Psychedelic Research Links July 2022

This is all the other psychedelic research that came out in July 2022. These papers don’t (yet) have their own page in our database.

You can find all interesting papers in our Papers Database.

Related Papers

• 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)‐assisted psychotherapy for post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults (review)

• RElaxed Beliefs-Questionnaire (REB-Q) and REB-Q Self-Report (REB-Q-SR): Administration Manual (manual for questionnaire around REBUS)

• Astrocyte Activation, but not Microglia, Is Associated with the Experimental Mouse Model of Schizophrenia Induced by Chronic Ketamine (in mice, model of schizophrenia (like behaviour) after ketamine administration)

• Neuro-plastic Shamanism? Towards a Political Ontology of Whiteness and the Psychedelic Zeitgeist (opinion)

• A sacred plant of neuronal effect: the use of ibogaine in addiction treatments in Brazil (review, ibogaine for addiction)

• Synaptic plasticity and mental health: methods, challenges and opportunities (brain flexibility/plasticity, related)

• Rapid-Response Treatments for Depression and Requests for Physician-Assisted Death: An Ethical Analysis (review, implications of end-of-life assisted-dying requests in light of rapid (psychedelic) treatments)

• Modalities of the psychedelic experience: Microclimates of set and setting in hallucinogen research and culture (perspective, look on the history of psychedelic culture)

• Antidepressant and anxiolytic-like effects of ayahuasca in rats subjected to LPS-induced neuroinflammation (in rats, finds anti-depressant and anti-anxiety effects of ayahuasca when brain inflammation is induced, both preventative and 24 hours after)

• Psychedelic use in India, its pattern and personal significance – findings from an online survey (small (n=49) survey in India on psychedelic use – big selection effect)

• Intersectional Identities, Stigma and MDMA/Ecstasy Use (book chapter)

• Novel uses of ketamine in the emergency department (review, ketamine for (acute) pain and depression)

• Psychedelic Therapies at the Crossroads of Trauma and Substance Use: Historical Perspectives and Future Directions, Taking a Lead From New Mexico (perspective/policy, include more patient perspective)

• From Ketamine to Drugs Targeting Subtype-Selective Benzodiazepine Site-Containing Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid A Receptors as Novel Rapid-Acting Antidepressants (commentary)

• Self-treatment of psychosis and complex post-traumatic stress disorder with LSD and DMT—A retrospective case study (case study, n=1, reduced/alleviated psychosis(-like) symptoms after high-dose LSD and low-dose DMT)

• Effect of LSD on the degree of detail of vision (research outline, interesting study to look at a) more information incoming, (less filter) or b) perceived so as more incongruent info)

• The Therapeutic Potential of Pimavanserin in the Treatment of Hallucinogen Induced Psychosis and Persistent Perceptual Symptoms (commentary)

• Secular Mysticism (more discussion about mysticism, focus on non-religious interpretation)

• Evaluation of Cytotoxic, Necrotic, Apoptotic, and Autophagic Effects of Methamphetamine and 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine on U-87 MG (Glial) and B104-1–1 (Neuronal) Cell Lines (study in cells, they don’t like MDMA)

• The Relationship Between Psychedelic Use, Mystical Experiences, and Pro-Environmental Behaviors (n=240, survey, correlation between mystical experience and pro-environmental behaviour)

• Effect of psilocybin on marble-burying in ICR mice: Role of 5-HT1A receptors and implications for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (in mice, no effect on OCD-like behaviour of psilocybin, “Neither 5-HT2A nor 5-HT1A receptors are pivotally implicated in the effect of psilocybin on marble-burying. Co-administration with buspirone may block the psychedelic effects of psilocybin without impeding its anti-obsessional effects.“)

• Magic Mushrooms – an exploratory look at how mental health professionals feel and think about Psilocybin (n=155, mental health professionals (still) have ‘poor’ knowledge of psychedelics, referring to psilocybin or magic mushrooms didn’t affect opinion)

• Rapid-acting antidepressants in psychiatry: episodic treatments, innovation, and clarion call for methodologic rigor in drug development (opinion/foreword)

• Justification of the possibility of using psychopharmacotherapy to overcome the negative impact of the Russian war on the population’s mental health (making the case for using PAT for the people in Ukraine)

• Adjunctive dopaminergic enhancement of esketamine in treatment-resistant depression (theory-building, using another drug to increase dopamine (availability) in conjunction with (es)ketamine for enhanced effects)

• Ibogaine microdosing in a patient with bipolar depression: a case report (case study, n=1, finds positive effects of daily (2 p/d, 60 days) ibogaine microdosing)

• Ayahuasca and its interaction with the sigma-1 receptor: a potential treatment for COVID-19 (perspective, speculative)

• Unravelling a New Conformer of Psilocin Through Computational Methods (new ‘conformers’ (isomer of a molecule that differs from another isomer by the rotation of a single bond in the molecule) of psilocybin found, possibly interesting but above my paygrade)

