A bibliometric analysis of 4,235 publications from 91 countries found rapidly growing global research into classic psychedelics for treating mental disorders. LSD led in number of studies, and the United States was the main collaborative hub. Regression models showed a strong to very strong correlation between year progression and publication increase for LSD, mescaline, DMT/ayahuasca, and psilocybin, with R² values ranging from 0.75 to 0.96. The findings indicate rising international interest, particularly in LSD and psilocybin research.
Psilocybin, a natural hallucinogenic alkaloid, when combined with psychotherapy, reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety in patients with terminal cancer. A scoping review of nine studies found that psilocybin is well tolerated and has no significant adverse effects in controlled settings. The review searched five databases and identified 340 articles, selecting nine that all point to psilocybin's effectiveness in lowering symptomatic levels of depression and anxiety. More research with larger and more diverse samples is needed.