randomized controlled trials

Effects of classical psychedelics on implicit and explicit emotional empathy and cognitive empathy: a meta-analysis of MET task

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This study compiled data from multiple research studies to understand how classical psychedelics like LSD, psilocybin, and ayahuasca affect empathy—the ability to understand and share others’ feelings. The findings show these substances significantly increase emotional empathy, helping people feel more connected to others’ emotions. However, they don’t appear to affect cognitive empathy, which is the mental ability to understand what others are thinking. These results suggest psychedelics may have therapeutic potential for improving social connection and emotional understanding.

Psilocybin for clinical indications: A scoping review

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This comprehensive review examined over 190 research studies on psilocybin (the active compound in magic mushrooms) as a medical treatment. The research shows promise for treating depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and chronic pain, though most studies conducted so far have been small in size. While the evidence is encouraging, researchers emphasize the need for larger, better-designed clinical trials to fully understand psilocybin’s benefits and safety profile.

The effectiveness of interventions to reduce the transmission of acute respiratory infections in care homes: a systematic review

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This systematic review examined effective ways to prevent respiratory infections like flu and COVID-19 in care homes where elderly residents live. The researchers found that antiviral medications like oseltamivir can halve the risk of influenza even in vaccinated residents if given within 7 days of detecting a case. High-dose vitamin D supplementation (100,000 IU monthly) reduced respiratory infection risk by 40%. Educational programs to improve staff hygiene practices showed mixed results, while other supplements like probiotics did not significantly help.

Social pain: A systematic review on interventions

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This study reviews different treatments for social pain—the emotional hurt from rejection and social exclusion. Researchers found that regular pain reliever acetaminophen, mindfulness meditation, and the psychedelic compound psilocybin can reduce social pain, while placebo pills also help when people believe they work. Interestingly, combining acetaminophen with forgiveness works better than either alone, suggesting that both physical and emotional pain may use similar brain pathways.

Comparative Efficacy and Functional Outcomes of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies in Treatment-Resistant Depression: A Systematic Review of Recent Clinical Trials

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This systematic review examines how psychedelic-assisted therapies like ketamine and psilocybin help people with severe, treatment-resistant depression that doesn’t respond to standard antidepressants. The analysis of 10 recent clinical trials shows these therapies work quickly, often providing symptom relief within days rather than weeks, and importantly, they also help people return to work and daily functioning. These treatments are generally well-tolerated with minimal cognitive side effects, suggesting they could become important new options for patients who haven’t benefited from conventional depression treatments.

Comparative oral monotherapy of psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, ayahuasca, and escitalopram for depressive symptoms: systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis

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This study compared psychedelic drugs (psilocybin, LSD, MDMA, ayahuasca) with the antidepressant escitalopram for treating depression. Researchers analyzed 19 clinical trials and found that while psilocybin showed promise, its actual effectiveness was smaller than previously reported due to blinding issues in earlier studies. High-dose psilocybin performed better than escitalopram in some comparisons, but had a similar small effect size to current antidepressants.

Psychedelics and Suicide-Related Outcomes: A Systematic Review

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This comprehensive review examined how psychedelic substances like psilocybin and MDMA affect suicidal thoughts. Overall, psilocybin and MDMA-assisted therapy showed promise in reducing suicidal ideation in controlled clinical settings, with effects appearing within weeks. However, LSD use was associated with increased suicidal thoughts. The researchers conclude that while psychedelics show potential, more research is needed to ensure safety and understand how they work.

From Efficacy to Effectiveness: Evaluating Psychedelic Randomized Controlled Trials for Trustworthy Evidence-Based Policy and Practice

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This paper discusses why testing psychedelic therapies in clinical trials is more complicated than testing regular drugs. When people take psychedelics like MDMA or psilocybin, they clearly notice the effects, which makes it hard to keep the study ‘blinded’ (where neither patients nor researchers know who got the real drug). The author argues that for therapies combining drugs with counseling, this actually makes sense because the therapy itself is part of how the treatment works, not just a confounding factor. However, for stand-alone drug use, this unblinding is a real problem that makes it unclear whether the drug or people’s expectations caused the improvement.

A comprehensive overview of the effects of probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics on the gut-brain axis

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This comprehensive review examines how probiotics (beneficial live bacteria), prebiotics (food for beneficial bacteria), and synbiotics (combinations of both) can influence communication between the gut and brain. These interventions can produce beneficial compounds like GABA and serotonin, strengthen the gut barrier, and reduce inflammation, potentially helping with mood, anxiety, cognition, and various digestive disorders. However, effects vary greatly depending on the specific strain used, dosage, and individual differences in gut bacteria, and more large-scale studies are needed to confirm long-term clinical benefits.

CORRECTION: Efficacy of psilocybin for treating symptoms of depression: systematic review and meta-analysis

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A major research study examining psilocybin’s effectiveness for treating depression has been corrected due to mathematical and data handling errors. The researchers fixed these issues by recalculating statistics and removing duplicate data from their analysis. While the main conclusions remained similar after correction, the authors emphasize this research is still preliminary and should lead to further study before clinical use.

Research Keyword: randomized controlled trials