Research and resources
Research centres and regulators
International research centres
- John Hopkins, Psychedelic Research Unit
- Imperial College London, Centre for Psychedelic Research
- Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy
- King’s College London, Centre for Affective Studies, psilocybin trials
Australian regulatory agencies
- Office of Drug Control
- Therapeutic Goods Administration, Accessing unapproved products
- Medicines and Poisons Regulation, DHHS, Victoria
Recent publications
A range of additional research will be added shortly.
- Carhart-Harris, R. L., Bolstridge, M., Day, C. M. J., Rucker, J. and Watts, D. E. et al. (2018). "Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: six-month follow-up," in Psychopharmacology 235(2), pp. 399-408
- Danforth, A. L., Grob, C. S., Struble, C., Feduccia, A. A. and Walker, N. et al. (2018). "Reduction in social anxiety after MDMA-assisted psychotherapy with autistic adults: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study," in Psychopharmacology (Berl) 235(11), pp. 3137-3148
- Doss, M. K., Weafer, J., Gallo, D. A. and Wit, H. de (2017). "MDMA Impairs Both the Encoding and Retrieval of Emotional Recollections," in Neuropsychopharmacology 43, pp. 791
- Hamill, J., Hallak, J., Dursun, S.M. and Baker, G. (2019). "Ayahuasca: Psychological and Physiologic Effects, Pharmacology and Potential Uses in Addiction and Mental Illness," in Curr Neuropharmacol 17(2), pp. 108-128
- Johnson, M. W., Garcia-Romeu, A. and Griffiths, R. R. (2017). "Long-term follow-up of psilocybin-facilitated smoking cessation," in American Journal of Drug & Alcohol Abuse 43(1), pp. 55-60
- Johnson, M. W., Griffiths, R. R., Hendricks, P. S. and Henningfield, J. E. (2018). "The abuse potential of medical psilocybin according to the 8 factors of the Controlled Substances Act," in Neuropharmacology 142, pp. 143-166
- Johnson, M.W., Hendricks, P.S., Barrett, F.S. and Griffiths, R.R. (2019). "Classic psychedelics: An integrative review of epidemiology, therapeutics, mystical experience, and brain network function," in Pharmacology & Therapeutics 197, pp. 83-102
- Mithoefer, M. C., Feduccia, A. A., Jerome, L., Mithoefer, M., Wagner, Z. and Walsh, S. et al. (2019). "MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for treatment of PTSD: study design and rationale for phase 3 trials based on pooled analysis of six phase 2 randomized controlled trials," in Psychopharmacology
- Mithoefer, M. C., Mithoefer, A. T., Feduccia, A. A. and Jerome, L. et al. (2018). "3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder in military veterans, firefighters, and police officers: a randomised, double-blind, dose-response, phase 2 clinical trial," in The Lancet Psychiatry 5(6), pp. 486-497
- Muttoni, S., Ardissino, M. and John, C. (2019). "Classical psychedelics for the treatment of depression and anxiety: A systematic review," in Journal of Affective Disorders 258, pp. 11-24
- Nutt, D. (2019). "Psychedelic drugs - a new era in psychiatry?" in Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience 21(2), pp. 139-147
- Palhano-Fontes, F., D. Barreto, H. Onias, K. C. Andrade, M. M. Novaes, J. A. et al. (2018). "Rapid antidepressant effects of the psychedelic ayahuasca in treatment-resistant depression: a randomized placebo-controlled trial." Psychological Medicine: 1-9.
- Roseman, L., Demetriou, L., Wall, M.B., Nutt, D.J. and Carhart-Harris, R.L. (2018). "Increased amygdala responses to emotional faces after psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression," in Neuropharmacology 142, pp. 263-269
- Ross, S., Bossis, A., Guss, J., Agin-Liebes, G., Malone, T. and Cohen, S. E. et al. (2016). "Rapid and sustained symptom reduction following psilocybin treatment for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer: a randomized controlled trial," in Journal Of Psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) 30(12), pp. 1165-1180
- Sessa, B., L. Higbed and D. Nutt (2019). "A Review of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-Assisted Psychotherapy." Frontiers in psychiatry 10: 138-138.
