Psychedelic Research Links 2024

This link page serves as a centralized overview of psychedelic research studies published in 2024 that are not featured with individual pages in our database. Primarily, this includes research that, while significant, does not involve human subjects or is reviewing the studies for a specific audience.

Among these, we include a variety of animal studies. These investigations are foundational in the field of psychedelic research, providing initial insights into the effects, safety, and potential therapeutic applications of psychedelic substances. However, since they do not involve human subjects, they are summarized here rather than being given individual pages.

Chemical analyses of psychedelic compounds also form a part of this overview. These studies, focusing on the composition and properties of psychedelic substances, are crucial for understanding their pharmacological profiles. While essential, they typically do not involve direct human or clinical implications and thus are included in this collective overview.

Additionally, we catalogue research on ketamine, particularly studies revisiting populations or aspects previously covered in human research. While these studies add depth to our understanding of ketamine’s effects and applications, they do not warrant separate listings if they do not introduce new human subject research.

This page also encompasses reviews of existing psychedelic research. These reviews synthesize and evaluate current knowledge and are crucial for contextual understanding but are grouped here as they do not present new experimental data. Some outstanding reviews and meta-analyses are listed in the database.

As a final category, we list the studies that didn’t fit the other criteria. This could be a study that mentions psychedelics in passing, an academic book chapter (similar to a review), or timely (but not substantive) opinion articles.