• Psychedelics, Atheism, and Naturalism Myth and Reality (another good philosophical take/critique-of-critique on psychedelics and belief-change by Chris Letheby)

• The illusion of knowledge in the emerging field of psychedelic research (perspective, good (but known) critiques)

• Esketamine-A quick-acting novel antidepressant without the disadvantages of ketamine (review, misleading/over-simplifying title)

• The promise of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in combination with prolonged exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (perspective)

• Psychedelic compound 5-MeO-DMT induces an altered wake state in mice (in mice, (page currently not working))

• Psychedelic sociality: Pharmacological and extrapharmacological perspectives (editorial)

• Pharmacogenetic and drug interaction aspects on ketamine safety in its use as antidepressant – implications for precision dosing in a global perspective (review, factors of influence on ketamine dosing/safety)

• Right Frontal Theta: Is It a Response Biomarker for Ketamine’s Therapeutic Action in Anxiety Disorders? (n=81, “Although preliminary, and indirect, our results suggest that the anxiolytic action of ketamine is mediated through reduced right frontal theta power.“)

• Ketamine for Bipolar Depression: Biochemical, Psychotherapeutic, and Psychedelic Approaches (perspective)

• Therapeutic Potential of Salvinorin A and Its Analogues in Various Neurological Disorders (editorial)

• The modern clinical use of hallucinogens. What can we learn from the natural product research? (perspective)

• Role of 5-HT2A, 5-HT2C, 5-HT1A and TAAR1 receptors in the head twitch response induced by 5-hydroxytryptophan and psilocybin: Translational implications (in mice, “We have confirmed the key role of 5-HT2AR in [head twitch response – indicator of psychedelic/subjective effects]”

• Are you tripping comfortably? Investigating the relationship between harm reduction and the psychedelic experience (n=163, survey, finds better setting in more recent psychedelic (recreational) experience (vs first experience))

• Ketamine plus Alcohol: What We Know and What We Can Expect about This (review, ketamine & alcohol recreational (mis)use)

• Evidence for the beneficial effect of ketamine in the treatment of patients with post-traumatic stress disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis (review & meta-analysis, positive signals for ketamine for PTSD, but few high-quality studies)

• A short burst of reward curbs the addictiveness of ketamine (viewpoint, “… indicates that the risk of addiction [based on mice studies] to ketamine is low.” see this article)

• Psychedelic Expansion of Consciousness: A Phenomenological Study in Terms of Attention (philosophical paper on consciousness expansion under the influence of psychedelics)

• 5-HT2A SNPs Alter the Pharmacological Signaling of Potentially Therapeutic Psychedelics (variations in the serotonin 2a receptor (in cells) show modest, but significant effects on efficacy and potency of classical psychedelics)

• New antidepressants: New day or false dawn? (perspective)

• Higher glutamatergic activity in the medial prefrontal cortex in chronic ketamine users (safety, higher glutamate activity but cross-sectional study, in chronic ketamine users)

• Psilocybin reduces low frequency oscillatory power and neuronal phase-locking in the anterior cingulate cortex of awake rodents (in mice, “psilocybin reduces low frequency oscillatory power, increases overall firing rates and desynchronizes local neural activity. These findings are consistent with dissolution of the default mode network under psilocybin, and may be indicative of disruption of top-down processing in the acute psychedelic state.“)

• Efficacy and Safety of Intranasal Esketamine in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Depression and Comorbid Chronic Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: Open-Label Single-Arm Pilot Study (n=11, finds effectiveness of esketamine (Spravato) for TRD and PTSD comorbid patients)

• Synthesis, Structural Characterization, and Pharmacological Activity of Novel Quaternary Salts of 4-Substituted Tryptamines (psilocybin-like molecules without 5-HT2a activation so probably no psychedelic-like effects)

• Tolerance and Cross-Tolerance among Psychedelic and Nonpsychedelic 5-HT2A Receptor Agonists in Mice (in mice, “[T]hese data suggest that tolerance to HTR induced by psychedelics involves activation of the 5-HT2AR, is not observable upon repeated administration of nonpsychedelic 5-HT2AR agonists, and occurs via a signaling mechanism independent of β-arrestin-2.“)

• From Mushrooms to Myolysis A Case of Rhabdo in Psilocybin-Induced Mood and Psychotic Disorder (very alarming – not in a good way – case study)

• The effect of IV ketamine in patients with major depressive disorder and elevated features of borderline personality disorder (n=153, finds that ketamine works equally well in those with or without borderline personality, all with depression (MDD))

• Active mechanisms of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy: A systematic review (review)

• Indigenous Philosophies and the “Psychedelic Renaissance” (perspective/opinion)

• Information parity on cortical functional brain networks increases under psychedelic influences (pre-print, will review/share at another time, novel analysis of earlier fMRI data)