Journal of psychiatric research
June 12, 2026
Juliana Lima Constantino, Tobias Stephan Freimann, Jens H van Dalfsen et al.
Oral esketamine can be an effective and well-tolerated treatment for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), but about half of those treated do not respond. This study tested whether sociodemographic and clinical features, including depressive symptoms and treatment resistance, could predict how much depressive symptoms would improve in 131 TRD patients receiving individually adjusted oral esketamine doses (0.5 mg/kg to 3 mg/kg) twice weekly for six weeks. Machine learning models—linear regression, elastic net, and random forest—failed to predict symptom change above chance. The findings suggest that oral esketamine may work similarly across the TRD population, regardless of treatment-resistance levels.
Journal of psychiatric research
June 2, 2026
Daniel J Kruger, Audrey Czerew, Leigh Farquhar et al.
The research priorities of people who have used psychedelics differ from those of institutional researchers. An online survey of 1192 U.S. adults who reported past psychedelic use identified seven major domains for future research: therapeutic efficacy, best practices for non-clinical use, safety and adverse experiences, broader understanding including indigenous traditions, non-medical outcomes like creativity and spiritual awakening, best practices for therapy, and best practices for research. Institutional researchers emphasized molecular, neurological, and clinical topics, while users prioritized non-clinical use and societal and cultural issues.
Journal of psychiatric research
June 1, 2026
Ludovic Samalin, Maud Rothärmel, Lila Mekaoui et al.
In patients with treatment-resistant depression, depressive symptoms improved rapidly during the first four weeks of intranasal esketamine treatment. Among 128 patients in a French real-world study, the average depression rating score fell by 7.5 points after one week and by 13.5 points after four weeks. The proportion of patients whose score dropped by at least half rose from 19.4% at week 1 to 47.4% at week 4. Experiencing dissociation during the first week was linked to a threefold higher chance of response at week 1, but no other factors predicted response. The findings suggest early dissociation may play a role in treatment response, but more research is needed on prognostic factors.
Journal of psychiatric research
January 29, 2026
Dandan Luo, Wenjun Dang, Jie Luo et al.
A systematic review of 13 clinical studies suggests that Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) may help improve anxiety and depression in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and may relieve psychological stress and improve emotional states in their caregivers. Among adults with ASD (8 studies), MBSR showed potential for reducing emotional symptoms. For ASD caregivers (4 studies), preliminary effects included reduced stress and better emotional well-being. Only one study examined children with ASD, and none covered adolescents. The evidence is limited by small sample sizes and high heterogeneity, so conclusions should be interpreted cautiously.
Journal of psychiatric research
November 1, 2025
Felipe M Herrmann, Grant Jones, Daniel M Low et al.
Increases in meaning in life, agreeableness, mindfulness, and extraversion are the psychological changes most strongly linked to future improvements in well-being after naturalistic psychedelic use. Increases in mindfulness, emotional stability, and extraversion are most associated with later reductions in anxiety, while increased self-esteem is most tied to decreased depression. Mindfulness was the only variable ranking among the top three predictors for all three outcomes—well-being, anxiety, and depression. These differing psychological changes may explain the mental health benefits observed after psychedelic use.
Journal of psychiatric research
July 1, 2025
Joris Kamp, Megan E Sikkink, Mahalah R Buell et al.
In mice with reduced Sp4 expression, a gene linked to schizophrenia in humans, restoring Sp4 in young adults partially corrected two schizophrenia-related behavioral deficits—prepulse inhibition and hypersensitivity to ketamine—but did not improve context memory. The SP4 gene is strongly associated with schizophrenia risk; human studies show that loss of one copy increases odds of schizophrenia by about 9-fold. These results suggest that Sp4 restoration in adulthood may reverse some but not all behavioral abnormalities, supporting further investigation of SP4 as a potential drug target.