clinical trials that pair psilocybin with professional therapy have found reductions in depressive symptoms, and some people report benefits that last weeks or months after one or a few doses. Scientists also see brain changes in lab and animal studies that could explain mood effects, but the exact reasons are not settled. Important limits remain. Most clinical studies are small, often use the drug together with therapy (so it is hard to separate drug from therapy), and the participants are not very diverse. Safety in these studies has been acceptable under careful medical supervision, but more and larger trials are needed to know how well psilocybin works long term and how safe it is for many different people.
This paper is a careful review of research about treatment-resistant depression. The authors looked through medical studies to see how doctors define this kind of depression, what makes it hard to assess, and which treatments have been tried. They describe drug strategies like adding lithium or thyroid hormone, switching antidepressant…
The authors reviewed psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy studies published from 1993 to 2017 to see how many people of color took part. They found 18 studies with about 280 people. About 82% of participants were non-Hispanic White, while only small percentages were African American, Latino, Asian, indigenous, or mixed race. Because so…
This paper describes psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, which means giving drugs like ketamine, MDMA, psilocybin, LSD or ibogaine together with guided therapy. The authors say this approach has shown promising safety and benefits so far, even for people who did not get better with usual treatments. They also argue that these therapies…
This review looked at many studies about classic psychedelics (like psilocybin and LSD), MDMA, ketamine, and plant medicines (like ayahuasca). The authors explain how these drugs can change the brain’s wiring, calm inflammatory processes, and shift key brain chemicals. Those actions may help explain why small clinical trials and animal…
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…
Researchers collected and read 15 studies where patients described their own experiences with psychedelic treatments for mental disorders. These studies looked at about 180 patient accounts across different drugs and different illnesses. Even though the drugs and treatment settings were very different, many patients described similar helpful processes, such as…
Researchers around the world have started clinical studies again to see if psychedelic drugs can help treat serious mental health problems. This work picks up after research that stopped around the 1950s. Scientists are running controlled studies to test whether these substances can safely reduce problems like depression, anxiety, addiction…
This paper looked across existing studies of psilocybin and found that, when it is given along with psychotherapy or therapy-style support, it looks promising as a treatment for several mental health problems, including cases that did not get better with other treatments. But the authors say the current studies are…
This review looks at research on psychedelic drugs, especially psilocybin. It says recent human studies show a single dose can give lasting relief from severe depression, and regulators have given two late-stage psilocybin trials special 'Breakthrough Therapy' status. The paper also pulls together lab and animal studies that suggest psychedelics…
This paper reviews what scientists know about how ketamine and classic serotonergic psychedelics (like psilocybin and LSD) can lift depression quickly. The authors compare how the drugs work in the brain, point out that ketamine has the strongest clinical evidence so far, and say psychedelics show early promise but need…
This paper reviews human and animal research on so-called psychedelics (like psilocybin and LSD) and entactogens (mainly MDMA). The authors say these drugs can produce fast improvements in mental health that sometimes last for months or longer. But we do not yet understand exactly how they work. Human studies point…
This paper looked at 20 clinical trials to see whether therapies that use psychedelic drugs together with talking therapy can help people who have serious, life‑limiting illnesses. The review found that these therapies often helped with psychological and spiritual problems like anxiety, low mood, and fear of dying. The drugs…