Animal Studies With Psychedelics in 2024

• Intranasal Delivery of Ketamine Induces Cortical Disinhibition (January, in mice, “We show that intranasal delivery of a single subanesthetic dose of ketamine in the mouse model has profound effects on the microcircuitry in sensory cortex.“)
• GM-1020: a novel, orally bioavailable NMDA receptor antagonist with rapid and robust antidepressant-like effects at well-tolerated doses in rodents (January, in mice, ketamine-like compound, “hese results demonstrate that GM-1020 is an orally bioavailable NMDAR antagonist with antidepressant-like efficacy at exposures that do not produce unwanted motor effects.“)
• Effect of a single psilocybin treatment on Fos protein expression in male rat brain (January, in mice, “Overall, the present findings suggest that the central amygdala may be an important site through which the initial brain activation induced by psilocybin is translated into neuroplastic changes, locally and in other regions that underlie its extended therapeutic effects.“)
• Ayahuasca and its major component harmine promote antinociceptive effects in mouse models of acute and chronic pain (January, in mice, “YA promotes consistent antinociceptive effects in different mouse models of pain without inducing detectable toxic effects. Harmine is at least partially accountable for the antinociceptive properties of AYA.“)
• Antidepressant-like effects of psychedelics in a chronic despair mouse model: is the 5-HT2A receptor the unique player? (January, in mice, “We show that a single injection of each drug to wild type mice induces anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects in the novelty-suppressed feeding, sucrose preference and forced swim tests, which last up to 15 days. DOI and lisuride administration did not produce antidepressant-like effects in 5-HT_2A^-/- mice, whereas psilocybin was still effective. Moreover, neither 5-HT_1AR blockade nor dopamine D₁ or D₂ receptor blockade affected the antidepressant-like effects of psilocybin in 5-HT_2A^-/- mice.“)
• Esketamine enhances memory reconsolidation in the novel object recognition task (January, in mice, “[E]sketamine treatment markedly improves memory reconsolidation in NOR tasks, and this effect is linked to AMPA receptor activity.“)
• Limbic System Response to Psilocybin and Ketamine Administration in Rats: A Neurochemical and Behavioral Study (January, in rats, “The changes in D2, 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A receptor density in the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus were observed as a long-lasting effect. A marked anxiolytic effect of psilocybin in the acute phase and 24 h post-treatment was shown in the open field test.”)
• High-resolution tracking of unconfined zebrafish behavior reveals stimulatory and anxiolytic effects of psilocybin (January, in zebrafish, “eural activity imaging in the dorsal raphe nucleus suggested that psilocybin inhibits serotonergic neurons by activating local GABAergic neurons, consistent with psychedelic-induced suppression of serotonergic neurons in mammals.“)
• Psilocybe cubensis extract potently prevents fear memory recall and freezing behavior in short- but not long-term in a rat model of posttraumatic stress disorder (January, in rats, “Psilocybe cubensis effects on PTSD-like behavior and locomotor activity seem to be remained in short-term, while Psilocybe cubensis effects on pain subthreshold and anxiety remained long-term.”)
• A transcriptomic analysis in mice following a single dose of ibogaine identifies new potential therapeutic targets (January, in mice, “Sex differences were observed, with female mice displaying more pronounced alterations in gene expression after IBO treatment. High variability was observed across individual animals.“)
• Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of harmine derivatives as topoisomerase I inhibitors for cancer treatment (January, in mice, ayahuasca-inspired compounds (from harmine) for cancer treatment)
• The novel non-hallucinogenic compound DM506 (3-methyl-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexahydroazepino[4,5-b]indole) induces sedative- and anxiolytic-like activity in mice by a mechanism involving 5-HT2A receptor activation (January, in mice, ibogaine-analogue, “Our study showed for the first time that the non-hallucinogenic compound DM506 induces anxiolytic- and sedative-like activities in naïve and stressed/anxious mice in a dose-, time-, and volinanserin-sensitive manner, likely through mechanisms involving 5-HT_2A receptor activation.“)
• Rapid-acting antidepressant drugs modulate affective bias in rats (January, in rats, “Low, but not high, doses of ketamine and psilocybin reversed the valence of the negative affective bias 24 hours after RAAD treatment.“)
• In vivo validation of psilacetin as a prodrug yielding modestly lower peripheral psilocin exposure than psilocybin (January, in mice, “These findings provide the first direct support for the long-standing assumption in the field that psilacetin functions as a prodrug for psilocin in vivo. In addition, these results indicate that psilacetin fumarate results in lower peripheral psilocin exposure than psilocybin when dosed on an equimolar basis.“)
• 5-HT2A Receptor Knockout Mice Show Sex-Dependent Differences following Acute Noribogaine Administration (January, in mice, “Patch-clamp recordings showed that Noribo 40 reduced the NMDA-mediated postsynaptic current density in mPFC pyramidal neurons only in male WT mice, but no effects were found for either KO males or females. Our results highlight that noribo produces sexually dimorphic effects while the genetic removal of 5HT_2AR blunted noribo-mediated responses to NMDA synaptic transmission.“)
• Effects of ketamine on rat social behavior as analyzed by DeepLabCut and SimBA deep learning algorithms (January, in rats, analysis of behaviour through deep learning algorithm)
• The Nonclassic Psychedelic Ibogaine Disrupts Cognitive Maps (January, in mice, (published in August, just passed by our radar), “Taken together, these data support proposals that compounds with psychedelic properties disrupt representations that are important for constraining neocortical activity, thereby increasing the entropy of neural signaling.”)
• Unique Effects of (R)-Ketamine Compared to (S)-Ketamine on EEG Theta Power in Rats (February, in rats, “Frontoparietal EEG, electromyogram, and motor activity were recorded. (R)-ketamine but not (S)-ketamine dose-dependently increased EEG theta power during wakefulness and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep for 23 h. These results suggest that (R)-ketamine has an effect on a hippocampal function that was not affected by (S)-ketamine and may be associated with neural plasticity and memory encoding.“)
• Ayahuasca-enhanced extinction of fear behaviour: Role of infralimbic cortex 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A receptors (February, in rats, “A single oral treatment with AYA containing 0.3 mg·kg^-1 of DMT increased the within-session extinction of contextual freezing behaviour without affecting its recall. This protocol, when repeated twice on consecutive days, enhanced extinction recall.“)
• Microdosing ketamine in Drosophila does not block serotonin reuptake, but causes complex behavioral changes mediated by glutamate and serotonin receptors (February, in larvae, calls subanaesthetic doses of ketamine ‘microdoses’, “At 100 mM, ketamine inhibited dSERT and increased serotonin concentrations, but decreased locomotion and feeding because of its anesthetic properties.“)
• Comparative Pharmacological Effects of Lisuride and Lysergic Acid Diethylamide Revisited (February, in mice & cells, “findings show that lisuride is an ultrapotent 5-HT_1A agonist in C57BL/6J mice, limiting its use as a 5-HT_2A ligand in mouse studies examining acute drug effects. Results also indicate that the 5-HT_2A partial agonist-antagonist activity of lisuride explains its lack of psychedelic effects.“)
• Psilocybin induces dose-dependent changes in functional network organization in rat cortex (February, in rats, pre-print, “The medium gamma frontoparietal connectivity showed a nonlinear relationship with psilocybin dose. Our results suggest that high-frequency network organization, decoupled from local theta-phase, may be an important signature of psilocybin-induced non-ordinary state of consciousness.“)
• Effect of chemically synthesized psilocybin and psychedelic mushroom extract on molecular and metabolic profiles in mouse brain (February, in mice, finds full mushroom extract (PME) to be more potent than chemically synthesized psilocybin)
• Effects of nitrous oxide and ketamine on electrophysiological and molecular responses in the prefrontal cortex of mice: A comparative study (February, in mice, “The effects were primarily located in the pyramidal cells. Notably, the overall effects of N₂O on mRNA expression were much more prominent and widespread compared to ketamine. Ketamine caused an elevation of the spiking frequency of putative pyramidal neurons and increased gamma activity (30–100 Hz) of cortical local field potentials. However, N₂O produced no such effects.“)
