This randomized clinical trial found that psilocybin therapy resulted in a significant, sustained reduction in symptoms of depression experienced by clinicians after frontline work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings establish psilocybin therapy as a new paradigm of treatment for this postpandemic condition.

Our findings have several important implications. First, the large between-group effect size that has been reported for psilocybin in depression may be specific to individuals with low or relatively low expectations of other treatment options.  Second, given the magnitude of the apparent expectancy effect observed within escitalopram recipients, in clinical trials in depression and perhaps in psychiatry more broadly, it may be appropriate to routinely measure treatment expectancies at baseline.

These findings not only underscore the growing interest in psychedelic therapy as a professional discipline but also reveal gaps in training and illuminate ways the field can accelerate the integration of evidence-based curriculum into academic settings.

The reviewed evidence suggests that schizophrenia might not be a definite exclusion criterion for clinical trials exploring safety and efficacy of psychedelics for treatment-resistant depression and negative symptoms.

This funding is a part of VA’s broader effort announced in January to gather definitive scientific evidence on the potential efficacy and safety of psychedelic compounds such as MDMA and psilocybin when used in conjunction with psychotherapy to treat Veterans with PTSD, depression, and other related conditions.

“Psychedelics should be approved because the science is good, not because they have a fan in the White House,” he said, adding that while some in the psychedelics community are “fervently hoping” that Kennedy and other pro-reform Trump picks will “force the hand” of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve psychedelics as medicine, “politically, I don’t think that’s a good way to go, long-term.”

All of this, including insights extracted from the setbacks at Lykos and Compass, bodes well for Cybin, a Toronto-based biopharmaceutical company which has initiated a Phase 3 pivotal trial of deuterated psilocin (CBY003) for major depressive disorder (MDD).

These findings elucidate the complex interplay between challenging experiences and adaptive responses in psychedelic contexts, offering insights for optimising therapeutic protocols and enhancing safety in both clinical and non-clinical settings.

This model-informed drug development approach was employed to inform drug–drug interaction potential and predict pharmacokinetics of clinically relevant dosing regimens of MDMA.

To date, the conceptual framework for this treatment has not been described in the scientific literature. This omission has contributed to misunderstandings about both the theoretical underpinnings of this modality and the therapeutic approach that emerges from it. This paper delineates the psychotherapeutic concepts, theories, and historical antecedents underlying the inner-directed approach to MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD.

We suggest actionable recommendations for how the field can transcend current conceptualizations and provide guidance on best practices until the next generation of measures is validated.

In this review, we discuss psychedelics’ acute subjective and persisting therapeutic effects, outline the science of positive emotions, and highlight the value in considering distinct positive emotions in psychedelic science.

The US clinical market for ketamine, estimated at $3.1bn in 2022 and expected to expand at 10.6% a year until 2030, is just one of many signs of renewed interest in the use of psychedelics to treat psychiatric conditions.

Novel state-legal psychedelic paradigms create a real-world opportunity to assess associations between facilitators’ personal psychedelic experience and the safety and outcomes of psychedelic services.

As psychedelics continue to garner popular and scientific interest, results indicate a pressing need for additional formal training to provide balanced, evidence-based information from trusted sources.

When appropriate control conditions are lacking, it becomes difficult to disentangle placebo and expectation effects from medication effects. Here we explore the neurobiology of placebo and expectation effects, alongside the methodological considerations for selecting suitable control conditions in psychedelic trials.

Most U.S. military veterans who have used psychedelics reported in a recent study that they pursued the substances for healing or spiritual exploration, and over 80% said they benefited from the experience – even those who had challenging outcomes.

Although some people report naturalistic psychedelic use with so-called “underground” practitioners, little is known about PAT that occurs outside of controlled clinical settings or perspectives of these practitioners.

Despite psychedelic microdosing being a growing practice, the research on the topic is still in its infancy. While several studies have described the characteristics, motivations and practices of microdosers, the differences between individuals that only microdose and those that use both micro and macrodoses of psychedelics remain unexplored.

Basically, the MeToo movement is belatedly catching up with the Daime world. Paulo Roberto is not the only male leader or member of a Daime church being outed as a predator. We are collectively in a moment of reckoning that has been a long time in coming. Goldman tells me expects more cases of misconduct in Daime churches to emerge.