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.
152 papers
This randomized, double‑blind, cross‑over trial gave 51 patients with life‑threatening cancer two sessions of psilocybin (one very low dose and one high dose) spaced five weeks apart. The high dose (22–30 mg/70 kg) produced large drops in clinician‑ and self‑rated depression and anxiety, and increased quality of life, meaning, and…
Compass Pathways reported early results from its first Phase 3 trial of synthetic psilocybin (COMP360) for treatment‑resistant depression. In 258 patients, the 25 mg dose showed a statistically significant improvement versus placebo on the MADRS depression scale at week 6 (a 3.6‑point difference, p < 0.001). The Data and Safety…
This randomized, double-blind phase 3 trial tested MDMA-assisted therapy versus placebo with the same therapy in 90 adults with severe PTSD. Participants had three drug sessions plus preparatory and integration therapy, and were assessed 18 weeks after starting. The MDMA group had larger drops in PTSD symptoms and in functional…
Psychedelic "bad trips" can be intense and sometimes last past the session. Surveys and studies report that a minority of users have serious short- or long-term problems, while other people later say the experience was meaningful or helpful. Risk and duration vary by dose, setting, and support, and studies give…
This paper pooled data from six randomized, double‑blind phase‑2 trials of MDMA‑assisted psychotherapy for adults with PTSD (total N=103). After two blinded MDMA sessions, the MDMA group showed larger reductions in clinician‑rated PTSD symptoms than the control group (mean difference −22.0 points on the CAPS‑IV, P < 0.001) and a…
This multi-site, randomized, double-blind phase 3 trial tested MDMA-assisted therapy (MDMA-AT) versus placebo with the same therapy in 104 people with moderate to severe PTSD. Blinded assessors found larger average reductions in PTSD symptoms and in functional impairment for the MDMA-AT group than for the placebo group. The MDMA group…
This article follows cannabis from its earliest known uses about 12,000 years ago in Central Asia through its spread around the world and long history of medical and practical uses, to modern science that identified THC in 1964 and the body's endocannabinoid system in the 20th century. It notes archaeological…
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…
This review looks at studies about classic psychedelics (like LSD, psilocybin, and DMT/ayahuasca) and their effects on neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to change. Animal studies show these drugs can raise genes tied to plasticity and cause dendrite and synapse growth. Human results are mixed, especially when studies use blood…
The study heated Cannabis sativa extracts at 80, 95, 110, 130, and 145 °C for up to 60 minutes and measured acidic and neutral cannabinoids with an advanced UHPSFC/PDA‑MS lab method. Concentrations changed in an exponential way, which fits a first‑order (or pseudo‑first‑order) reaction model. The team calculated rate constants…
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 observational study followed 98 people who microdosed psychedelics over six weeks and found that people reported better psychological functioning on days they took a microdose, but there was little evidence that those effects lasted into the next days. Among 63 people who completed formal tests before and after the…