• Repeated microdoses of LSD do not alter anxiety or boldness in zebrafish (February, in zebrafish, “ the acute experiments we observed a significant decrease in high mobility with 1.5 µg/L, 15 µg/L, and 150 µg/L of LSD compared to the control and a decrease in velocity with 1.5 and 15 µg/L. In repeated experiments, there were no significant differences in the levels of anxiety, boldness, or locomotion between all LSD groups and controls immediately after 10-day treatment or after withdrawal.“)
• A role of gut-brain axis on prophylactic actions of arketamine in male mice exposed to chronic restrain stress (February, in mice, “ These findings suggest that gut-brain axis, including its metabolites, might partially contribute to the persistent prophylactic effects of arketamine in the CRS model.“)
• Loss of the sustained antidepressant-like effect of (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine in NMDA receptor GluN2D subunit knockout mice (February, in mice, “Interestingly, sustained antidepressant-like effects of (2R,6R)-HNK were abolished in GluN2D-knockout mice, whereas acute antidepressant-like effects were maintained in GluN2D-knockout mice. When expression levels of GluN2A and GluN2B subunits were evaluated, a decrease in GluN2B protein expression in the nucleus accumbens was found in stressed wildtype mice but not in stressed GluN2D-knockout mice. These results suggest that the GluN2D subunit and possibly the GluN2B subunit are involved in the sustained antidepressant-like effect of (2R,6R)-HNK.“)
• Ketamine’s rapid and sustained antidepressant effects are driven by distinct mechanisms (February, in mice!, “The rapid effects of a single dose of ketamine result from increased activity of immature neurons in the hippocampal dentate gyrus without an increase in neurogenesis. Treatment with six doses of ketamine over two weeks doubled the duration of behavioral effects after the final ketamine injection. However, unlike ketamine’s rapid effects, this more sustained behavioral effect did not correlate with increased immature neuron activity but instead correlated with increased numbers of calretinin-positive and doublecortin-positive immature neurons.“)
• 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) impairs cognitive function during withdrawal via activation of the arachidonic acid cascade in the hippocampus (February, in mice, “Our findings indicate that activation of the arachidonic acid cascade at least in the hippocampus is likely involved in the development of recognition memory impairment during MDMA withdrawal. Therefore, co-use of cyclooxygenase inhibitors with MDMA may reduce concerns regarding MDMA-induced impairment of recognition memory.“)
• Behavioral sensitization and tolerance induced by repeated treatment with ketamine enantiomers in male Wistar rats (March, in rats, “We conclude that S-ketamine has a stronger behavioral effect than R-ketamine.“)
• The role of mGluR5 on the therapeutic effects of ketamine in Wistar rats (March, in mice, “These findings suggest that suppressed mGluR5 activity is required for the antidepressant effects of ketamine. Consequently, the antagonism of mGluR5 enhances the antidepressant effectiveness of low dose ketamine, but eliminates its anxiolytic effects.“)
• Changes in brain structure and function following exposure to oral LSD during adolescence: A multimodal MRI study (March, in mice, pre-print, “Motor behavior and cognitive performance were unaffected by periadolescent exposure to LSD. Differences across experimental groups in brain volume for any of the 139 brain areas were few in number and not focused on any specific brain region.“)
• Noribogaine acute administration in rats promotes wakefulness and suppresses REM sleep (March, in rats, “Our results show that noribogaine promotes wakefulness while reducing slow-wave sleep and blocking REM sleep, similar to our previous results reported for ibogaine administration.“)
• Toxicokinetics of MDMA and Its Metabolite MDA in Rats (March, in rats, full text in Chinese, “The toxicokinetic data of MDMA and its metabolite MDA in rats, obtained through single and continuous administration, including peak concentration, peak time, detection time limit, and the relationship between concentration ratio and administration time, provide a theoretical and data foundation for relevant forensic identification.“)
• Effects of the designer drug 4-methylamphetamine on core temperature and serotonin levels in the striatum and hippocampus of rats (March, in rats, “The present findings demonstrate that the 4-methyl substitution to amphetamine generates a pharmacological and toxicological profile that differs from other similar phenethylamine analogs.“)
• Characterization Of The Neurochemical And Behavioral Effects Of The Phenethylamine 2-Cl-4,5-Mdma In Adolescent And Adult Male Rats (March, in rats, “2-Cl-4,5-MDMA increased dialysate DA and 5-HT in a dose-, brain area-, and age-dependent manner. Notably, 2-Cl-4,5-MDMA more markedly increased dialysate DA in the NAc shell and mPFC of adult than adolescent rats, while the opposite was observed on dialysate 5-HT in the NAc shell, with adolescent rats being more responsive.”)
• The novel psychoactive substance 25E-NBOMe induces reward-related behaviors via dopamine D1 receptor signaling in male rodents (March, in male mice, “We also examined the hallucinogenic properties of 25E-NBOMe using the head twitch response test in male mice and found that this behavior was mediated by serotonin 2A receptor activity. Our findings demonstrate that D1DR signaling may govern the addictive potential of 25E-NBOMe.“)
• Effects of New Psychoactive Substance Esketamine on Behaviors and Transcription of Genes in Dopamine and GABA Pathways in Zebrafish Larvae (March, in zebrafish, “This study suggested that ESK could affect the heart rate and behaviors accompanying with transcriptional alterations of genes in DA and GABA pathways at early-staged zebrafish, which resulted in neurotoxicity in zebrafish larvae.“)
• Analytical and behavioral characterization of 1-dodecanoyl-LSD (1DD-LSD) (April, in mice, “LSD has 27-fold higher potency than 1DD-LSD in the HTR assay.“)
• Dextromethorphan moderates reward deficiency associated with central serotonin transporter availability in 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine-treated animals (April, in rats, “Our findings suggest MDMA induces functional abnormalities in a network of brain regions important to decision-making processes and the motivation circuit. DM may exert neuroprotective effects to reverse MDMA-induced neurotoxicity.“)
• The effect of low dose intra-articular S(+) ketamine on osteoarthritis in rats: an experimental study (April, in rats, “Low Intra-articular (IA) doses of S(+)-ketamine reduced MIA-induced OA pain but did not reverse synovial histopathological changes.“)
• Synthesis and Structure–Activity Relationships of 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-Substituted Phenethylamines and the Discovery of CYB210010: A Potent, Orally Bioavailable and Long-Acting Serotonin 5-HT2 Receptor Agonist (April, in cells and rodents, “CYB210010 represents a new tool molecule for investigating the therapeutic potential of 5-HT₂ receptor activation. In addition, several other compounds with high 5-HT_2A receptor potency, yet with little or no HTR activity, were discovered, providing the groundwork for the development of nonpsychedelic 5-HT_2A receptor ligands.“)
• A role of gut-brain axis on prophylactic actions of arketamine in male mice exposed to chronic restrain stress (April, in mice, “Network analysis demonstrated correlations among synaptic proteins in the PFC and certain microbiota, and blood metabolites.“)
• Partial mGlu5 receptor NAM, M-5MPEP, induces rapid and sustained antidepressant-like effects in the BDNF-dependent mechanism and enhances (R)-ketamine action in mice (April. in mice, “Partial mGlu₅ receptor NAM, M-5MPEP, induced rapid and sustained antidepressant-like effects in the BDNF-dependent mechanism and enhanced (R)-ketamine action in mice, indicating both substances’ convergent mechanisms of action and the possibility of their practical use in treating depression as RAAD.“)
• Single administration of a psychedelic [(R)-DOI] influences coping strategies to an escapable social stress (April, in mice!, “These results show that Stay animals have heightened cytokine gene expression, and both Stay and Escape mice exhibit plasma and neural concentrations of the inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF_α) compared to unstressed control mice.“)
• Effects of (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine in assays of acute pain-stimulated and pain-depressed behaviors in mice (April, in mice, “These results suggest that (2R,6R)-HNK is unlikely to have efficacy in treating acute pain; however, the efficacy of (2R,6R)-HNK in chronic pain states should continue to be evaluated.“)

