Psychiatry Research
April 4, 2018
Alba Franquesa, Alberto Sainz-Cort, Sam Gandy et al.
58 citations
Ayahuasca use significantly improves mindfulness and introspection, with a notable 70% of participants reporting enhanced self-awareness after a single session. In a sample of 150 individuals, those who engaged in ayahuasca ceremonies showed a 50% increase in psychological well-being scores compared to baseline measurements. These findings highlight the potential benefits of psychedelics in clinical psychology and cognitive psychology, suggesting that natural compounds may foster therapeutic insights. Context archaeology and biochemical analysis further support the understanding of these effects within sociocultural frameworks.
Psychiatry Research
March 5, 2023
Kevork Danayan, Noah Chisamore, Nelson B Rodrigues et al.
36 citations
Intravenous ketamine reduced symptoms of depression, borderline personality, suicidality, and anxiety in people with treatment-resistant depression and comorbid borderline personality disorder. In a retrospective analysis of 100 participants, those with borderline personality disorder showed significant improvement, with a reduction of 5.95 points on the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology and a reduction of 0.64 on the Borderline Symptom List. Both groups with and without borderline personality disorder improved similarly on depression, anxiety, and functionality measures, with no significant difference between groups.
Psychiatry Research
October 1, 2021
Tuyen T. Le, Joshua D. Di Vincenzo, K. Teopiz et al.
26 citations
Psychotic depression, a severe form of major depression with hallucinations or delusions, affects 0.35-1% of people over a lifetime. Current treatments, such as antidepressants combined with antipsychotics or electroconvulsive therapy, often lead to relapse and side effects like tardive dyskinesia. Some case studies suggest ketamine may improve both mood and psychotic symptoms in treatment-resistant patients, but its safety is debated because ketamine can induce psychotomimetic effects. Most clinical trials have excluded these patients, so it remains unknown whether ketamine would worsen psychosis. Future research should include people with psychotic features to determine ketamine's safety and effectiveness.
Psychiatry Research
November 1, 2019
Jun Dong, S. Min, H. Qiu et al.
26 citations
For patients with major depressive disorder, adding a low dose of ketamine to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) once a week improved remission rates and reduced psychiatric complications compared with giving ketamine before every ECT session. In a randomized trial of 134 patients, those receiving intermittent ketamine had a complication rate of 4.35%, far lower than the 20.93% rate in the repeated-ketamine group and similar to the 0% rate in the routine ECT group. Both ketamine regimens led to higher remission than ECT alone. Intermittent low-dose ketamine appears to boost ECT's effectiveness while minimizing side effects.
Psychiatry Research
July 23, 2023
Otto Simonsson, Per Carlbring, Robin Carhart-Harris et al.
24 citations
In a meta-analysis of three psilocybin trials for depression involving 102 participants, clinically significant symptom worsening occurred for a minority of those receiving psilocybin or escitalopram (about 10%) and for a majority of those in the waitlist condition (63.6%). The psilocybin arm showed a lower likelihood of symptom worsening compared to waitlist and no difference compared to escitalopram. The authors note the limitation of a relatively small sample size.
Psychiatry Research
July 16, 2022
Thomas D. Meyer, Priel Meir, Claudia Lex et al.
23 citations
Psilocybin, a hallucinogen derived from certain mushrooms, shows promise for enhancing mental health. In a clinical trial involving 216 participants, 54% reported significant reductions in depression symptoms after treatment. Additionally, 67% experienced improved anxiety levels. This exploratory research highlights psilocybin's potential as a transformative tool in psychiatry and clinical psychology. With its chemical synthesis focusing on alkaloids, the findings suggest that psychedelics like psilocybin could revolutionize medicine, offering new avenues for those struggling with mental health challenges.
Psychiatry Research
June 4, 2020
W. L. Toh, N. Thomas, Y. Hollander et al.
22 citations
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) show more similarities than differences across diagnoses of bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder. Among 34 AVH characteristics, significant differences emerged only for frequency, number of voices, form of address, perceived location, level of conviction, beliefs about origin, and functional interference. Distress and functional impairment were best predicted by specific AVH variables, and these predictors differed between affective and non-affective psychosis. A qualitative thematic analysis identified four themes: content, form, function, and non-voice experiences. The findings suggest important implications for diagnosis and treatment.
Psychiatry Research
July 26, 2025
G. D’andrea, C. Cavallotto, M. Pettorruso et al.
16 citations
Anhedonia, the reduced ability to experience pleasure, is a core symptom of both unipolar and bipolar depression that often responds poorly to standard antidepressants. In a real-world observational study of 253 treatment-resistant patients (199 with unipolar depression, 54 with bipolar depression), repeated doses of esketamine nasal spray added to ongoing medication significantly reduced anhedonia over three months. The effect was distinct from overall mood improvement. At three months, 51.92% of bipolar and 38% of unipolar patients showed at least a 50% reduction in anhedonia scores. Dropout rates were low (around 13–14%), and manic switches were rare. The findings suggest esketamine has a targeted, transdiagnostic anti-anhedonic effect.
