Psilocybin cut depression scores in bipolar II patients without triggering mania

Key Findings

🍄 Mystical Experiences Predict OCD Relief — Challenging Ones Don't

• In a study of psilocybin for treatment-resistant OCD, patients who reported mystical-type experiences during their sessions showed greater symptom improvement. Those who had difficult or challenging experiences did not show the same benefit.
• The finding extends what's been observed in depression and addiction research — but OCD is a distinct condition, and this is the first study to test the link there.

🚬 Ketamine Plus Motivational Therapy: A Pilot for Smoking Cessation

• Researchers paired ketamine infusions with motivational enhancement therapy for tobacco use disorder — a condition where existing treatments have modest success rates.
• The pilot tested feasibility and safety, positioning ketamine's neuroplasticity-linked properties as a potential complement to behavioral work. Results were preliminary, but the combination was tolerable.

💊 Slow-Release Psilocybin Formulation Clears a Phase I Safety Bar

• A modified-release oral psilocybin formulation (REL-P11) was tested in healthy adults across normal-weight and overweight groups in a single ascending dose trial. It was safe and tolerable, with pharmacokinetics suitable for controlled, sub-perceptual dosing.
• The formulation is being explored in the context of metabolic disorders — a different lane than the psychiatric work dominating most psilocybin headlines.

🧘 Body Image Shifts Differently Under Psychedelics vs. Meditation

• Across 90 psychedelic and 48 meditation experience narratives, both practices were linked to reduced sense of bodily self — but in different directions. Psychedelic reports leaned toward disembodiment; meditation reports more often described boundary dissolution while staying grounded in the body.
• MDMA stood apart from classical psychedelics, with reports more frequently describing heightened embodiment. Participants with eating disorder traits reported greater perceived reductions in body dissatisfaction.

🏥 Ketamine in the General Hospital: A Workable Model Emerges

• A one-year pilot embedded an intravenous ketamine protocol into medical and surgical units via a consultation-liaison psychiatry service — a setting usually considered too complex for this treatment.
• The study addressed a real gap: ketamine's monitoring demands and medically fragile patient populations have kept it out of general hospital psychiatry. The pilot suggests a structured delivery model is feasible.

🌿 Ayahuasca's Ingredient List Is More Complex Than Assumed

• A comprehensive review mapped the botanical and chemical diversity of ayahuasca preparations across Amazonia. While Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis are the recognized core ingredients, additional plant species and ethnotaxa have been historically associated with preparation — and their identities and supporting evidence have remained murky until now.
• The review clarifies what's actually in the brew, which matters for both safety research and any future clinical standardization.