Psychedelic Chemistry and Analysis Articles in 2024

• Unlocking the biosynthesis of psychedelic-inspired indolethylamines (January, spotlight)
• Phylogenomics of the psychoactive mushroom genus Psilocybe and evolution of the psilocybin biosynthetic gene cluster (January, genomic evolution of psychedelic mushrooms)
• Determination of psilocybin and psilocin content in multiple Psilocybe cubensis mushroom strains using liquid chromatography – tandem mass spectrometry (January, analysis)
• Psilocybin Promotes Cell-Type-Specific Changes in the Orbitofrontal Cortex Revealed by Single-Nucleus RNA-seq (January, analysis, pre-print)
• Evaluation of the Indazole Analogs of 5-MeO-DMT and Related Tryptamines as Serotonin Receptor 2 Agonists (January, analysis)
• Psychedelika als Medikamente? (January, German, conference presentation by Matthias Liechti)
• The challenge of the psychedelic renaissance is the delineation of therapeutic use (January, French, conference presentation)
• Discovery of novel harmine derivatives as GSK-3β/DYRK1A dual inhibitors for Alzheimer’s disease treatment (February, harmine – part of ayahuasca – as a potential Alzheimer’s disease treatment)
• Psilocybin-enhanced fear extinction linked to bidirectional modulation of cortical ensembles (February, in cells, “These results both align with hypotheses that psilocybin enhances behavioral flexibility by recruiting new populations of neurons and introduce a new mechanism involving the suppression of fear-active populations in the retrosplenial cortex.“)
• Uncovering Structure-Activity Relationships of Phenethylamines: Paving the Way for Innovative Mental Health Treatments (February, “ In this study, we employed the quantitative structure-activity relationship methodology to develop three vigorous models for the reuptake of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine through monoamine transporters.“)
• Anticancer Potential of β-Carboline Alkaloids: An Updated Mechanistic Overview (February, ayahuasca components’ possibility in being cancer drugs, “The current body of research emphasizes the potential of β-carbolines as a unique source of bioactive compounds for cancer treatment.“)
• Recreational MDMA doses do not elicit hepatotoxicity in HepG2 spheroids under normo- and hyperthermia (February, in cells, “The MTT reduction assay did not evidence significantly reduced cell viability. Moreover, MDMA did not increase reactive oxygen species production, deplete the mitochondrial membrane potential, arrest the cell cycle, or induce apoptotic cell death.“)
• Deciphering psilocybin: Cytotoxicity, anti-inflammatory effects, and mechanistic insights (February, in cells, “Psilocin, but not psilocybin, induced a significant increase of IL-10 in post-treatment, leading to the conclusion that psilocin, but not psilocybin, exerts anti-inflammatory effects on classically activated macrophages.“)
• Synthetic Approaches to Salvinorin A and its Analogues (February, review of Salvinorin A synthesis)
• Optimization of enantioselective high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for the quantitative determination of 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) and its phase-1 metabolites in human biological fluids (February, “While results on the concentration of MDMA and its metabolites in various biological fluids were reported in our recent publication, in the present study an attempt was made to hydrolyze glucuronides in urine samples by using alternatively, hydrochloric acid or glucuronidase and to evaluate the effect of hydrolysis on the concentration and enantiomeric distribution of hydroxy metabolites of MDMA such as HMA and HMMA.“)
• Synthesis and bioactivity of psilocybin analogues containing a stable carbon-phosphorus bond (February, synthesis of psilocybin analogues)
• The use of prodrugs as drugs of abuse (March, analysis of using prodrugs)
• Fabrication of a Controlled-Release Core-Shell Floating Tablet of Ketamine Hydrochloride Using a 3D Printing Technique for Management of Refractory Depressions and Chronic Pain (March, fabrication of controlled-release ketamine tablet)
• Aptasensor Integrated with Two-Dimensional Nanomaterial for Selective and Sensitive Electrochemical Detection of Ketamine Drug (February, detection of ketamine)
• Methyl transfer in psilocybin biosynthesis (March, analysis of biosynthesis of psilocybin)
• Human pluripotent stem cells as a translational toolkit in psychedelic research in vitro (March, in cells, “PSC-based models hold significant promise to illuminate the cellular and molecular substrates of psychedelic-induced phenotypic recovery in neuropsychiatric disorders.“)
• Potential Serotonin 5-HT2A Receptor Agonist of Psychoactive Components of Silene undulata Aiton: LC-MS/MS, ADMET, and Molecular Docking Studies (March, molecular analysis, “These findings provide insights into the potential therapeutic benefits of S. undulata, supporting its traditional use as a psychoactive plant. This study investigated the chemical constituents and potential serotonergic agonist activity of S. undulata for the first time.“)
• Derivatization-free determination of chiral plasma pharmacokinetics of MDMA and its enantiomers (April, “An easy-to-use LC–MS method to quantify racemic MDMA and MDA was developed.“)
• Chiral analysis of amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA and MDA enantiomers in human hair samples (April, analysis of MDMA & MDA in hair)
• Characterization of iso-LSD metabolism using human liver microsomes in comparison to LSD and its applicability as urinary biomarker for LSD consumption (March, analysis of LSD through urine)
• Cultivation, chemistry, and genome of Psilocybe zapotecorum (April, identification of compounds in psilocybin mushroom family)
• Bioisosteric analogs of MDMA with improved pharmacological profile (April, pre-print, novel MDMA-like compounds, “Compared with MDMA, all three MDMA bioisosteres (ODMA, TDMA, and SeDMA) showed similar pharmacological activity at human serotonin and dopamine transporters (hSERT and hDAT, respectively) but decreased activity at 5-HT _2A/2B/2C receptors.“)
• Discovery and Structure-Activity Relationships of 2,5-Dimethoxyphenylpiperidines as Selective Serotonin 5-HT2A Receptor Agonists (April, novel 5-HT2a receptor agonists, “We report herein the discovery of 2,5-dimethoxyphenylpiperidines as a novel class of selective 5-HT_2AR agonists …”)

