Psychology & Behavioral Science Active Updated Aug 2, 2026
Once taboo, psilocybin is being tested as a fast-acting treatment for depression and suicidal thoughts, with early and surprising signals in advanced dementia.
Aug 2, 2026 Latest
A study using the 2024 National Survey Investigating Hallucinogenic Trends, led by Anita Cservenka of Oregon State University, found adults who used psilocybin alongside alcohol reported fewer depressive symptoms than adults who drank but did not use psilocybin, though the observational design cannot establish that psilocybin caused the difference.
Jul 31, 2026
A Stanford team led by postdoctoral scholar Adam Pines and senior author Leanne Williams applied an optical-flow technique borrowed from computer vision to brain scans from four independent studies of LSD, psilocybin and MDMA, and found all three drugs reliably reduce the flow of sensory signals rising into the default mode network, the brain region tied to self-reflection and rumination that runs abnormally in depression and schizophrenia.
Jul 22, 2026
A study led by Robin Carhart-Harris at UC San Francisco and Imperial College London gave 28 healthy adults a single dose of psilocybin and found that the size of the brain entropy spike during the trip predicted both next-day emotional insight and improved well-being a month later, suggesting the psychedelic experience itself, not just the drug in the bloodstream, drives the therapeutic effect.
Jul 17, 2026
Eli Lilly announced it would acquire AtaiBeckley, a psychedelics-focused biotech, marking a major pharmaceutical company's move into the psilocybin treatment space.
Jul 8, 2026
An FDA Phase 2 study across 35 sites and 84 participants found luvesilocin, a compound designed to work like psilocybin's active ingredient, showed rapid improvement in postpartum depression symptoms. The compound is designed to bring psilocybin's potential specifically to the hormonal and neurological context of the postpartum period, where nearly 20 percent of new mothers experience anxiety or depression.
Jun 27, 2026
A report described psilocybin temporarily restoring speech and mobility in a case of advanced Alzheimer's.
Jun 17, 2026
USC launched a clinical trial pairing psilocybin with mindfulness meditation, and a case described a woman in her eighties with advanced Alzheimer's briefly recovering speech after a dose.
Jun 14, 2026
A study reported that a single dose of psilocybin gave months of relief from chronic suicidal thoughts.
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Luvesilocin, a psilocybin-like compound, showed rapid improvement in postpartum depression in an FDA Phase 2 study of 84 participants across 35 sites; whether Phase 3 trials confirm the effect size and safety specifically in postpartum patients is the open question.
Reporting in the Today Got Better brief
showed rapid improvement in postpartum depression symptoms in an FDA Phase 2 study across 35 sites and 84 participants
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