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.
45 papers
Researchers are actively testing psilocybin (the active part of “magic mushrooms”) as a possible treatment for several mental health problems. Early clinical trials—usually done under medical supervision with therapy before and after the drug session—have found quick improvements in some people with major depression, anxiety linked to serious illness, and other hard-to-treat conditions (but the studies are still small). (15135,15063,15056) Scientists propose several ways psilocybin might help, such as changing how brain networks communicate, boosting the brain’s ability to form new connections, and lowering brain inflammation. However, the exact reasons are not settled. Safety in careful clinical settings looks acceptable so far, but harms may be underreported, and unsupervised use can carry real risks. More and larger trials are needed, and many groups (for example people of color) were not well represented in early studies. (15132,15050,15135,15061,15095,15056)
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…
Researchers gave different psychedelic drugs to mice and found the drugs could reopen a window of brain plasticity used for learning social rewards. This reopened window went along with changes in a social hormone system in a key reward area of the brain and with changes in genes that control…
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…
Researchers reviewed studies of drugs that act on serotonin (so-called serotonergic psychedelics) and MDMA. They found that harms and bad reactions are not clearly defined in these studies and are probably reported less often than they actually happen. Some intense or frightening experiences during treatment might help people heal, but…
This review explains the fast-growing problem of so-called "legal highs", which are better called novel psychoactive substances or NPS. Unknown labs keep making slightly different chemicals to avoid bans, and this led to about 80 new substances being spotted in one year. The paper groups these drugs into five main…
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…
