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• Journal article
  Douglass H, Spriggs M, Godfrey K, Danby J, Magalhaes F, Alderton K, Macdonald L, Archer S, Read T, Lafrance A, Nicholls D, Erritzoe D, Park R, Nutt D, Carhart-Harris Ret al., 2023,

  Psilocybin as a treatment for anorexia nervosa: 6-week and 3-month follow-up results

  , Neuroscience Applied, Vol: 2, Pages: 102878-102878, ISSN: 2772-4085
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• Journal article
  Spriggs MJ, Giribaldi B, Lyons T, Rosas FE, Kaertner LS, Buchborn T, Douglass HM, Roseman L, Timmermann C, Erritzoe D, Nutt DJ, Carhart-Harris RLet al., 2022,

  Body mass index (BMI) does not predict responses to psilocybin

  , Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Vol: 37, Pages: 107-116, ISSN: 0271-0749

  Background:Psilocybin is a serotonin type 2A (5-HT2A) receptor agonist and naturally occurring psychedelic. 5-HT2A receptor density is known to be associated with body mass index (BMI), however, the impact of this on psilocybin therapy has not been explored. While body weight-adjusted dosing is widely used, this imposes a practical and financial strain on the scalability of psychedelic therapy. This gap between evidence and practice is caused by the absence of studies clarifying the relationship between BMI, the acute psychedelic experience and long-term psychological outcomes.Method:Data were pooled across three studies using a fixed 25 mg dose of psilocybin delivered in a therapeutic context to assess whether BMI predicts characteristics of the acute experience and changes in well-being 2 weeks later. Supplementing frequentist analysis with Bayes Factors has enabled for conclusions to be drawn regarding the null hypothesis.Results:Results support the null hypothesis that BMI does not predict overall intensity of the altered state, mystical experiences, perceptual changes or emotional breakthroughs during the acute experience. There was weak evidence for greater ‘dread of ego dissolution’ in participants with lower BMI, however, further analysis suggested BMI did not meaningfully add to the combination of the other covariates (age, sex and study). While mystical-type experiences and emotional breakthroughs were strong predictors of improvements in well-being, BMI was not.Conclusions:These findings have important implications for our understanding of pharmacological and extra-pharmacological contributors to psychedelic-assisted therapy and for the standardization of a fixed therapeutic dose in psychedelic-assisted therapy.

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• Journal article
  Goodwin GM, Aaronson ST, Alvarez O, Arden PC, Baker A, Bennett JC, Bird C, Blom RE, Brennan C, Brusch D, Burke L, Campbell-Coker K, Carhart-Harris R, Cattell J, Daniel A, DeBattista C, Dunlop BW, Eisen K, Feifel D, Forbes M, Haumann HM, Hellerstein DJ, Hoppe AI, Husain MI, Jelen LA, Kamphuis J, Kawasaki J, Kelly JR, Key RE, Kishon R, Knatz Peck S, Knight G, Koolen MHB, Lean M, Licht RW, Maples-Keller JL, Mars J, Marwood L, McElhiney MC, Miller TL, Mirow A, Mistry S, Mletzko-Crowe T, Modlin LN, Nielsen RE, Nielson EM, Offerhaus SR, O'Keane V, Palenicek T, Printz D, Rademaker MC, van Reemst A, Reinholdt F, Repantis D, Rucker J, Rudow S, Ruffell S, Rush AJ, Schoevers RA, Seynaeve M, Shao S, Soares JC, Somers M, Stansfield SC, Sterling D, Strockis A, Tsai J, Visser L, Wahba M, Williams S, Young AH, Ywema P, Zisook S, Malievskaia Eet al., 2022,

  Single-Dose Psilocybin for a Treatment-Resistant Episode of Major Depression

  , NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE, Vol: 387, Pages: 1637-1648, ISSN: 0028-4793
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  • Citations: 645
• Conference paper
  Douglass H, Spriggs MJ, Park RJ, Read T, Danby JL, De Magalhaes FJC, Alderton KL, Lafrance A, Nicholls DE, Erritzoe D, Nutt DJ, Carhart-Harris RLet al., 2022,

  Psilocybin as a treatment for anorexia nervosa: Study protocol and 6-month feasibility update

  , Publisher: WILEY, Pages: 836-836, ISSN: 1072-4133
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• Journal article
  Baumann S, Carhart-Harris R, Nutt D, Erritzoe D, Szigeti Bet al., 2022,

  Evidence for tolerance in psychedelic microdosing from the self-blinding microdose trial

