Psychedelic Medicine
December 30, 2025
Brian S. Barnett, Akhil Anand, Tatiana Falcone et al.
Between 2015 and 2019, past-year LSD use rose 43% among heterosexual individuals, 58% among bisexual individuals, and 106% among lesbian/gay individuals in the United States. Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people were 3.3 to 4.4 times more likely to report past-year LSD use than heterosexual people, depending on the year. Living in poverty, being divorced versus married, living in a small metropolitan area versus a non-metropolitan area, and a past-year suicide attempt were unique correlates of LSD use for heterosexual individuals compared with LGB individuals. The findings suggest a need for targeted harm reduction strategies based on sexual identity.
The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
September 3, 2025
Kristina T. Kumpf, Samuel T. Wilkinson, Bo Hu et al.
In a multisite randomized trial comparing cognitive effects of intravenous ketamine and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in patients with treatment-resistant depression, those receiving six ketamine treatments showed superior cognitive functioning after a three-week treatment course compared with those receiving nine ECT sessions. No significant differences in cognitive task performance were associated with response to either treatment. Among responders followed for up to six months, no group differences emerged. Subjective memory measures were mixed: both groups improved on the Squire Memory Complaint Questionnaire, with ketamine recipients reporting greater functional gains, while ketamine-treated patients reported improvements on a global self-evaluation of memory but ECT-treated patients reported a decline. Within the ketamine group, improvements in executive functioning and cognitive flexibility survived adjustment for changes in depression, suggesting partial independence of cognitive and mood effects.
medRxiv
October 13, 2024
Brian S. Barnett
preprint
A survey of researchers who published the most-cited psychedelics articles since 2000 found that federal grant applications for therapeutic psychedelic research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) had a 16.7% funding rate, lower than the NIH's 23.4% average for R-01 equivalent grants from 1998 to 2023. No applications submitted before 2006–2010 were funded, but the rate since then (estimated at 19.05% to 22.2%) is close to the NIH's average annual rate of 20.6% for those years. Respondents believed the funding landscape has improved recently.
Psychiatry Research Case Reports
August 20, 2023
Brian S. Barnett, Amit Anand
A patient with treatment-resistant bipolar depression who had previously experienced severe neuropsychiatric side effects from ketamine was successfully pre-treated with lamotrigine. She tolerated the ketamine infusion well and her depressed mood improved rapidly. This case suggests that concurrent lamotrigine treatment may improve tolerability for patients with bipolar depression who have had neuropsychiatric side effects from ketamine.
medRxiv
December 26, 2022
Jeremy Weleff, Akhil Anand, Elizabeth N. Dewey et al.
preprint
Lysergic acid (LSD) use in the United States rose by 47% from 2015 to 2019, from 0.59% to 0.87% of the population. However, among people reporting past-year hallucinogen use disorder, there was no significant proportional increase in LSD users. Correlates of LSD use included increased access, lower perceived risk, Asian race, low income, fewer children at home, history of selling drugs, recent drug solicitations, lack of religious influence on decisions, and past-year suicide attempt among adults. No associations were found with unemployment, arrest history, psychological distress, or sexually transmitted infections. The proportion of pregnant, married, and 26–34-year-old LSD users increased, as did LSD use among lifetime methamphetamine users.
JAMA Psychiatry
July 15, 2026
Brian S. Barnett, Franklin King
The regulation of Schedule I substances like psychedelics can follow a pathway similar to that of sodium oxybate, a product of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB). This Viewpoint reviews the case of sodium oxybate to illustrate how such substances might navigate regulatory approval despite their current legal status.
Psychedelic Medicine
March 1, 2026
Brian S. Barnett, Akhil Anand, Elizabeth N. Dewey et al.
Between 2015 and 2019, about 13% of U.S. respondents reported that LSD was fairly or very easy to obtain, based on a national survey of 281,464 people. Perceived availability increased slightly over the period, especially among males, bisexual individuals, those with past-year serious psychological distress, people with hallucinogen use disorder, and those who saw trying LSD as lower risk. Factors linked to higher perceived availability included being bisexual, having higher education, and lifetime use of alcohol, marijuana, or hallucinogens. Older age and identifying as Asian or Black were linked to lower perceived availability. Identifying as Black was associated with a decreasing trend in perceived availability.