- Smigielski, L., Scheidegger, M., Kometer, M. and Vollenweider, F.X. (2019). "Psilocybin-assisted mindfulness training modulates self-consciousness and brain default mode network connectivity with lasting effects," in NeuroImage 196, pp. 207-215
- Tang, S. W. and Tang, W. H. (2019). "Opportunities in Novel Psychotropic Drug Design from Natural Compounds," in Int J Neuropsychopharmacol
Current or recent research in Australia and New Zealand
Current or recent medicinal psychedelics research led by researchers/institutions in Australia or New Zealand.
- Title: Global Cross-sectional study of the health and wellbeing harms and benefits associated with consumption of ayahuasca. Cross-sectional observational study of >7000 ayahuasca drinkers in over 50 countries (current).
Investigators: Dr D Perkins, Dr V D Schubert, A/Prof J Sarris, Dr J Carlos Bouso, Dr M Horák, Dr M Scheidegger, Ms H Simonova, Professor L Tófoli, Dr. E Opaleye.
Lead Institution (contact): University of Melbourne (Dr Daniel Perkins d.perkins@unimelb.edu.au) - Title: Mental health, addiction and wellbeing effects associated with the use of ayahuasca tea in religious contexts. Longitudinal observational study at two sites (current).
Investigators: Dr D J Perkins, A/Prof R D Chenhall, A/Prof J Sarris.
Lead Institution (contact): University of Melbourne (Dr Daniel Perkins d.perkins@unimelb.edu.au) - Title: Multi-site study investigating the mental health, addiction and wellbeing effects of ayahuasca consumption in facilitated contexts. Multi-site longitudinal observational study, with comparison group (current).
Investigators: Dr D J Perkins, A/Prof R D Chenhall, A/Prof J Sarris.
Lead Institution (contact): University of Melbourne (Dr Daniel Perkins d.perkins@unimelb.edu.au) - Title: Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of depression and anxiety associated with life-threatening illness. Interventional RCT (current)
Investigators: M.Ross, J.Dwyer, M.Williams
Lead Institution (contact): St Vincent’sHospital (Dr Margaret Ross margaret.ross@svha.org.au) - Title: Kava for the Treatment of Generalised Anxiety Disorder: A Double-Blind Randomised Placebo-Controlled Trial (KGAD). Interventional RTC (completed).
Investigators: Sarris J., Savage KM, Stough CK, Byrne GJ, Scholey A, Bousman C, Murphy J, Macdonald P, Suo C, Hughes M, Thomas S, Teschke R, Xing C.
Lead Institution (contact): University of Melbourne (A/Prof Jerome Sarris jsarris@unimelb.edu.au) - Title: A systematic study of microdosing psychedelics. Cross-sectional observational study (completed).
Investigators: Vince Polito , Richard J. Stevenson
Lead Institution (contact): Macquarie University (Dr Vince Polito vince.polito@mq.edu.au) - Title: Ibogaine treatment outcomes for opioid dependence from a twelve-month follow-up observational study. Longitudinal observational (completed).
Investigators: G. Noller, C. Frampton, B. Yazar-Klosinski.
Lead Institution (contact): University of Otago (Dr Geoff Noller Geoff.noller@otago.ac.nz) - Title: Ascending Single‐Dose, Double‐Blind, Placebo‐Controlled Safety Study of Noribogaine in Opioid‐Dependent Patients. Interventional RCT (completed)
Investigators: P. Glue, G. Cape, D. Tunnicliff, M. Lockhart, F. Lam, N. Hung, C. Hung, S. Harland, J. Devane, R. Crockett, J. Howes, B. Darpo, M. Zhou, H. Weis, L. Friedhoff.
Lead Institution (contact): University of Otago (Prof Paul Glue paul.glue@otago.ac.nz