  <p>Microdosing is the practice of regularly using very low doses of psychedelic drugs. Anecdotal reports suggest that it may enhance well-being, creativity and cognition. Here, we use data from a self-blinding microdose trial, a large (n=240) placebo-controlled citizen science trial of microdosing to investigate whether tolerance develops during microdosing. We conceptualized tolerance as the relationship between correct microdose guess probability and the number of previous microdoses taken within the trial’s timeframe: if tolerance develops then, correct microdose guess probability should decrease with more microdoses taken. Mixed linear regression models show that correct microdose guess probability decreases with number of microdoses taken (mean±se: -.017±.007; p=.009**), suggesting that tolerance developed. Secondary post-hoc analysis revealed that this tolerance was present with LSD/LSD-analogue microdoses (mean±se: -.026±.007; p&amp;lt;.001**), but not with psilocybin microdoses (mean±se: .013±.014; p=.36). These results suggest that microdosers may need to periodically suspend their microdosing routine to avoid tolerance and that psilocybin may be better suited for long-term microdosing protocols.</p>

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• Journal article
  Singleton SP, Luppi AI, Carhart-Harris RL, Cruzat J, Roseman L, Nutt DJ, Deco G, Kringelbach ML, Stamatakis EA, Kuceyeski Aet al., 2022,

  Receptor-informed network control theory links LSD and psilocybin to a flattening of the brain's control energy landscape

  , NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, Vol: 13
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  • Citations: 12
• Journal article
  Vohryzek J, Cabral J, Lord L-D, Fernandes H, Roseman L, Nutt D, Carhart-Harris R, Deco G, Kringelbach Met al., 2022,

  Brain dynamics predictive of response to psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression

  <title>Abstract</title> <p>Psilocybin therapy for depression has started to show promise, yet the underlying causal mechanisms are not currently known. Here we leveraged the differential outcome in responders and non-responders to psilocybin (10mg and 25mg, 7 days apart) therapy for depression - to gain new insights into regions and networks implicated in the restoration of healthy brain dynamics. We used whole-brain modelling to fit the spatiotemporal brain dynamics at rest in both responders and non-responders before treatment. Dynamic sensitivity analysis of systematic perturbation of these models enabled us to identify specific brain regions implicated in a transition from a depressive brain state to a heathy one. Binarizing the sample into treatment responders (&gt; 50% reduction in depressive symptoms) versus non-responders enabled us to identify a subset of regions implicated in this change. Interestingly, these regions correlate with in vivo density maps of serotonin receptors 5-HT_2A and 5-HT_1A, which psilocin, the active metabolite of psilocybin, has an appreciable affinity for, and where it acts as a full-to-partial agonist. Serotonergic transmission has long been associated with depression and our findings provide causal mechanistic evidence for the role of brain regions in the recovery from depression via psilocybin.</p>

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• Journal article
  Barba T, Buehler S, Kettner H, Radu C, Cunha BG, Nutt DJ, Erritzoe D, Roseman L, Carhart-Harris Ret al., 2022,

  Effects of psilocybin versus escitalopram on rumination and thought suppression in depression

  , BJPSYCH OPEN, Vol: 8, ISSN: 2056-4724
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  • Citations: 38
• Journal article
  Girn M, Roseman L, Bernhardt B, Smallwood J, Carhart-Harris R, Spreng RNet al., 2022,

  Serotonergic psychedelic drugs LSD and psilocybin reduce the hierarchical differentiation of unimodal and transmodal cortex

  , NEUROIMAGE, Vol: 256, ISSN: 1053-8119
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  • Citations: 15
• Journal article
  Luppi AI, Hansen JY, Adapa R, Carhart-Harris RL, Roseman L, Timmermann C, Golkowski D, Ranft A, Ilg R, Jordan D, Bonhomme V, Vanhaudenhuyse A, Demertzi A, Jaquet O, Bahri MA, Alnagger NLN, Cardone P, Peattie ARD, Manktelow AE, de Araujo DB, Sensi SL, Owen AM, Naci L, Menon DK, Misic B, Stamatakis EAet al., 2022,

  Mapping Pharmacologically-induced Functional Reorganisation onto the Brain’s Neurotransmitter Landscape

  <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>To understand how pharmacological interventions can exert their powerful effects on brain function, we need to understand how they engage the brain’s rich neurotransmitter landscape. Here, we bridge microscale molecular chemoarchitecture and pharmacologically-induced macroscale functional reorganisation, by relating the regional distribution of 19 neurotransmitter receptors and transporters obtained from Positron Emission Tomography, and the regional changes in functional MRI connectivity induced by 10 different mind-altering drugs: propofol, sevoflurane, ketamine, LSD, psilocybin, DMT, ayahuasca, MDMA, modafinil, and methylphenidate. Our results reveal that psychoactive drugs exert their effects on brain function by engaging multiple neurotransmitter systems. The effects of both anaesthetics and psychedelics on brain function are organised along hierarchical gradients of brain structure and function. Finally, we show that regional co-susceptibility to pharmacological interventions recapitulates co-susceptibility to disorder-induced structural alterations. Collectively, these results highlight rich statistical patterns relating molecular chemoarchitecture and drug-induced reorganisation of the brain’s functional architecture.</jats:p>

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