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 paper suggests a new way to study how psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) might work. The authors propose that psychedelics could put the adult brain into a state similar to developmental "critical periods," times when the brain is highly sensitive to experience. They recommend using a well-studied visual system model (ocular…
This review explains that classical serotonergic psychedelics — drugs like psilocybin, DMT (in ayahuasca), LSD, and ibogaine — can change brain cells and connections in lab and animal studies. These drugs have been shown to help neurons grow new branches and form more synapses, which are the contact points where…
This paper is a review of recent research on psychedelic drugs. The authors say some clinical trials show these drugs can help people with post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse problems, and depression that has not improved with other treatments. But scientists do not yet understand all the biological ways these…
This review looks at how psilocybin mushrooms and their active ingredient psilocin might affect the brain and mental health. The authors say that brain inflammation seems to play a role in many cases of depression and anxiety. Lab and clinical studies show that psilocin can lower brain inflammation, boost the…
