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Psychedelic effects of ketamine do not predict sobriety

The psychedelic effects recreational users often seek from taking ketamine do not predict the therapeutic benefits for people being treated for alcohol use disorder.

16 Feb 2026

HHCM awards $566K to advance psychedelic end-of-life care research

Healing Hearts, Changing Minds (HHCM) today announced the seven awardees of Walking Each Other Home: A Fund to Promote Psychedelic Compassion for End-of-Life Care, a $566,260 philanthropic initiative supporting innovation, compassion, and dignity for people at life's end.

27 Jan 2026

Charting brain cell epigenomics to reveal origins of psychiatric disorders

In a revealing Genomic Press Interview published today in Genomic Psychiatry, Dr. Maria Margarita Behrens recounts an extraordinary scientific journey that wound through four countries and multiple disciplines before arriving at fundamental questions about how the brain develops and what goes wrong in psychiatric disorders.

6 Jan 2026

Etomidate proves safer than ketamine for emergency intubations

Doctors treating seriously ill patients in an emergency setting may want to give the sedative etomidate, rather than ketamine, while placing a breathing tube, according to a randomized trial published Dec. 9 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

12 Dec 2025

Landmark RSI trial reshapes sedative selection for emergency airway management

9 Dec 2025

Laughing gas shows fast antidepressant effects in early clinical trials

A systematic review and meta-analysis in eBioMedicine shows that nitrous oxide can rapidly reduce depressive symptoms within hours, particularly at higher doses, but effects are short-lived after single treatments. Repeated dosing appears to extend and strengthen antidepressant benefits, although the current evidence is based on small, early-phase trials with limited long-term safety data.

8 Dec 2025

Brainwide circuitry mapping reveals how psilocybin drives therapeutic neural rewiring

An international collaboration led by Cornell University researchers used a combination of psilocybin and the rabies virus to map how – and where – the psychedelic compound rewires the connections in the brain.

5 Dec 2025

Hallucinogen-related hospital care linked to higher risk of future mania

People who have received emergency or hospital care in Canada due to hallucinogen use have a six-fold increased risk of receiving care for mania in the next three years, according to a study published December 2nd in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Daniel Myran from North York General Hospital in Canada and colleagues.

2 Dec 2025

Short-term nitrous oxide treatment could benefit patients with major depressive disorder

Patients with major depressive disorder, including those who have not responded to first-line antidepressants, may benefit from short-term nitrous oxide treatment, a major meta-analysis led by the University of Birmingham has found.

1 Dec 2025

The caffeine conundrum in rapid depression treatments

Perhaps the most intriguing implication of recent breakthrough research lies in an unexpected connection: the most rigorous mechanistic dissection of rapid antidepressant action identifies adenosine as the critical mediator, yet adenosine receptors are the primary target of caffeine, the world's most widely consumed psychoactive substance.

11 Nov 2025

Revolutionizing cataract surgery with office-based oral sedation

A new study on office-based cataract surgery is challenging traditional approaches to the procedure, demonstrating that patients can undergo successful surgery with minimal oral sedation instead of with intravenous (IV) sedation at hospitals or ambulatory surgery centers.

23 Oct 2025

Repeated ketamine infusions offer no extra benefit for people hospitalized with depression

Findings from a randomized and blinded clinical trial investigating repeated ketamine infusions for treating depression have revealed no extra benefit for ketamine when added onto standard care for people admitted to hospital for depression.

22 Oct 2025

Cops on ketamine? Largely unregulated mental health treatment faces hurdles

A few months ago, Waynesville Police Sgt. Paige Shell was about to give up hope of getting better. The daily drip of violence, death, and misery from almost 20 years in law enforcement had left a mark. Her sleep was poor, depression was a stubborn companion, and thoughts of suicide had taken root.

10 Oct 2025

Evidence review questions ketamine’s role in chronic pain treatment

A Cochrane review assessed ketamine and other NMDA receptor antagonists for chronic non-cancer pain. The evidence was low to very low certainty, showing no clear pain relief and potential adverse effects with intravenous ketamine.

21 Aug 2025

New nanoparticle system uses ultrasound to precisely deliver drugs

The trouble with many drugs is that they go where they shouldn't, producing unwanted side effects. Psychiatric drugs might cause dissociation, painkillers can induce nausea and chemotherapy often damages healthy cells.

18 Aug 2025

Off-label ketamine use for chronic pain lacks scientific basis

The off-label use of ketamine to treat chronic pain is not supported by scientific evidence, a new Cochrane review has found.

18 Aug 2025

Psychedelic and non-hallucinogenic drugs promote neuroplasticity through shared pathways

Understanding exactly how psychedelics promote new connections in the brain is critical to developing targeted, non-hallucinogenic therapeutics that can treat neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases.

4 Aug 2025

Ketamine's antidepressant effects involve the brain's opioid system

Ketamine is a highly effective, fast-acting antidepressant that works even for patients who have not responded to other medications.

24 Jul 2025

Mount Sinai researcher uncovers how the brain and body interact in aging and depression

In a comprehensive Genomic Press interview published in Brain Medicine today, Dr. Hamilton Se-Hwee Oh reveals groundbreaking insights into the complex dialogue between our brains and bodies that fundamentally shapes aging, depression, and neurodegenerative disease.

22 Jul 2025