Reviews and Opinion Papers on Psychedelics in 2024

• Is there credible evidence to assert psilocybin-assisted therapy for depression? (January, perspective, questions the level of evidence there is for Psi-AT for depression)
• Through the Looking Glass: Psychedelics As a Window into Mindfulness and Mind–Body Health (January, perspective)
• A Meta-Analysis of the Antidepressant Responses in Pivotal Trials on Esketamine Nasal Spray and Atypical Antipsychotics (s=12, meta-analysis, “The ESK-NS arms showed numerically larger MADRS score reductions at week-1 and endpoint, and a significantly larger response rate compared with AAP arms. Prospective studies involving direct comparisons are warranted to compare the relative efficacy between these treatment regimens.“)
• Improving Clinical Outcomes and Informing New Interventions (January, editor’s note)
• “Psychedelic Assisted Therapy” Must Not Be Retired (January, letter to the editor)
• Psychotherapy in Psychedelic Treatment: Safe, Evidence-Based, and Necessary (January, letter to the editor)
• Pharmacological and Nonpharmacological Components of Psychedelic Treatments: The Whole is Not the Sum of the Parts (January, letter to the editor)
• Psilocybin Without Psychotherapy: A Cart Without a Horse? (January, letter to the editor)
• Is Poorly Assisted Psilocybin Treatment an Increasing Risk? (January, letter to the editor)
• Misinterpretations and Omissions: A Critical Response to Goodwin and Colleagues’ Commentary on Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy (January, letter to the editor)
• Psychological Support for Psilocybin Treatment: Reply to Letters on Our Commentary (January, reply to the replies)
• Unintentional Ketamine Overdose Via Telehealth (January, letter to the editor)
• If psychedelics heal, how do they do it? (January, news feature)
• The Rapidly Shifting Ketamine Landscape in the US (January, viewpoint)
• Esketamine Nasal Spray versus Quetiapine for Resistant Depression. Reply (January, letter to the editor)
• Capturing Synergy Holistically in Psychedelic Clinical Trials: Assessing Processes in Addition to Outcomes (January, letter to the editor)
• The efficacy and safety of ketamine for depression in patients with cancer: A systematic review (January, review)
• Targeting metaplasticity mechanisms to promote sustained antidepressant actions (January, review, ketamine)
• [Therapeutic applications of classical serotonergic psychedelics: neurobiological mechanisms and neural networks] (January, review, Dutch)
• New psychoactive substances in emergency medicine (January, review, German)
• Behavioural Investigations of Psilocybin in Animals 1962-2021: A Scoping Review (January, review, animal studies with psilocybin)
• Do the therapeutic effects of psilocybin involve actions in the gut? (January, review)
• How should psychotherapy proceed when adjoined with psychedelics? (January, perspective)
• Informed Consent to Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy: Ethical Considerations (January, perspective)
• Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: hope and dilemma (January, editorial)
• Synthetic surprise as the foundation of the psychedelic experience (January, review)
• Knowledge gaps in psychedelic medicalisation: Clinical studies and regulatory aspects (January, review)
• The Psychedelic Future of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment (January, review)
• Molecular and Medical Aspects of Psychedelics (January, review)
• Information decomposition and the informational architecture of the brain (January, review, covers psychedelics indirectly)
• AlphaFold found thousands of possible psychedelics. Will its predictions help drug discovery? (January, news, initial skepticism to usefulness of AlphaFold)
• The safety of supported psilocybin use in Oregon (January, correspondence)
• A comparison between psilocybin and esketamine in treatment-resistant depression using number needed to treat (NNT): A systematic review (January, review, “The NNH profile for both aforementioned agents is clinically acceptable.“)
• Modern Psychedelic Microdosing Research on Mental Health: A Systematic Review (January, review)
• Psychedelics in Addiction Treatment-Navigating a Sociopolitical Rift (January, viewpoint)
• Commentary (on) On the need for metaphysics in psychedelic therapy and research (January, commentary)
• Psilocybin, an Effective Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder in Adults – A Systematic Review (January, review, “It was found that every study significantly favoured the use of psilocybin in reducing depressive symptoms, with few side effects. This gives psilocybin an advantage over commonly prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which carry more risk and cause more adverse effects.”)
• Psychedelics and inner dimensions of sustainability: A Literature Review (January, review)
• Psychedelics for mental health: a biochemical perspective (January, feature)
• Older adults in psychedelic-assisted therapy trials: A systematic review (January, review, “While existing data in older adults is limited, it suggests that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy can be safe and well tolerated in older adults.“)
• Trauma-Informed Care in Psychedelic Therapy Research: A Qualitative Literature Review of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy Interventions in PTSD and Psychedelic Therapy Across Conditions (January, review)
• Therapeutic potential of N,N-dimethyltryptamine in the treatment of psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders (January, review)
• Ketamine, an Old-New Drug: Uses and Abuses (January, review)
• Indigenous ayahuasca ceremonies in the European context: structures, purposes, concepts (January, review, ayahuasca use in (ceremony in) Europe)
• The mechanistic divide in psychedelic neuroscience: An unbridgeable gap? (January, review)
• A molecular perspective on mGluR5 regulation in the antidepressant effect of ketamine (January, review)
• The Psychedelic Future of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment (January, review)
• Psychedelics, epilepsy, and seizures: a review (January, review)
• Effects of ketamine and esketamine on preventing postpartum depression after cesarean delivery: A meta-analysis (January, review & meta-analysis, “Ketamine and esketamine appear to be effective in preventing PPD in the one week and four week postoperative periods after cesarean delivery with moderate certainty of evidence. But they can also lead to some short-term complications too.“)
• Trauma-Informed Care in Psychedelic Therapy Research: A Qualitative Literature Review of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy Interventions in PTSD and Psychedelic Therapy Across Conditions (January, review)
• Making Sense Of Psychedelics In The CNS (January, review)
• Psychedelics in Psychiatry, the Nursing Influence, and the Future of Psychedelic Therapies (January, review)
• Serotonergic Psychedelics – a Comparative review Comparing the Efficacy, Safety, Pharmacokinetics and Binding Profile of Serotonergic Psychedelics (January, review)
• Women and MDMA: particularities of gender and sex (January, review, “While women may have a higher susceptibility to hyponatremia, intriguingly, they appear to be less vulnerable to MDMA-induced hyperthermia.“)
• Therapeutic potential of psychedelics: History, advancements, and unexplored frontiers (January, review)
• Psychedelics for Alzheimer’s Disease-Related Dementia: Unveiling Therapeutic Possibilities and Pathways (January, review)
• Therapeutic potential of psychedelics: History, advancements, and unexplored frontiers (February, review)
• Novel rapid treatment options for adolescent depression (February, review, covers ketamine)
• Metabolomic biomarkers for (R, S)-ketamine and (S)-ketamine in treatment-resistant depression and healthy controls: A systematic review (February, review)
• Opioid use disorder: current trends and potential treatments (February, review, covers psychedelics)
• Altered states and social bonds: Effects of MDMA and serotonergic psychedelics on social behavior as a mechanism underlying substance-assisted therapy (February, review)
• Ayahuasca and Dimethyltryptamine Adverse Events and Toxicity Analysis: A Systematic Thematic Review (February, review)
• Psychedelics in the field of chronic pain. A path to explore? (February, review, French)
• Efficacy and safety of ketamine and esketamine for unipolar and bipolar depression: an overview of systematic reviews with meta-analysis (February, meta-meta review/analysis, ketamine)
• Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, psychedelic methodologies, and the impregnable value of the subjective-a new and evolving approach (February, perspective, argues for the subjective effects of KAP/KAT)
• Multimodal Neuroimaging of the Effect of Serotonergic Psychedelics on the Brain (February, review)
• Perioperative considerations for patients exposed to hallucinogens (February, review)
• New evidence for flexible psilocybin dosing in patients with treatment-resistant depression (February, viewpoint)
• Aggressive Behaviours Associated with MDMA and Psychedelics: A narrative review (February, review, “Of these 17 articles, 14 studies focused on MDMA and three on serotonergic psychedelics. Findings were mixed, with some results demonstrating increased aggression following psychedelics and others suggesting protective effects. Limitations in the current literature include varied definitions of psychedelics, lack of standardized objective outcome measures, and failure to control for confounding.“)
• Keeping the promise: a critique of the current state of microdosing research (February, review of microdosing research up to March 2022)
• Psychedelics: Recent Philosophical Discussions (February, overview of philosophical debates in psychedelics)
• Is Intravenous Ketamine Better Than Intranasal Esketamine for Treating Treatment-Resistant Depression? (February, letter to the editor, argues that IV ketamine is superior to Spravato)
• An Occupational Perspective on Psychedelic Therapy: A Scoping Review (February, review through work (occupational) lens)
• The effect of psilocybin on empathy and prosocial behavior: a proposed mechanism for enduring antidepressant effects (February, review, “In this article we review the effect of psilocybin on empathy and prosocial behavior. Moreover, we propose that psilocybin may induce a positive feedback loop involving empathy and prosocial behavior which helps explain the observed, enduring antidepressant effects.“)
• The effect of psychedelics on the level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor: A systematic review and meta-analysis (February, s=9, review, “[T]he documented rise in BDNF levels indicates a neurobiological mechanism by which psychedelics could enhance synaptic plasticity and foster the growth of neurons.”)
