Psychedelic Research Links 2025

This link page is a centralised overview of psychedelic research studies published in 2025. It includes all research published (that came across our desk) on psychedelics, with those studies that are added to the database with links to their respective pages.

The research is sorted per month. We also include categorisation and a mini summary or excerpt for each study so you can review the information at a glance.

Psychedelic Research in January 2025

• Multidimensional Personality Changes Following Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy in Patients With Alcohol Use Disorder: Results From a Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial
  • Trial | Analysis of an RCT of Psi-AT for AUD (n=84) that finds that “[r]elative to the placebo group, the psilocybin group showed significant reductions in neuroticism and increases in extraversion and openness.”
• Moderating factors in psilocybin-assisted treatment affecting mood and personality: A naturalistic, open-label investigation
  • Trial | This open-label trial of Psi-AT (using psilocybin-containing truffles) find that a “single high dose of psilocybin in combination with therapy was found to lower symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD and neuroticism over a period of 3-months. Scores on openness and conscientiousness increased after the treatment only.“
• Single-Dose Psilocybin for Depression With Severe Treatment Resistance: An Open-Label Trial
  • Trial | A relatively small trial (n=12) finds efficacy and safety of psilocybin therapy for depression, however, with the note that for patients who also experienced PTSD, the effects were muted.
• Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of an Innovative Psychedelic N,N-Dimethyltryptamine/Harmine Formulation in Healthy Participants: A Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Trial | This is the second paper that is published on the Reconnect-sponsored research into ‘pharmahuasca’ (DMT + harmine). The study tested DMT and harmine administered in the mouth (buccal delivery). DMT reached peak blood levels of 22.1 ng/ml and produced psychedelic effects similar to ayahuasca, lasting 2-3 hours. Harmine reached higher peak levels (32.5 ng/ml) but didn’t cause noticeable subjective effects compared to placebo.
• Effect of ketamine on anxiety: findings from the Ketamine for Adult Depression Study
  • Trial | RCT on the effect of ketamine (35mg/70kg in cohort 1, 35-63mg/70kg in cohort 2) on anxiety. A null effect was found in the first cohort. A statistically significant effect was found in the second cohort, but the effects waned after treatment stopped.
• Effects of repeated intravenous esketamine administration on affective biases
  • Trial | Open-label study of patients with TRD who received repeated ketamine infusions (n=18, n=12 had 5+ infusions). Researchers find that “improvement of TRD by esketamine may involve shifts in emotion processing and cognition, with the acute mood-lifting effects of esketamine being discernible from longer-lasting antidepressant response, which consolidates after repeated administration.“
• Effects of Ketamine vs. Midazolam in Adolescent Treatment Resistant Depression
  • Trial | A head-to-head comparison against midazolam (another anesthetic, benzo) in 55 adolescents with TRD. The study finds that “[k]etamine showed a reduction in depressive and anxiety symptoms during a short-term period with particular efficacy in alleviating inner tension over midazolam, suggesting its potential advantages in specific symptom relief in rarely studied adolescent TRD.“
• Intranasal racemic ketamine maintenance therapy for patients with treatment-resistant depression: a naturalistic feasibility study
  • Trial | This observational study reported on patients (n=5) who had success with ketamine treatment for TRD and were on a ‘maintenance’ dose (up to 14x over ~6 months).
• Compass Psychological Support Model for COMP360 Psilocybin Treatment of Serious Mental Health Conditions
  • Trail Protocol | Describes how the therapy (or as they like to call it – ‘support’) is implemented in the Compass trials.
• Psychotic-Like Experiences in Young Recreational Users of Ketamine: A Case Study
  • Case Report | The case report looked at ten people who used ketamine regularly (3x p/w) and found “a significant positive correlation between the frequency of ketamine use and PLEs, with no significant impact from other substances like THC, MDMA, and alcohol.“
• Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy for Antisocial Personality Disorder: A Case Report
  • Case Report | The case report discusses one patient who used ketamine for antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). “A series of psycholytic (low dose) ketamine therapy sessions and other integrative approaches over the course of 3 years results in resolution of severe alcoholism, reduction in violent thoughts about people and the world, and a reduction in depression symptoms.“
• A Psilocybin Experience Gone Wrong: The Importance of Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy
  • Case Report | The authors “report the case of a patient who underwent a psilocybin experience without psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, resulting in inpatient psychiatric admission.“
• Efficacy and safety of psilocybin in the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD): A dose-response network meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials
  • Meta-Analysis | Analysis of 3 studies with 389 patients on Psi-AT for MDD. Psilocybin helped reduce depression symptoms, with effects showing up after 8 days and becoming stronger by day 15. A 25mg dose worked best compared to other doses tested. While effective, psilocybin did increase the risk of side effects, especially nausea.
