Brain sciences
March 26, 2026
Piotr Skalski, Katarzyna Pękacka-falkowska, Agnieszka Pluto-Prądzyńska et al.
Psilocybin shows rapid and sustained antidepressant and anxiolytic effects, with benefits also observed in addiction treatment. However, conventional randomized controlled trials (RCTs) may not adequately capture the therapeutic complexity of psilocybin, which depends on pharmacological action as well as contextual, psychological, and interpersonal factors. This critical narrative review of the ten most cited clinical studies from 2015 to 2025 identified significant methodological limitations, including selection bias, challenges in placebo design and blinding, small sample sizes, and underrepresentation of diverse populations. Real-world evidence studies revealed heterogeneous response patterns and insights unattainable through RCTs alone. Comprehensive evaluation requires larger and more diverse trials, long-term follow-up, standardized psychotherapeutic protocols, and integration of real-world evidence.
Brain sciences
August 22, 2025
Laura Tack, Lore Mertens, Marte Vandeweyer et al.
About one-third of cancer survivors need professional help for fear of cancer recurrence (FCR). The REMOTE trial tests two internet-based mind-body techniques to address this need. Cancer survivors screened with the Cancer Worry Scale are randomly assigned to internet-based emotional freedom techniques (iEFT), an internet-based mindfulness meditation intervention (iMMI), or a wait-list control group, each with 113 participants. Both interventions are delivered remotely via Microsoft Teams and an online platform. The primary outcome is FCR level; secondary outcomes are emotional distress and quality of life. If effective, these interventions could be readily implemented in clinical practice.
Brain sciences
September 13, 2024
André Sevenius Nilsen, Johan Frederik Storm, Bjørn Erik Juel
Measures of consciousness based on signal diversity of spontaneous or perturbed EEG are not affected by cognitive load, whereas the P300b event-related potential is. In 12 participants, EEG was recorded during passive attention to sensory stimuli and during a demanding working memory task. The P300b, which reflects conscious awareness of auditory deviance, was significantly reduced by the concurrent memory task. In contrast, several signal diversity measures, including the perturbational complexity index, were unchanged. These findings suggest that signal diversity measures may remain reliable for assessing consciousness in clinical settings where attention, sensory processing, or command following are impaired.