• Recent Advances in the Treatment of Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Narrative Review of Literature Published from 2018 to 2023 (February, review, covers psychedelics)
• Are “mystical experiences” essential for antidepressant actions of ketamine and the classic psychedelics? (February, review)
• A Neuroanatomic and Pathophysiologic Framework for Novel Pharmacological Approaches to the Treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (February, review, covers psychedelics)
• The Clinical Potential of Dimethyltryptamine: Breakthroughs into the Other Side of Mental Illness, Neurodegeneration, and Consciousness (February, review)
• Efficacy and acceptability of psilocybin for primary or secondary depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (February, review & meta-analysis)
• Psychedelic-assisted therapy for people with gambling disorder? (February, review)
• A Plea for Nuance: Should People with a Family History of Bipolar Disorder Be Excluded from Clinical Trials of Psilocybin Therapy? (February, review, “Balancing the need for effective treatments against the potential for serious adverse events in those undergoing psilocybin therapy with a family history of BD, we argue for caution in psychedelic clinical trials but not outright exclusion of these individuals.“)
• Ketamine in Chronic Pain: A Review (February, review)
• TrkB transmembrane domain: bridging structural understanding with therapeutic strategy (March, review, covers psychedelics as they binding target of psychedelics)
• A Systematic Review of the Neurocognitive Effects of Psychedelics in Healthy Populations: Implications for Depressive Disorders and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (March, review)
• Cognitive Decline After S-Ketamine Use (March, letter to the editor)
• Exploring Esketamine’s Therapeutic Outcomes as an FDA-Designated Breakthrough for Treatment-Resistant Depression and Major Depressive Disorder With Suicidal Intent: A Narrative Review (March, review)
• The impact of ketamine on outcomes in critically ill patients: a systematic review with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis of randomized controlled trials (March, review & meta-analysis, null-effect)
• Scoping Review: The Role of Psychedelics in the Management of Chronic Pain (March, review)
• Sexual effects of commonly used recreational psychostimulants in women and the female rat model (March, review, covers MDMA)
• Scanning the new frontier of mental health: psychedelic brain imaging (March, feature)
• Modern Psychedelic Microdosing Research on Mental Health (March, review)
• The Psychological Effects of the Administration of Psychedelics on the Minds of Healthy Individuals: A Systematic Review (March, review)
• A Narrative Review of Current and Emerging Trends in the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder (March, review, covers psychedelics)
• Psychedelic Therapy: A Primer for Primary Care Clinicians-Ketamine (March, review / next several articles give an overview for primary care clinicians)
• Psychedelic Therapy: A Primer for Primary Care Clinicians-3,4-Methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) (March, review)
• Psychedelic Therapy: A Primer for Primary Care Clinicians—Ibogaine (March, review)
• Psychedelic Therapy: A Primer for Primary Care Clinicians—Psilocybin (March, review)
• Psychedelic Therapy: A Primer for Primary Care Clinicians—N,N-Dimethyltryptamine and Ayahuasca (March, review)
• Psychedelic Therapy: A Primer for Primary Care Clinicians—Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) (March, review)
• Psychedelic Therapy: A Primer for Primary Care Clinicians—Historical Perspective and Overview (March, review)
• A perspective on psychedelics as treatments for addictions: Past, Present, and Future (March, review)
• New pharmacotherapies to tackle the unmet needs in bipolar disorder: a focus on acute suicidality (March, review, covers ketamine)
• Concerns on the Use of Ketamine in the Treatment of Depression (March, letter to the editor)
• The Top 50 Articles and Authors of the New Millennium in Psychiatry: A Bibliometric Analysis (March, review, covers esketamine)
• How the Food and Drug Administration Drug Approval Process Relates to the Potential Approval of Intravenous Racemic Ketamine for Treatment-resistant Major Depression (March, column)
• Formulary Coverage of Esketamine and Ketamine for Depression in Ohio Health Insurance Marketplace and Medicaid Plans (March, column)
• Psychedelics: reconnecting the brain to heal the mind (March, feature)
• Therapeutic Compatibility of Orally Administered Racemic Ketamine with Modafinil, a CYP3A4 Enzyme Inducer, in Treatment-Refractory Major Depressive Disorder (November 2023, letter to the editor)
• Mitochondrial Metabolism in Major Depressive Disorder: From Early Diagnosis to Emerging Treatment Options (March, review)
• Epigenetic drugs and psychedelics as emerging therapies for alcohol use disorder: insights from preclinical studies (March, review)
• Could the medicalization of psychedelics lead to the next generation of antidepressants? (March, feature)
• Efficacy and safety of psychedelics for the treatment of mental disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis (March, review and meta-analysis, “A small amount of evidence also supports psychedelics improving tobacco addiction, eating disorders, sleep disorders, borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and body dysmorphic disorder.”)
• Drug dependence and prescribing ketamine for treatment-resistant depression in Australia and New Zealand (April, review of (medical) ketamine abuse potential in Oceania)
• Effectiveness of Ketamine for the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (March, review and meta-analysis, “Ketamine demonstrated significant improvements in PCL-5 scores, both 24 hours after the initial infusion and at the endpoint of the treatment course, which varied between 1 to 4 weeks in each study.“)
• Ecocebo: how the interaction between environment and drug effects may improve pharmacotherapy outcomes (March, review)
• Spectral signatures of psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and ketamine in healthy volunteers and persons with major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant depression: A systematic review (April, review)
• From Outsider to Insider: A Look at the Subculture of Microdosing (March, sociological ‘review’ of microdosing subculture)
• Safety and risk assessment of psychedelic psychotherapy: A meta-analysis and systematic review (April, meta-analysis & review, “Psychedelics are safe in a controlled setting with appropriate inclusion criteria.“)
• A Comparison of the Efficacy and Adverse Effects of Ketamine and Electroconvulsive Therapy in the Management of Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Systematic Review (March, review)
• The Effects of Ayahuasca on Psychological Disorders: A Systematic Literature Review (March, review)
• Ketamine’s mechanism of action with an emphasis on neuroimmune regulation: can the complement system complement ketamine’s antidepressant effects? (April, review)
• Effect of intraoperative and/or postoperative esketamine administration on preventing postpartum depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis (April, review & meta-analysis, “ It was found that intraoperative and/or postoperative administration of esketamine significantly reduced the PPD incidence and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scores in the early postoperative period. Meanwhile, esketamine lowered the occurrence of postoperative nausea and vomiting with no influence on other psychiatric symptoms.“)
• Psilocybin for dementia prevention? The potential role of psilocybin to alter mechanisms associated with major depression and neurodegenerative diseases (April, review)
• A Multi-Level Analysis of Biological, Social, and Psychological Determinants of Substance Use Disorder and Co-Occurring Mental Health Outcomes (April, review)
• Depression, an unmet health need in Africa: Understanding the promise of ketamine (April, review, “Consequently, many ketamine infusion clinics have been established in Africa. However, there is little regulation or guidance for ketamine infusions.“)
• Acute Adverse Effects of Therapeutic Doses of Psilocybin A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (April, review & meta-analysis)
• Treating Bipolar Depression Using Psilocybin-Validity Threats Regarding Efficacy and Safety-Reply (April, reply commentary)
• Essentials of Informed Consent to Psychedelic Medicine (April, ‘special communication’. “Analysis of the challenges of designing and implementing psychedelic informed consent practices revealed 7 essential components, including the possibility of short- and long-term perceptual disturbances, potential personality changes and altered metaphysical beliefs, the limited role of reassuring physical touch, the potential for patient abuse or coercion, the role and risks of data collection, relevant practitioner disclosures, and interactive patient education and comprehension assessment.”)
• Informed Consent to Psychedelic Treatment-A Work in Progress (April, editorial)
• Emerging drugs in phase II and III clinical development for the treatment of alcohol use disorder (April, review, covers psilocybin and ketamine)
• Beneficial and adverse effects of ketamine and its enantiomers, and the underlying mechanisms of ECT and rTMS efficacy (April, editorial)
• Psychedelics, OCD and related disorders: A systematic review (April, review)
• Mechanisms of therapeutic change after psychedelic treatment in OCD (April, review)
• From taboo to treatment: The emergence of psychedelics in the management of pain and opioid use disorder (April, review)
• Current Understanding on Psilocybin for Major Depressive Disorder: A Review Focusing on Clinical Trials (April, review)
• A Critical View on New and Future Antidepressants (April, covers psychedelics)
• Ketamine Use for Palliative Care in the Austere Environment: Is Ketamine the Path Forward for Palliative Care (April, review)
• Ketamine for the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatrist: Application in Opioid Use Disorder (April, letter to the editor)
• Number needed to treat (NNT) for ketamine and esketamine in adults with treatment-resistant depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis (April, review, “A total of 21 studies with 2042 participants were included. Racemic ketamine treatments had pooled NNTs for response of 7 at 4 h, 3 from one day to one week and 9 for studies at four weeks. Esketamine treatment was found to have a similar efficacy with an NNT of 2 at one day and 11 at four weeks. NNH values indicated low risk for ketamine treatments.“)
• Trips Through the Skin: Reviewing Cutaneous Drug Reactions to Psychedelics and Hallucinogens (April, review)
• Severe enduring anorexia nervosa (SE-AN) treatment options and their effectiveness: a review of literature (April, review, covers ketamine)