• Psychedelics in Psychiatry: Oh, What A Trip!
  • Editorial | Introduction to ‘The American Journal of Psychiatry’ which has a special issue on psychedelics (and quite the psychedelic cover). Many of the articles you see listed here in January are taken from this special issue.
• Healing, Harms, and Humility: Expanding the Scope of Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy Research
  • Commentary | Researchers call for more research into “the implicit and explicit content and processes of psychotherapy in PAP.”
• Toward Translatable Biomarkers of Psychedelic-Induced Neuroplasticity
  • Commentary | David Olson comments on the search for biomarkers of psychedelic-induced neuroplasticity and how this could help support the stratification and efficacy of (psychedelic) medicines.
• Psychedelic Regulation Beyond the Controlled Substances Act: A Three-Dimensional Framework for Characterizing Policy Options
  • Commentary | Authors propose a framework that characterises psychedelics along three dimensions, 1) legality, 2) therapeutic intention, and 3) structure.
• Research and Implementation of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy in the Veterans Health Administration
  • Commentary | Discussion of steps that can be proactively taken at the VA for when (if) FDA approval of PATs happens.
• Sex and psychedelics: a wide-lens look at a burgeoning field
  • Commentary | Reflecting on three recent studies on psychedelics and sex, the authors argue “that taking account of sexuality as culturally produced, historically contingent and geographically specific would improve the reliability and efficacy of future studies.“
• Psychedelic Treatments in Adolescent Psychopharmacology: Considering Safety, Ethics, and Scientific Rigor
  • Commentary | The authors comment on the use of psychedelics and their rise in popularity among adolescents. They call for more research to be done on psychedelic therapies for adolescents.
• Informed Consent to Psychedelic Medicine
  • Commentary | The article discusses how standard medical informed consent practices need specific adaptations for psychedelic medicine. It emphasizes seven essential elements that practitioners should cover, ranging from warning patients about potential lasting perceptual changes and personality shifts to establishing clear boundaries for physical contact during treatment. The process also requires acknowledging potential exploitation risks, being transparent about research roles and data collection, disclosing practitioner credentials, and ensuring patient understanding through interactive methods.
• Insights for the Next Generation of Ketamine for the Treatment of Depressive Disorder
  • Perspective | Ketamine helps treatment-resistant depression quickly. While the FDA only approves the S-form of ketamine, research suggests the R-form might work better as an antidepressant with less potential for abuse.
• Modifying Informed Consent to Help Address Functional Unmasking in Psychedelic Clinical Trials
  • Perspective | This ‘special communication’ discusses informed consent in psychedelic trials and the possibility of obscuring information about the study drug to prevent functional unblinding, though it also notes the ethical concerns that this raises.
• What should constitute a control condition in psychedelic drug trials?
  • Perspective | “When appropriate control conditions are lacking, it becomes difficult to disentangle placebo and expectation effects from medication effects.” So, the authors examine the options and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of these.
• Psilocybin: From Psychiatric Pariah to Perceived Panacea
  • Review | Investigating the research up to the end of 2023, the reviewers conclude “The evidence is currently insufficient to recommend psilocybin with PST as a psychiatric treatment.” and “Head-to-head comparisons with other evidence-based treatments will better inform the potential future role of psilocybin with PST in the treatment of major psychiatric disorders.“
• MDMA and MDMA-Assisted Therapy
  • Review | The authors discuss the clinical (vs recreational) evidence of MDMA-assisted therapy and the neurobiological mechanisms underlying its therapeutic effect.
• Benefits and Challenges of Ultra-Fast, Short-Acting Psychedelics in the Treatment of Depression
  • Review | Researchers from Maastricht University discuss 5-MeO-DMT and DMT and the potential benefits of this type of ‘rapid’ treatment. Although promising, no large trials have been conducted with these molecules (yet).
• Primum Non Nocere: The Onus to Characterize the Potential Harms of Psychedelic Treatment
  • Review | “First, Do No Harm.” The reviewers cover “the literature on the known and potential harms, including enduring perceptual disturbances; triggering or enhancing the risk for onset of mania or psychosis; overuse, misuse, and dependence; challenging experiences or “bad trips”; risks associated with increased neuroplastic potential; and acute and cumulative cardiovascular effects.”
