1/ Is it ethical to enhance #love with drugs? 🧠❤️ In our new study, we explored public attitudes toward “love drugs,” such as using #MDMA to enhance couples’ therapy. The results were surprising. W/ @MeyBaharB @briandavidearp @juliansavulescu @ExistWell @m_emilian 2/ We tested different scenarios going from a 100% reliable "love pill" that rekindles feelings instantly to a more realistic scenario where couples use a pharmacological treatment with therapy to work on their relationship.

Our new paper shows #psilocybin has similar long-term antidepressant effects as the #SSRI escitalopram but leads to greater improvements in psychosocial functioning, connectedness, and life meaning. Published in Lancet @EClinMedicine.



🧵1/10 thelancet.com/journals/eclin…
2/ The study is the 6 month follow-up of the psilocybin vs escitalopram trial published in 2021 in the New England Journal of Medicine. Yes, this paper was long due to be published, sorry for the delay. nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…

🧵1/ LSD-assisted therapy might reduce #anxiety symptoms up to 1 year after treatment, according to a new study in the esteemed psychiatry journal @TheBJPsych ! #LSD #psychedelics tinyurl.com/4skxhp3m
🧵 2/ Participants received two doses of 200 μg of LSD accompanied by psychological support. Anxiety, depression, and general psychiatric symptoms stayed low for an extended period. Participants attributed positive life changes to their LSD experience.

1/ A new study explored the effects of #psilocybin on human neurons, revealing for the first time how the compound found in “magic mushrooms” affects #human brain cells and #neuroplasticity. 🍄🧠

tinyurl.com/4t2ea3z3
2/ Researchers used human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived cortical neurons. iPSCs are adult cells reprogrammed into stem cells, then transformed into cortical neurons, mimicking brain cells in the cortex.

What are people experiencing under the #extended state #DMTx at Imperial College London? 👽

Presented by @JWSanders_ , these preliminary results show how participants try to navigate DMT alien worlds. Here are the fascinating insights gathered from participants. #ICPR2024 2/ The DMT infusions lasted for approximately 30 minutes, with participants receiving a continuous infusion of DMT to maintain a steady state. These interviews and analyses were based on #microphenomenology .

1/ A new preprint suggests that people taking #MDMA at the time of the terror attack at the Supernova music festival in Israel might have been less affected by #trauma, shedding light on MDMA's role in trauma processing.

A breakdown: biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
2/ The study involved 657 survivors, capturing their acute experiences and peritraumatic processing after the high-casualty event. Data were collected between 4 to 12 weeks post-trauma.

1/ How does taking a NON-hallucinogenic “#psychedelic” compound feels like?

An interesting blog report on the compound Tabernanthalog used in #DavidOlson Lab came out today, suggesting it induced a feeling of an almost “supernatural patience”, without any visual effect. 🧘 In 2021, David E Olson’s lab reported the creation of Tabernanthalog, aiming at improving Ibogaine’s toxicity and hallucinogenic issues. This new substance proved non-toxic and non-hallucinogenic in animal models and reversed the effects of stress. nature.com/articles/s4138…

1/ The first study on the effects of 2C-B has just been published! 🍭

By comparing 2C-B to #psilocybin it was found that the two drugs induced similar subjective alterations, with 2C-B possessing less experiential depth than psilocybin but greater euphoric and bodily qualities. 2/ 2C-B was found to elicit significant elevations across most scales outside of auditory alterations, disembodiment, and spiritual experience. However, the overall magnitude of alterations to waking consciousness (total 5D-ASC score) was markedly less than that of psilocybin.

1/ The short acting psychedelic DMT might induce long term improvements in depression, according to new preliminary data. These are the first data showing that a psychedelic experience of around 30 mins might have therapeutic potential. Below a breakdown of results: 2 / @SmallPharma released today new data showing that DMT therapy induced a decrease of -7.4 points in MADRAS at 2 weeks compared to placebo. At 1 week, 44% of patients classified the criteria for remission from depression, compared to 13% of patients in the placebo group.

(1/9) “What do common antidepressants really do? Are they just placebos?” Despite being the most common drugs prescribed in psychiatry, many recent popular articles highlighted how they might be just placebos with side effects. But is this really the case? Probably not. (2/9) If you look at the first graph, all ADs seem to have very similar efficacy. This is quite remarkable, as most of these drugs work on totally different receptors.This suggests that there might be some common mechanism behind the effects, not just explainable by pharmacology.

My first 1st author paper is out in @TheBJPsych ! We found out that psilocybin is superior in reducing rumination and chronic suppression of negative emotions compared to escitalopram. Big thanks to @RCarhartHarris and @LeorRoseman for the guidance. #Psilocybin #psychiatry #LSD Rumination and thought suppression are 2 maladaptive coping strategies and, despite appearing sort of opposite, they reinforce each others (suppressed thoughts usually come back stronger, fuelling rumination).