Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Center

Dr. David Yaden will be speaking at MGH’s Psychedelics & Psychedelic Medicine Conference (Nov 14–15, virtual). Learn the latest research + earn CME/CE. Use code NET50 to save $50.
Register: lms.mghcme.org/VirtualPsych...

Visual Hallucinations in Serotonergic Psychedelics and Lewy Body Diseases AbstractBackground and Hypothesis. Visual hallucinations (VH) are a core symptom of both Lewy body diseases (LBDs; eg, Parkinson’s disease and dementia wit

Read the full review published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin academic.oup.com/schizophreni...

Hallucinations Happen When the Brain Fills in the Blanks Psychedelics and Parkinson’s may trigger hallucinations through the same system, revealing how fragile the balance is between externally and internally generated perception.

Can psychedelics help us understand disease-related hallucinations?

CPCR post doc Dr.Nate Heller @nate-h-heller.bsky.social explores how serotonin receptors might bridge psilocybin and Parkinson’s in @psychologytoday.com
www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/illu...

Last week, Drs. Weiss and Yaden joined a Humanities on the Hill panel after the film In Waves and War, discussing the impact of war on Veterans and the promise of psychedelic therapies, alongside Marcus Capone, Paul Shenk, and Dr. Virginia Jewiss.

‼️Healthy Volunteers Needed‼️
Join our Johns Hopkins study on how psilocybin affects the brain using safe, noninvasive methods (EEG, fMRI, TMS, cognitive testing).
Apply or learn more: tinyurl.com/34jnz3d5
☎️ 410-550-2253 | ✉️ psilocybinbrainstudy@jhmi.edu

CPCR members (Fred Barrett, Jessica Dyal, Tess Richardson) attended the kickoff meeting for Reunion Neuroscience’s REKINDLE trial, which will test RE-104—a shorter-acting psilocybin-like compound—for adjustment disorder. Stay tuned for recruitment updates!

🎬 Free Screening: In Waves and War — a documentary on three former Navy SEALs’ journeys with psychedelic therapy.
🗣️ Panel with Director Jon Shenk, Drs. Brandon Weiss & Bit Yaden, and Marcus & Amber Capone (VETS).
📅 Wed, Oct 29 | 6 PM
📍 JHU Bloomberg Center, DC
🎟️ Register Free

Dr. Fred Barrett presented preliminary data on psilocybin’s efficacy for treating depression with co-occurring alcohol use disorder and its underlying therapeutic mechanisms at the 38th annual ECNP Congress in Amsterdam.

SFN — Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research

🚨 There are limited spots left to attend the SfN Psychedelic Research Event 🧠

Join us before #SfN2025 (Friday, Nov 14) for a deep dive into cross-species psychedelic neuroscience.

Register + speaker profiles👇
hopkinspsychedelic.org/sfn2025

Welcome our new postdoctoral research fellow, Dr. Eddie Jacobs. Dr. Jacobs comes to us from Oxford where he investigated ethical aspects of psychedelic therapies. At the CPCR, his work will explore how pre-existing worldviews & beliefs influence the quality and character of psychedelic experiences

Podcast: Do We Know Enough to Use Psychedelics As Medicine? This week on Entanglements, our hosts talk to a psychologist and a neuroscientist about the science behind psychedelics.

🎙️ New podcast from @undarkmag: Dr. Albert Garcia-Romeu, joins Harvard’s Dr. Bertha Madras to discuss what we really know about psychedelics as medicine.
🔗 undark.org/2025/10/01/p...

Visual Hallucinations in Serotonergic Psychedelics and Lewy Body Diseases AbstractBackground and Hypothesis. Visual hallucinations (VH) are a core symptom of both Lewy body diseases (LBDs; eg, Parkinson’s disease and dementia wit

🧠 New Psychedelic Article in Schizophrenia Bulletin!

We argue that visual hallucinations in psychedelics and Lewy body disease may share common mechanisms ⇒ visual degradation & cortical excitation.

academic.oup.com/schizophreni...

Excited to see this spark discussion!
#Neuroscience #Psychedelics

YouTube video by European College of Neuropsychopharmacology Psychedelics and plasticity: from synapses to cognition | 38th ECNP Congress preview

How do psychedelics help treat depression, anxiety, and addiction? In this #ECNP2025 preview, Drs. Linda Simmler and Frederick Barrett discuss psychedelic-induced plasticity with host Friederike Holze.
📅 See them live Oct 14, 2025, 8:40–10:00
🎧 www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FT2...