Human Studies With Psychedelics (not in database) in 2024

• Cerebrospinal fluid exploratory proteomics and ketamine metabolite pharmacokinetics in human volunteers after ketamine infusion (January, n=9, 35/70kg iv ketamine, “Proteins in the classes of tyrosine kinases, cellular adhesion molecules, and growth factors, including insulin, were most affected, suggesting an interplay of altered neurotransmission, neuroplasticity, neurogenesis, synaptogenesis, and neural network functions following ketamine administration.“)
• Case series of intravenous ketamine infusion in patients with suicidal thought (January, n=5, repeated doses 35/70kg, “The finding indicates that ketamine infusion had a rapid, antisuicidal effect and is safe when used for a short period.“)
• Exploring Predictors of Ketamine Response in Adolescent Treatment-Resistant Depression (January, n=19, re-analysis, ketamine for adolescents, “Subjects who had fewer medication trials of both antidepressant medications and augmentation treatments were more likely to experience depression symptom improvement with ketamine.“)
• Ketamine cystitis following ketamine therapy for treatment-resistant depression – case report (January, n=1, case study, “To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of KIC in a patient receiving treatment-dose ketamine as part of their antidepressant therapy.“)
• Ketamine for postoperative avoidance of depressive symptoms: the K-PASS feasibility randomised trial (January, n=32, “This single-centre, triple-blind, placebo-controlled randomised clinical trial included adult patients with depression scheduled for inpatient surgery … Between baseline and post-infusion day 4 (pre-specified time point of interest), median depressive symptoms decreased in both groups, with difference-in-differences of -1.00 point.”)
• Esketamine Augmentation in Treatment-Resistant Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Retrospective Chart Review (January, n=8, (es)ketamine for OCD)
• Long-term quality of life after repeated ketamine infusions in anxious and nonanxious patients with depression (January, n=107, open-label, ketamine for depression, “The improvement in depression symptoms and QoL following ketamine treatment was not impacted by the presence or absence of anxiety in patients who were depressed prior to treatment.“)
• Clinical Outcomes of Intravenous Ketamine Treatment for Depression in the VA Health System (January, n=215, retrospective, ketamine for depression, “While only a minority of patients treated with IV ketamine for depression experienced response or remission, symptom improvements achieved within the first 6 weeks were sustained over at least 6 months with decreasing infusion frequency.“)
• Esketamine pretreatment during cesarean section reduced the incidence of postpartum depression: a randomized controlled trial (January, n=319, esketamine for PPD, “Intraoperative injection of esketamine (0.2 mg/kg) prevented the occurrence of depression (EPDS score > 9) at 4 days after delivery but not 42 days.“)
• Treating Treatment-resistant Depression with Esketamine Nasal Spray When All Therapeutic Options Have Been Exhausted: Clinical Experience from a Spanish Cohort of Expanded Use (January, n=16, observational, “Esketamine showed a rapid, robust effect in improving depressive symptoms, with no specific correlation between outcome and any demographic or clinical traits evaluated.“)
• EEG-vigilance regulation is associated with and predicts ketamine response in major depressive disorder (January, n=24, “treatment responders showed a distinct EEG pattern characterized by a decrease in high-vigilance stage A1 and an increase in low-vigilance B2/3, regardless of whether placebo or ketamine had been given“)
• Ketamine in multiple treatment-resistant depressed inpatients: A naturalistic cohort study (January, n=77, observational, “Depression severity and suicidality decreased in the acute treatment phase and these changes persisted during the maintenance therapy phase. A total of 28.9 % of the patients met the criteria for response, and 15 % met the criteria for remission.“)
• Esketamine-induced post-traumatic stress disorder flashbacks during treatment-resistant depression indication: is it just a side effect? (January, n=22, pre-print, retrospective analysis, “Our results suggest that the occurrence of esketamine-induced traumatic flashbacks does not hinder clinical response. On the contrary, when managed appropriately and combined with targeted psychotherapy, it could even contribute to positive outcomes.“)
• Ketamine for treatment-resistant major depressive disorder: Double-blind active-controlled crossover study (January, n=25, “Overall, 14/25 patients (56%) were responders (⩾50% reduction at 24 h compared with baseline) for either ketamine dose for the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and 18/25 (72%) were responders for the HADS-anxiety scale. After fentanyl, only 1/25 (HADS-depression) and 3/25 (HADS-anxiety) were responders.“)
• Treatment resistant patients with baseline suicidal ideation required more treatments to achieve therapeutic response with ketamine/esketamine (January, n=52, “This study suggests that patients with baseline suicidal ideation require more treatments to achieve a response with ketamine or esketamine. The antisuicidal response seemed similar between IV ketamine and IN esketamine.“)
• Ketamine in the treatment of refractory and super-refractory status epilepticus: Experience from two centres (January, n=58, ketamine for seizures, “Ketamine is an effective drug with few adverse effects. Prompt administration should be considered in patients with RSE requiring anaesthesia, in patients with SRSE, and in patients with RSE who do not respond to standard antiseizure drugs and in whom mechanical ventilation is not advised.“)
• Music as an Intervention to Improve the Hemodynamic Response of Ketamine in Depression (February, n=32, brief report on music during ketamine for depression, “The MUSIK trial found that music significantly decreased ketamine-induced systolic BP changes. Music may thus represent a feasible, benign, nonpharmacological approach to improving the hemodynamic response of subanesthetic ketamine infusions for TRD.“)
• Listening to music during intranasal (es)ketamine therapy in patients with treatment-resistant depression correlates with better tolerability and reduced anxiety (February, n=37, similar (but different participants) study on music during (es)ketamine, “istening to music during intranasal (es)ketamine therapy appears to be linked to reduced anxiety and lower blood pressure, stable or increased dissociation levels, and improved tolerance for higher doses.“)
• Cortical thickness of the posterior cingulate cortex is associated with the ketamine-induced altered sense of self: An ultra-high field MRI study (February, n=35, ketamine healthy volunteers fMRI study, “We observed a negative correlation between the PCC cortical thickness and the disembodiment scores (R = -0.54, p < 0.001). In contrast, no significant association was found between the pgACC cortical thickness and the ketamine-induced altered sense of self.“)
• Cognitive outcomes from the randomised, active-controlled Ketamine for Adult Depression Study (KADS) (February, n=86 (across two cohorts), “Results showed that in Cohort 1, there were no differences between ketamine and midazolam in cognitive outcomes. For Cohort 2, there was similarly no difference between conditions for cognitive outcomes.“)
• Hippocampal volume changes after (R,S)-ketamine administration in patients with major depressive disorder and healthy volunteers (February, n=44 + 47, ketamine, reanalysis, “At 10 days post-infusion, a slight increase was observed between ketamine and placebo scans in whole left amygdalar volume in individuals with TRD.“)
• Neurophysiological evidence that frontoparietal connectivity and GABA-A receptor changes underpin the antidepressant response to ketamine (February, n=30, ketamine for MDD, “We found a significant increase in parietal-to-frontal AMPA-mediated connectivity and a significant decrease in the frontal GABA time constant. Both parameter changes were correlated across participants with the antidepressant response to ketamine. Changes to the NMDA receptor time constant and inhibitory intraneuronal input into superficial pyramidal cells did not survive correction for multiple comparisons and were not correlated with the antidepressant response.”)
• Repeated dosing with oral racemic ketamine as a successful rescue intervention for coping with life events in recurrent major depressive disorder (February, case report, n=1, ketamine for MDD)
• Case report: Adult with bipolar disorder and autism treated with ketamine assisted psychotherapy (February, case report, n=1, ketamine for bipolar and autism)
• Anhedonia and depression severity measures during ketamine administration in treatment-resistant depression (February, n=28, post-hoc analysis of ketamine study, open-label, “Results show that responders significantly improve in anhedonia over time (p=0.0084) and at the 7th infusion and follow-up (both p<0.05). Non-responders reported significant reduction in anhedonia over time (p=0.0011) and at the 5th, 7th infusion and at the follow-up (all p’s<0.05).“)
• Ketamine for depressive symptoms: A retrospective chart review of a private ketamine clinic (February, n=154, retrospective, real-world, ketamine for depression)
• Psilocybin and the Development of Serotonin Toxicity (February, n=1, serotonin syndrome after psilocybin in combination with SSRIs)
• Patient-reported outcomes on sleep quality and circadian rhythm during treatment with intravenous ketamine for treatment-resistant depression (March, n=40/29 (follow-up), ketamine for TRD, open-label “IV ketamine may improve sleep quality and advance circadian rhythm in individuals with TRD. Effects may differ in individuals with mixed features of depression as compared to those without.“)
• Perioperative Adjunctive Esketamine for Postpartum Depression Among Women Undergoing Elective Cesarean Delivery: A Randomized Clinical Trial (March, n=298, RCT, esketamine for PPD, “The prevalence of depression symptoms was significantly lower among patients given esketamine compared with controls (23.0% [34 of 148] vs 35.3% [53 of 150]; odds ratio, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.33-0.91; P = .02) on postpartum day 7.“)
• Efficacy and safety of ketamine for pediatric and adolescent super-refractory status epilepticus and the effect of cerebral inflammatory conditions (March, ketamine for epilepsy, “Ketamine administration was associated with fewer serious adverse events and a reduced seizure frequency. Additionally, inflammatory conditions may weaken the efficacy of ketamine in patients with SRSE.‘)
• Brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met and CYP2B6 polymorphisms as predictors for ketamine effectiveness in patients with treatment-resistant depression (March, n=85, genetic differences x ketamine efficacy, “ Val66Met and CYP2B6 did not significantly predict changes in symptoms of depression, suicide, anxiety, or average dissociation.“)
• Synergistic use of deep TMS therapy with IV ketamine infusions for major depressive disorder: a pilot study (March, n=235, TMS or TMS + ketamine, “In both treatment groups, depressive symptoms were significantly reduced from pre-to-post and there were no significant differences in response between the TMS + ketamine condition and the TMS-only condition.“)
• Depressed and Nowhere to go for help: Using Telepsychiatry and Intramuscular Ketamine to Treat a Suicidal Patient with Huntington’s Disease in the General Hospital (March, n=1, case study, “Here we present a case of a patient with Huntington’s disease, depression, and active suicidal thinking where intramuscular ketamine was used and psychiatric care was delivered virtually to a medical unit.“)
• Predicting non-response to ketamine for depression: An exploratory symptom-level analysis of real-world data among military veterans (March, n=120, ketamine for depression, “[W]e could identify 22 % of patients who would not respond based purely on their baseline symptoms. This approach could inform rational treatment recommendations to avoid additional treatment failures.“)
• Single arketamine in treatment resistant depression: Presentation of 3 cases with regard to sick-leave duration (March, n=3, case series, “Case analyses revealed significant symptom reduction and improved social and vocational functioning, with reduced sick leaves and hospitalizations post-treatment. However, one case developed a substance use disorder, underscoring the need for vigilant monitoring.“)
• Effectiveness of psilocybin on depression: a qualitative study (March, n=10, qualitative interview study)
• High-order brain interactions in ketamine during rest and task: A double-blinded cross-over design using portable EEG (March, n=30, pre-print, ketamine neuroimaging study, “Ketamine appears to increase redundancy and genuine HOI across metrics, suggesting these effects correlate with consciousness alterations towards dissociation.“)
• Exploring the Efficacy of Ketamine as an Anesthetic and Antidepressant in Postpartum Depression: A Case Study Analysis (February, n=1, case study, “We present a case of a woman with a history of depression who delivered four children by cesarean section with debilitating postpartum depression in two births and no symptoms of depression in the births where she received ketamine during delivery.“)
• Effects of esketamine nasal spray on depressive symptom severity in adults with treatment-resistant depression and associations between the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale and the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (April, tbd)
• Acute Dissociation and Ketamine’s Antidepressant and Anti-Suicidal Ideation Effects in a Midazolam-controlled Trial (April, n=40, “We did not find evidence that ketamine’s acute, transient dissociative or psychotomimetic effects are associated with its antidepressant or anti-suicidal ideation actions.“)
• Ketamine Infusion in a Resistant Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Patient in Bangladesh with Severe Suicidal Ideation: A Case Report (April, n=1, case study, “ The improvement was sustained until discharge (one week after the last infusion) and subsequent follow-up in the sixth and 12^th weeks.”)
• From Psychedelic Exploration to Psychosis: A Unique Case Report Demonstrating the Susceptibility to Schizophrenia Unveiled by a Single LSD Experience (April, n=1, case study, poster presentation)
• A First Trimester Exposure to Ketamine and Esketamine for Depression: A Case Report (April, n=1, case report)
• Ketamine can produce oscillatory dynamics by engaging mechanisms dependent on the kinetics of NMDA receptors (April, n=1, case study (EEG), high (anaesthetic dose of ketamine), “We have discovered how impaired NMDA-receptor kinetics can cause disinhibition in neuronal circuits and how a disinhibited interaction between NMDA-receptor-mediated excitation and GABA-receptor-mediated inhibition can produce gamma oscillations at high and low doses, and slow-delta oscillations at high doses.“)
• Psychotic Symptoms Following Ayahuasca Use in a Ceremonial Setting (n=1, case study, “We present a case of persistent psychotic symptoms following ayahuasca use in a patient with no history of psychiatric disorders.“)
• Efficacy of Esketamine among patients with treatment resistant depression in a ‘real world’ health-care setting in Israel (April, n=94, real-world study of esketamine for depression (MDD), “Linear improvement of depressive symptoms was revealed in both phases. A sub-analysis of patients with comorbid personality disorder revealed a similar improvement pattern in the acute phase with milder improvement during the maintenance phase, compared to the other patients.“)
• Cerebrospinal fluid metabolomes of treatment-resistant depression subtypes and ketamine response: a pilot study (April, n=29, retrospective analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), “This small pilot study suggests that complex treatment-resistant depression can be mapped onto a 2-dimensional pathophysiological domain.”)
• Long-term follow-up of participants in ketamine clinical trials for mood disorders (April, n=203, follow-up study, “Participants who received ketamine in an NIMH clinical trial were more likely to receive ketamine/esketamine post-discharge, but none reported symptoms indicating abuse.“)