• Psychedelics for the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders: Interpreting and Translating Available Evidence and Guidance for Future Research
  • Review | A full review of the psychedelic literature with an eye toward future research and the development of psychedelic treatments.
• The diverse effects of ketamine, a jack-of-all-trades: a narrative review
  • Review | A review of the literature on ketamine’s medical use, from anaesthetic to antidepressant.
• Beyond NMDA Receptors: A Narrative Review of Ketamine’s Rapid and Multifaceted Mechanisms in Depression Treatment
  • Review | The authors attempt to map out the mechanisms through which ketamine works but also find significant gaps in the literature (or that our understanding of ketamine’s mechanisms is still evolving).
• Exploring Therapeutic Potentials and Pathways of Psychedelics in Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementia
  • Review | Beyond mental health, psychedelics are also being investigated for neurodegenerative disorders, here the authors look at Alzheimer’s specifically.
• Clinical and preclinical evidence of psilocybin as antidepressant. A narrative review
  • Review | Review of both clinical and animal research on psilocybin for depression.
• Pain and Perception: Exploring Psychedelics as Novel Therapeutic Agents in Chronic Pain Management
  • Review | “[T]he review details the pharmacologic actions of psychedelics, their effects on chronic pain syndromes such as cancer pain, migraines, and neuropathic pain, and their clinical implications.“
• Guruism and Cultic Social Dynamics in Psychedelic Practices and Organisations
  • Academic Book Chapter | Jules Evans and Joseph Holcomb Adams explore “the risks of guruism [the tendency to look to a particular revered individual as a teacher or mentor] and cultic social dynamics in organisations that work with psychedelic drugs.”
• Subanesthetic Ketamine Ameliorates Activity-Based Anorexia of Adult Mice
  • In Mice | Psychedelics (including ketamine) are being researched in relation to helping those with anorexia (AN). An animal model of AN (activity-based anorexia, ABA) is tested in mice. The “findings suggest that ketamine may reduce adult females’ vulnerability to ABA and may protect women from AN relapse by reducing hyperactivity.“
• Esketamine alleviates LPS-induced depression-like behavior by activating Nrf2-mediated anti-inflammatory response in adolescent mice
  • In Mice | Testing the effects of esketamine on ‘Lipopolysaccharide-induced’ (LPS) depression like symptoms in mice. One dose of esketamine helped reduce depression-like behaviours. It worked by increasing a protective protein (Nrf2) and decreasing inflammation markers in key brain regions and throughout the body. When researchers blocked Nrf2, esketamine’s anti-depression and anti-inflammation effects were lost, showing that Nrf2 is crucial for how esketamine works.
• Esketamine-mediated alleviation of electroconvulsive shock-induced memory impairment is associated with the regulation of mGluR5 in depressive-like rats
  • In Rats | What if esketamine can help prevent memory impairment that is caused by electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)? This mice study find supportive evidence, revealing “that a low dose of esketamine administration upregulated the expression of mGluR5 and NMDAR1 in the hippocampus of stressed rats, alleviated ECS-induced cognitive impairment, and ameliorated depressive-like behavior.”
• Early psilocybin intervention alleviates behavioral despair and cognitive impairment in stressed Wistar rats
  • In Rats | In a test where chronic stress is applied to rats, “psilocybin significantly reduced stress-induced behavioral despair and cognitive impairments, likely through ECS-mediated downregulation of the HPA axis.“
• Elucidating the Phase I metabolism of psilocin in vitro
  • In Cells | Using human enzymes, the researchers map out the metabolism (Phase I) of psilocybin. The study “sheds novel insights on Phase I metabolic pathway of psilocin and illuminated the importance of MAO-A-mediated hepatic and extrahepatic clearances of psilocin.“
• Health Care Resource Use and Medical Costs Among Patients With Major Depressive Disorder and Acute Suicidal Ideation or Behavior Initiated on Esketamine Nasal Spray or Traditional Treatments in the United States
  • Health Economics | This study compared healthcare costs and hospital usage for depressed, suicidal patients using different treatments: esketamine nasal spray, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), antipsychotics with antidepressants, or antidepressants alone. Esketamine showed better results than ECT or combined antipsychotic treatment, with: 1) Less hospital/emergency care usage, 2) Lower medical costs, and 3) Biggest reduction in costs compared to pre-treatment levels. While antidepressants alone were cheapest, esketamine appeared to be a cost-effective option for this high-risk group.