Dr. Brandon Weiss recently met with congressional staff, NIH, and federal regulators to discuss Veteran health and the importance of rigorous research in guiding safe, responsible psychedelic therapies.

SFN — Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research

🚨 ATTN SfN attendees: Join our pre-SfN event “The Trip between Bedside and Bench: Advancing Cross-Species Translation in Psychedelic Neuroscience.”

Limited spots—register now! 👉 hopkinspsychedelic.org/sfn2025

10/ Led by former @hopkinsmedicine.bsky.social Megan Hosein and Zach Cordner, cochairs @fredbarrettphd.bsky.social and Trisha Suppes, CPCR’s Dr. Matthew Reid, @existwell.bsky.social, and Sarah Walser, Stu Charney, UT Austin’s D. Greg Fonzo, and Utah’s Dr. Ben Lewis

9/ The bottom line: Psilocybin could transform psychiatry. But for now, it should be seen as a second- or third-line option and used with great care until evidence catches up.

Optimism is warranted—but caution is essential.

8/ So what’s the way forward?

The Task Group calls for:

• Big, multi-site research collaborations
• More diverse study populations
• Public funding (not just philanthropy or venture capital)
• Standard training + monitoring systems
• Early engagement with regulators & insurers

7/ Ethics can’t be ignored either. Patients are deeply vulnerable under psilocybin. Boundaries have been crossed in clinical trials. Risks of exploitation—sexual, ideological, or cultural—are real.

And the field must grapple with equity and respect for Indigenous traditions.

6/ Then there’s training. Right now, no national standards exist. Many “training programs” are unregulated, retreat-style, and data-free.

The consensus calls for rigorous curricula, certification, and oversight—like any other medical specialty.

5/ Even if safe, scaling is another challenge. Current therapy models are long, expensive (~$6.6k per course), and hard to imagine in routine practice without major redesign.

Insurance and reimbursement questions loom large.

4/ Safety signals are real:

• Suicidal thoughts/self-harm events have occurred in trials
• Risks for mania in bipolar disorder remain unknown
• Drug interactions (e.g., SSRIs, lithium) could blunt or even worsen effects
• Long-term cardiac and perceptual risks aren’t well studied

3/ But the hype, media buzz, and commercial momentum are outpacing the science.

We don’t yet have clear answers on optimal (minimal necessary) dose, safety in the long run, or how it works across diverse communities.

2/ Psilocybin has shown striking results in early trials for depression, addiction, and more. Some patients go into remission after only a few sessions.

Phase III trials are underway, and many are imagining a future where psilocybin is part of everyday psychiatry.

1/ New consensus statement just dropped on the potential for psilocybin in clinical care, from the Task Group on Psychedelics and Related Compounds of the US National Network of Depression Centers

The message? Lots of promise, but real risks if we rush. 🧵

authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

🌿 Can psychedelics help with long-COVID & Lyme?
Join Dr. Albert Garcia-Romeu (JHU) + an expert panel as they share new research & lived experiences. Free online event!
🔗https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/vg5di-PqS6Ko-GOFOL4Ljg
#CPCR #PsychedelicResearch #LongCOVID #LymeDisease

Have you used psychedelics and cannabis on separate occasions? Take our survey! tinyurl.com/psyches-cann...
Your responses help advance research on their effects, risks, and benefits.

Personalized Psychiatry With the Johns Hopkins Personalized Psychiatry offers tailored, patient-centered care adults and children. This provides patients with more one-on-one access to their psychiatric care team.

If you have had a challenging psychedelic experience and seek professional care, schedule an appointment at www.hopkinsmedicine.org/personalized... or email Dr. Bekhrad at abekhra1@jhmi.edu

Treating patients with challenging psychedelics experiences: 5 Questions for psychiatrist Azin Bekhrad Azin Bekhrad trained as a medical doctor at Wayne State University in Detroit, then completed a year of residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern, then a psychiatry fellowship at Johns Ho...

Microdose interview with Dr. Azin Bekhrad, who runs the Johns Hopkins Clinic for Post-Psychedelic Difficulties themicrodose.substack.com/p/treating-p... (

Our research center is seeking a casual therapist to support cutting-edge studies on the therapeutic effects of psychedelics. Join a team at the forefront of mental health research. Apply below 👇
jobs.jhu.edu/job/Baltimor...