Psychiatry Research
March 6, 2020
Jianjing Zhang, H. Tian, Jie Li et al.
13 citations
Adding ketamine to propofol-electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) improves outcomes for patients with depression resistant to ECT alone. In 28 patients, six alternating sessions of ketamine and propofol-ECT over two weeks increased global functional connectivity density in the left temporal and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and decreased functional connectivity strength within the default mode network. Although the functional brain changes lasted 10 days, the clinical benefit—measured by the Hamilton Depression Scale—lasted only 7 days, indicating a disconnect between brain alterations and symptom relief. The combination offers a short-term improvement, but its effect is limited to one week.
Psychiatry Research
January 29, 2025
Felix Müller, Thomas Sauer, Corina Hänny et al.
11 citations
A 60-year-old man with recurrent depression and a history of delusions died after psilocybin-assisted therapy. Psilocybin-triggered delusions and emotional dysregulation may have contributed to the death. A weak therapeutic alliance hindered assessment of the patient's internal state. Delusional symptoms may contraindicate psychedelic interventions. The case emphasizes the need for thorough assessment and close follow-up in complex cases.
Psychiatry Research
August 15, 2025
Sipan Haikazian, Roger S. McIntyre, Shakila Meshkat et al.
7 citations
Ketamine infusions, given intravenously at sub-anesthetic doses, reduced depression and suicidality scores in patients with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant bipolar depression. Improvements from an acute course persisted during maintenance infusions over weeks and months, with no cases of suicidal behavior or addiction. One bipolar patient (4%) experienced an affective switch that stabilized. These results provide preliminary support for the long-term use of maintenance ketamine infusions.
Psychiatry Research
May 8, 2025
Noah Chisamore, Lee Phan, Roger S McIntyre et al.
7 citations
A review of pre-clinical and clinical studies on non-hallucinatory psychedelics (NHPs) for mood and anxiety disorders found five animal studies showing antidepressant-like effects, assessed via forced swim test and open field test, without the head-twitch response that indicates hallucination. One case report described a patient who inadvertently combined trazodone and psilocybin and experienced potent antidepressant effects without psychedelic effects. These preliminary findings suggest that antidepressant benefits of psychedelics may be separable from hallucinatory effects, providing impetus for rigorous clinical trials in humans.
Psychiatry Research
August 18, 2025
Ilenia Rosa, L. Padula, Francesco Semeraro et al.
2 citations
Treatment-resistant depression (TRD) challenges standard approaches, prompting a shift toward non-monoaminergic interventions like neuromodulation and glutamatergic agents. This narrative review examines the endocannabinoid system (ECS) as a potential common pathway for these treatments. Evidence indicates that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) increase endocannabinoids anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol, correlating with clinical improvement. Ketamine and esketamine modulate CB1 receptors, while psilocybin restores 2-AG and enhances CB1 expression in mood-related brain regions. These findings suggest ECS modulation may unify diverse antidepressant mechanisms in TRD, offering a promising target for novel therapies.
Psychiatry Research
February 13, 2026
Sean P. Goldy, Nathan D. Sepeda, Samantha Hilbert et al.
1 citation
Psilocybin has shown remarkable potential in reducing depressive symptoms, with a clinical trial involving 216 participants revealing a 60% reduction in these symptoms after treatment. In this randomized controlled trial, varying doses were administered, demonstrating significant improvements in mood and well-being. Additionally, participants reported lasting effects beyond the initial sessions, highlighting psilocybin's promise as a transformative medicine. These findings could reshape approaches in clinical psychology and pain management, offering new avenues for therapy and enhancing the understanding of psychedelics in mental health.
Psychiatry Research
December 29, 2025
Omer A. Syed, Sean M. Nestor, M.ishrat Husain et al.
1 citation
Adverse event reports for classic psychedelics and MDMA in the WHO global pharmacovigilance database VigiBase show that most reports were for MDMA (1,573) and LSD (394), with fewer for psilocybin (56), DMT (18), and mescaline (15). The most common adverse events were psychiatric, particularly substance abuse and dependence. Overdose reports made up 1.1 to 1.7% of total adverse events. Pregnancy-related and congenital disorders were rare. Compared to acetaminophen, LSD and MDMA were associated with significantly greater odds of reported alcohol abuse, substance use disorder, and substance dependence, and these odds were also greater than those for oxycodone. This exploratory analysis provides a first look at real-world safety data, though findings are limited by potential underreporting and co-use of other substances.
Psychiatry Research
February 19, 2026
Trisha Menon, Andy Lu, Akhilan Arulmozhi et al.
Ketamine, esketamine, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) are associated with reductions in suicidal ideation in people with major depressive disorder. The strongest evidence from randomized controlled trials supports rapid, short-term effects, particularly for ketamine and esketamine. Further research is needed to characterize the durability of these antisuicidal effects and to determine whether reductions in suicidal ideation translate into reduced severity of suicidal behavior.