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.
This systematic review searched for clinical trials of psilocybin for substance use problems up to September 2, 2022. The authors found four trials with 151 patients that tested psilocybin combined with psychotherapy for alcohol or tobacco use. These small trials, including one randomized placebo-controlled trial, reported reductions in heavy drinking…
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 describes a rapid rise in medical research on psychedelic drugs over the past five years. Several later-stage clinical trials have been published, and many different drugs — including psilocybin, MDMA, ketamine, LSD, ayahuasca, and ibogaine — are being tested for conditions such as depression, post‑traumatic stress, addiction, obsessive‑compulsive…
This systematic review looked at clinical studies of psilocybin for adults with major depressive disorder. It combined 6 studies with 319 participants, found that every study reported that psilocybin reduced depressive symptoms, and noted few side effects. Each study included psychological support, and the authors say more and better studies…
The authors reviewed 134 clinical trials of psilocybin listed on ClinicalTrials.gov and found many small, often unblinded, single-site studies that take years to finish and rarely post results. Only three trials have reached advanced phases recently, and there are no FDA marketing approvals for psilocybin. The paper concludes that the…
