Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics
January 1, 2021
Emmanuelle A D Schindler, R Andrew Sewell, Christopher H Gottschalk et al.
138 citations
In a small exploratory double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study, ten adults with migraine received a single oral dose of psilocybin (0.143 mg/kg) or placebo, with sessions two weeks apart. Over the two weeks following administration, psilocybin reduced weekly migraine days by an average of 1.65 days (95% CI: -2.53 to -0.77), significantly more than placebo, which reduced them by 0.15 days (95% CI: -1.13 to 0.83). The reduction in migraine frequency was not linked to the intensity of acute psychedelic effects. Psilocybin was well-tolerated with no serious adverse events. The findings suggest a lasting therapeutic benefit from a single dose, independent of acute psychological effects.
Journal of the neurological sciences
May 15, 2024
Emmanuelle A D Schindler, R Andrew Sewell, Christopher H Gottschalk et al.
37 citations
In a blinded extension of a prior randomized trial, ten people with cluster headache received a second round of three doses of psilocybin (10 mg/70 kg, five days apart) at least six months after their first round. Attack frequency dropped significantly from a baseline of 18.4 attacks per week to 9.8 attacks per week in the three weeks after the first dose, a reduction of about 50%. This benefit occurred regardless of whether the participant had responded to psilocybin in the first round. No serious or unexpected adverse events occurred. The findings suggest that repeating a pulse of psilocybin can substantially reduce cluster headache attacks and that prior response does not predict the effect of retreatment.
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
August 22, 2025
Jose A Cortes-Briones, Juan Urrutia-Gandolfo, Pablo A Estevez et al.
preprint
The balance between excitatory and inhibitory (E/I) activity in the brain is important for normal function, and its disruption is linked to psychiatric disorders. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, healthy volunteers received low doses of ketamine (which shifts E/I balance toward excitation) and thiopental (which shifts it toward inhibition) while their brain activity was recorded with EEG. The drugs altered the aperiodic exponent of the power spectrum in opposite directions, matching computational predictions. Changes in the exponent correlated with subjective and cognitive effects, suggesting that this measure could serve as a noninvasive EEG biomarker for transient shifts in cortical E/I balance.
Psychopharmacology
September 1, 2019
Swapnil Gupta, Joao P De Aquino, Deepak C D'Souza et al.
In healthy individuals who respond to THC, pre-treatment with the antipsychotic haloperidol reduces the psychosis-like effects of THC. Among 10 THC responders, THC-induced increases in positive symptoms (measured by the PANSS) were lower after haloperidol (average increase of 1.1 points) than after placebo (average increase of 2.9 points). This suggests that dopamine signaling may play a role in the psychosis-like effects of cannabinoids.