mdma
Spotlight: MDMA + Psychotherapy as a treatment for major depressive disorder: proof of principle study (Kvam, et al, 2025)
"There were no adverse events of special interest, and no unexpected or serious adverse events. The study met the primary objectives of safety and feasibility, and provided indications of efficacy for MDMA-AT for MDD. Further studies with a randomised design are required to confirm these findings."
ketamine
Spotlight: From Anesthetic to Neuroprotector: Multi-Omics Reveals Ketamine's Previously Unexplored Neuroprotective Role in Alzheimer's Disease (Gong, et al, 2025)
"This integrative study identifies robust diagnostic biomarkers and nominates ketamine for repurposing in AD. Experimental validation of ketamine's neuroprotective effects and FIBP's role is warranted."
lsd
Spotlight: Single Treatment With MM120 (Lysergide) in Generalized Anxiety DisorderA Randomized Clinical Trial (Robinson, et al, 2025)
In this phase 2b, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of 4 dose levels of MM120 (a form of LSD) that included 198 adults with generalized anxiety disorder 4 was statistically significant.
mdma
Spotlight: Harriet de Wit: What can we learn about behavior and brain processes by studying psychoactive drugs in humans?
"her laboratory demonstrated that MDMA enhances feelings of social connectedness during interpersonal interactions, findings that have profound implications for PTSD treatment and psychotherapy."
ketamine
Spotlight: Psychedelics and mental health: reimagining care through science, insight, and compassion (Mikellides, et al, 2025)
"These substances are not stand-alone medications; rather, they function as adjuncts to intensive psychotherapeutic processes. Training therapists and establishing ethical, evidence-based protocols is essential."
research
Spotlight: Investigating the safety and tolerability of single-dose psilocybin for post-traumatic stress disorder: A nonrandomized open-label clinical trial (McGowan, et al, 2025)
"In this trial, COMP360 psilocybin administered in a single session with psychological support was found to be generally well-tolerated and without serious risk to safety... treatment associated with rapid, sustained reduction in PTSD symptoms, improved functioning and quality of life to 12 weeks"
ketamine
Spotlight: Brain changes associated with depression treatment: a meta-analysis
Meta-analysis of data from 302 depressed subjects yielding 87 foci across 18 experiments examining various depression treatments including pharmacology, psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy, psilocybin, and ketamine with brain activity measures in response to emotion tasks in the scanner.
cancer
Spotlight: Long-term benefits of single-dose psilocybin in depressed patients with cancer (Agrawal, et al, 2025)
"These findings demonstrate robust antidepressive activity from a single 25 mg dose of psilocybin combined with psychotherapy and suggest a potentially paradigm-changing alternative to traditional antidepressants requiring further study."
ketamine
Spotlight: New and emerging pharmacologic treatments for MDD (Uyar, et al, 2025)
"Clinical trials have demonstrated the ability of ketamine to quickly reduce symptoms, particularly in treatment-resistant cases, with effects noticeable within hours and lasting several days post-administration."
psychedelic research
Spotlight: Deconstructing the trip treatment: are hallucinogenic effects critical to the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics? (Garcia-Romeu, 2025)
The relative contribution of drug vs. psychological support remains to be determined, though preliminary data indicate the therapeutic relationship can impact treatment outcomes [12], and factors such as environment, personality, and mindset can influence subjective drug effects.
ketamine
Spotlight: A retrospective analysis of ketamine intravenous therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder in real-world care settings (McInnes, et al, 2025)
"In a large real-world sample of 8,136 PTSD patients (87 % with comorbid depression), Ketamine Intravenous Therapy (KIT) significantly reduced PTSD and depression symptoms."
ketamine
Spotlight "Prefrontal contribution to passive coping behaviour in chronic stress and treatment by fast-acting antidepressant" (Fong, et al, 2025)
"Persistent passive coping (p-coping) behaviour is a hallmark feature in major depression and is reversed by fast-acting antidepressants (such as ketamine)."
ketamine
Spotlight: Recent study finds ketamine described as having visual effects, outranking many serotonergic psychedelics and plant medicines
Ketamine was described with visual words more often than mushrooms and LSD according to a LLM analysis of Erowid data. DMT was the most described using visual words
michael demarco therapist
About the Psychedelic Institute of Mental Health & Family Therapy
Collaborative psychotherapy in support of medicines that may affect mental health, including ketamine
ketamine-assisted psychotherapy
Sublingual & Oral Ketamine Research: Efficacy, Dosage, and Treatment for Mental Health
Ongoing review of the literature related to safety and efficacy of ketamine and esketamine by mouth.