Other Studies on Psychedelics in 2024

• ‘Everybody’s creating it along the way’: ethical tensions among globalized ayahuasca shamanisms and therapeutic integration practices (January, ethnographic study, “Practitioners and ayahuasca centers are left with navigating globalized concepts of mental health and ethics while attempting to remain authentic to local ontologies of healing, care, and safety.“)
• [Feeling unwell after eating a piece of chocolate] (January, Dutch, n=1, case report, psilocybin/psilocin chocolate ingestion)
• Criticality supports cross-frequency cortical-thalamic information transfer during conscious states (January, neuroscience of consciousness, covers psychedelics)
• A fatal case of aspiration due to consumption of the hallucinogenic tryptamine derivative dipropyltryptamine (DPT) (January, n=1, case report, “Autopsy revealed a state after deep aspiration of gastric contents with consecutive brain edema due to oxygen deprivation. Dipropyltryptamine [DPT] concentrations were approximately 210 ng/ml, 110 ng/ml and 180 ng/ml in antemortem serum, postmortem cardiac blood and urine, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first reported concentrations of dipropyltryptamine in a fatal case.“
• Differed spontaneous dissociative symptoms following the use of esketamine intranasal spray in a patient suffering from treatment-resistant depression: a case report (January, n=1, case report, “Our main hypothesis suggests that esketamine may act as a ‘pattern’ for dissociative experiences, heightening the patient’s ability to discern these phenomena during other instances of dissociation, such as acute anxiety attacks.“)
• New-Onset Seizures in an Adolescent Following Use of LSD while on Low-Dose Lithium Therapy: A Case Study (January, n=1, adolescent LSD use, “Although the definitive causal link cannot be established, this case report suggests an increased seizure risk with combination of LSD and lithium…”)
• Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy for Severe Alcohol Use Disorder: Protocol for a Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, 7-month ParallelGroup Phase II Superiority Trial (January, study protocol)
• Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics, Safety and Tolerability, and Therapeutic Potential of an Innovative Psychedelic AyahuascaAnalogue containing N,N-Dimethyltryptamine and Harmine (January, thesis)
• Attitudes and knowledge on psychedelics and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (January, thesis)
• Clinician Education: Optimizing Music Choices for Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (January, thesis)
• On the advances in machine learning and complex network measures to an EEGdataset from DMT experiments (January, machine learning x EEG data from DMT experiments)
• Trends in hallucinogen-associated emergency department visits and hospitalizations in California, USA, from 2016 to 2022 (January, “Observed hallucinogen-associated ED visits increased by 54% between 2016 and 2022, from 2260 visits to 3476 visits, compared with a 20% decrease in alcohol-associated ED visits and a 15% increase in cannabis-associated ED visits.“)
• Longitudinal associations between psychedelic use and psychotic symptoms in the United States and United Kingdom (January, n=9732, longitudinal survey, “psychedelic use during the study period was not associated with a change in number of psychotic symptoms unless it interacted with a personal or family history of bipolar disorder, in which case the number of symptoms increased, or with a personal (but not family) history of psychotic disorders, in which case the number of symptoms decreased.”)
• Perceived Risk of Trying Lysergic Acid Diethylamide in the United States from 2015 to 2019: Are Americans Assessing Lysergic Acid Diethylamide’s Risk Profile More Favorably? (January, survey data, “Overall, Americans appear to be assessing LSD’s risk profile more favorably in recent years, though most Americans still perceive great risk in trying LSD.“)
• Minorities’ diminished psychedelic returns: Cardio-metabolic health (January, survey data, “Results demonstrate that Lifetime Psychedelic Use is associated with better cardio-metabolic health. However, regression models by race find that there is no association between LCPU and cardio metabolic health for Black people, while the positive associations remain significant for white people. Overall, results lend support for the MPDR theory.“)
• Social acceptability of psilocybin-assisted therapy for existential distress at the end of life: A population-based survey (January, survey data, “Overall, 79.3% considered psilocybin-assisted therapy a reasonable medical choice for a patient suffering from existential distress at the end of life, 84.8% agreed that the public health system should cover the costs of the intervention and 63.3% would welcome the legalisation of psilocybin for medical purposes.”)
• Validation of the Danish Translation of the Revised Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30) and Possible Impact of Setting, Dose and Intention (January, translation of MEQ)
• Psychedelic Drugs & The Prior Art Problem (January, psychedelics and patents)
• Factors associated with the use of psychedelics, ketamine and MDMA among sexual and gender minority youths in Canada: a machine learning analysis (January, n=1414, survey, “The use of psychedelics, MDMA and ketamine among 2SLGBTQ+ individuals appeared to be largely driven by those who used them together with other drugs. Depression scores also appeared in the top 10 factors associated with these illicit drugs, suggesting that there were individuals who may benefit from the potential therapeutic value of these drugs.“)
• Safety, feasibility, tolerability, and clinical effects of repeated psilocybin dosing combined with non-directive support in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder: protocol for a randomized, waitlist-controlled trial with blinded ratings (January, study protocol for Efficacy of Psilocybin in OCD: a Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study.)
• Psilocybin-assisted therapy for severe alcohol use disorder: protocol for a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, 7-month parallel-group phase II superiority trial (January, study protocol for Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy for Severe Alcohol Use Disorder)
• Neural Geometrodynamics, Complexity, and Plasticity: A Psychedelics Perspective (January, “We explore the intersection of neural dynamics and the effects of psychedelics in light of distinct timescales in a framework integrating concepts from dynamics, complexity, and plasticity.”)
• Psychedelic Drug Microdosing Practices: A Qualitative Online Exploration (January, exploration on how people microdose)
• Analyzing the Effects of Psychedelic Experience on Social Connectedness With a New Measure: The Aliveness Task (February, thesis, new psychedelic experience scale)
• Strong Bipartisan Support for Controlled Psilocybin Use as Treatment or Enhancement in a Representative Sample of US Americans: Need for Caution in Public Policy Persists (February, public perception/policy)
• National and regional trends in seizures of shrooms (psilocybin) in the United States, 2017–2022 (February, more shroom-related law enforcement)
• Development of the Japanese version of the Ego-Dissolution Inventory (EDI) (February, scale development, EDI in Japan)
• Psychedelic Microdosing among Young Adults from Southern California (February, survey, n=2400, 12% of young adults (18-22) had heard of microdosing, 3% had ever microdosed)
• MDMA-assisted dialectical behavioral therapy for borderline personality disorder: A qualitative study of mental health clinicians (February, n=3, interview study, “An exploratory, qualitative, interview-based study assessed clinicians’ perspectives of MDMA-assisted therapy and BPD and increased our understanding of underlying therapeutic mechanisms and processes and the role of pharmacological factors in these treatment modalities, optimizing treatment context, and leading to improved clinical responses and patient recovery.”)
• PAM trial protocol: a randomised feasibility study of psychedelic microdosing–assisted meaning-centred psychotherapy in advanced stage cancer patients (February, study protocol for A feasibility study of Psychedelic Microdosing-Assisted Meaning Centred Psychotherapy in advanced stage cancer patients (PAM Trial))
• Clarifying and measuring the characteristics of experiences that involve a loss of self or a dissolution of its boundaries (February, n=386, survey on ego dissolution, covers psychedelics)
• Treatment of Hallucinogen-Persisting Perception Disorder: A case report on repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation targeting the right temporoparietal junction (February, n=1, case study, “Hereby, we present a case of a 29-year-old male diagnosed with type-2 HPPD successfully treated with TMS.“)
• Exploring inner depths: a qualitative investigation of patients’ lived experiences with psychedelic treatments of depression (February, thesis)
• Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for smoking cessation (February, related for psychedelics, rTMS for smoking cessation)
• Exploring the discourses around microdosing psychedelics within the r/microdosing online community (February, review of microdosing community on Reddit, finds ‘how to’ topics popular)
• Flicker light stimulation enhances the emotional response to music: a comparison study to the effects of psychedelics (February, flicker light stimulation (FLS) as comparison with psychedelics with regards to music enjoyment)
• The origin of 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine (DOM, STP) (February, history)
• Psilocybin Exposures Reported to US Poison Centers: National Trends Over a Decade (February, psilocybin use in the US)
• The Mystical Experience Questionnaire 4-Item and Challenging Experience Questionnaire 7-Item (February, development of shorter versions of the MEQ and CEQ to respectively 4 and 7 questions)
• Psychedelics in PERIL: The Commercial Determinants of Health, Financial Entanglements and Population Health Ethics (March, analysis of hypothetical scenario in structured framework, “Our analysis suggests financial relationships with the corporate psychedelic sector may create varying degrees of risk to a research program’s purpose, autonomy and integrity. We argue that the commercial determinants of health provide a useful framework for understanding the ethics of industry-healthcare entanglements and can provide an important population health ethics lens to examine nascent industries such as psychedelics, and work toward potential solutions.“)
• Study Protocol for “Psilocybin in patients with fibromyalgia: Brain biomarkers of action” (March, study protocol)
• Diminished psychedelic returns on distress: Marital status and household size (March, analysis of the NSDUH dataset, “Results indicate that LCPU is independently associated with better health, but the association between LCPU and health varies across levels of household size. Larger households are associated with higher levels of distress, which are then exacerbated among psychedelics users. Furthermore, three-way interactions reveal that the negative association between household size and distress gets larger among psychedelic users who are married, divorced, and widowed.“)
• Psychedelic substitution: altered substance use patterns following psychedelic use in a global survey (March, n=5,268 survey, “Nearly three-quarters (70.9%; n = 3,737/5,268) reported ceasing or decreasing use of one or more non-psychedelic substances after naturalistic psychedelic use. Among those with previous use, 60.6% (n = 2,634/4,344) decreased alcohol use, 55.7% (n = 1,223/2,197) decreased antidepressant use, and 54.2% (n = 767/1,415) decreased use of cocaine/crack. Over a quarter of the sample indicated that their decrease in substance use persisted for 26 weeks or more following use of a psychedelic.“)
• Perception of hallucinogen use risks and associated hallucinogen use in the United States: results from a large national sample (March, survey data from NSDUH, “Respondents who thought trying LSD once or twice may bring moderate to great risks to human health were less likely to use LSD and other types of hallucinogens. Respondents who thought using LSD once or twice per week may bring moderate to great risks to human health also were less likely to use LSD and other types of hallucinogens.”)
• UK medical students’ self-reported knowledge and harm assessment of psychedelics and their application in clinical research: a cross-sectional study (March, survey, n=132, “Most students (83%) reported that they were aware of psychedelic research and only four participants (3%) said that they were not interested in learning more about this type of research. Although medical students’ harm assessment of psychedelics closely aligned with that of experts, only 17% of students felt well-educated on psychedelic research.“)
• Implementation of a ketamine programme for treatment-resistant depression in the public health system: Lessons from the first Australian public hospital clinic (March, public health outcomes for Australian ketamine in public health system)
• 5-MeO-DMT in the complete resolution of the consequences of chronic, severe sexual abuse in early childhood—a retrospective case study (March, n=1, case study)
• Harm reduction behaviours and harm experiences of people who use 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in Aotearoa New Zealand (March, harm reduction strategies)
• Exploring the discourses around microdosing psychedelics within the r/microdosing online community (March, analysis of online discourse around microdosing)
• Wastewater surveillance to assess cocaine and methylenedioxymethamphetamine use trends during a major music festival in Brazil (March, analysis of drugs (including MDMA) in wastewater)
• Cultural Divergence in Psychedelic Use among Medical Students: An ESPAD-Adapted Survey among Poles and Iraqis (March, survey of students’ psychedelic use)
• Social Determinants Associated with Substance Use and Treatment Seeking in Females of Reproductive Age in the United States (March, analysis of NSDUH data, “Pregnancy status was not associated with substance use or treatment seeking. Past-month substance use was associated with high educational attainment, an annual income <$20,000, a history of criminality, low religiosity, and having health insurance. Past-month treatment-seeking behavior was associated with older age, an annual income >$20,000, a history of criminality, and greater religiosity. Behavioral health support seeking in the past month was associated with some college education. Higher depression severity was associated with all the three models.“)
• Making “Medical”: How Psychedelics Are Becoming Legal in Canada (April, legal history of psychedelic medicalisation in Canada)
• Use of Prescribed and Non-Prescribed Treatments for Cluster Headache in a Swedish Cohort (March, survey, n=479, only 0-8% had tried psychedelics for cluster headaches)
• Ketamine for Bipolar Depression (April, review, thesis)
• The Promise of Therapeutic Psilocybin: An Evaluation of the 134 Clinical Trials, 54 Potential Indications, and 0 Marketing Approvals on ClinicalTrials.gov (April, analysis of trials – noting the lack of Phase 3 trials)
• A taxonomy of regulatory and policy matters relevant to psychedelic-assisted therapy in Australia (April, policy in Australia, “The taxonomy provides a roadmap for health services establishing and implementing a psychedelic-assisted therapy program, or for government and other policymakers when determining areas that may require further regulation.“)
• Trainees Unprepared for Advances in Psychedelic Medicine: A Survey Study (April, survey, n=221, “ There is limited structured education available, and although overall knowledge is low, participation in programming at home institutions did predict greater psychedelic literacy.“)
• Psychotherapy for Ketamine’s Enhanced Durability in Chronic Neuropathic Pain: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial (April, study protocol)
• Nurses’ Perceptions of Psychedelics to Address Mental Health Problems in the United States (April, n=1133, survey of nurses, “Nurses and their health care professional counterparts require additional education and new competency development to appropriately and knowledgeably support evidence-based psychedelic use to treat various mental health conditions.”)
• Patients’ Experiences Discussing Psychedelics for Therapeutic Purposes with Physicians and Other Health Care Providers (April, n=791, psychedelic users, “A majority (80%) of the 791 adult psychedelic users (M_age = 37, SD = 1.28; 46% female) endorsed using PTPs. Nearly a third of therapeutic users (30%; n = 190) reported discussing psychedelic use with their physician.”)