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Explainers, essays and interactive guides, newest first. Every claim is referenced, and each post says when the evidence is thin.
Elsewhere on the site
- The race to approve psilocybin
Usona, Compass and why the first approval may matter less than what comes after it Psychedelic medicine, Depression & mood, Evidence
- Midnight in your body
Jet lag, sleep loss and your brain's clock, with a planner for your trip Body & health, Mind & perception, Sleep
- A fair test, in the wild
Reading a new JAMA trial of a short-acting nasal psychedelic, with the tools from the last post Psychedelic medicine, Depression & mood, Evidence
- A fair test
How drug trials work, why placebo is so strong, and the numbers that matter Psychopharmacology, Mind & perception, Evidence
- Turning down the volume
Seventy years of antipsychotics, read through their blooms Psychopharmacology, Mind & perception, Evidence
- The problem child grows up
Eighty years of LSD in human research, from Hofmann's bicycle to phase 3 Psychedelic medicine, Psychopharmacology, Evidence
- Psilocybin is my friend
The experiences that changed lives, and the numbers on when it goes badly Psychedelic medicine, Therapy, Mind & perception, Evidence
- How to read a bloom
A field guide to the receptor blooms, with ninety-five to play with Psychopharmacology, Psychedelic medicine, Mind & perception, Art
- Happy birthday, Dr. Leary
What to keep and what to leave of Timothy Leary, on his birthday Psychedelic medicine, Mind & perception, Evidence
- Loaded, not fired
Psychiatric genetics and heritability, from the genome up Mind & perception, Psychopharmacology, Depression & mood, Evidence
- Psilocybin may be coming to the Spravato clinic
The clock, the eight-hour day, the rooms, the people, the money Psychedelic medicine, Psychopharmacology, Depression & mood, Evidence
- Talking about trauma, with care
How to ask, how to listen, and what not to say Mind & perception, Therapy, PTSD & trauma, Emotion science
- Unfinished business
Emotion science, part 2: why the argument in the shower never ends Mind & perception, Therapy, Emotion science
- The empty chair
Emotion science, part 1: chair work, where it came from, and why anger heals Mind & perception, Therapy, Emotion science
- The mat is a laboratory
Why I practice yoga, what the science says, and a fact-check of my own keynote Mind & perception, Body & health, Meditation
- Ketamine and Spravato, explained
History, chirality, mechanism, the trials, dose, duration, and the gaps Psychopharmacology, Mood & anxiety, Evidence
- Waking up is not growing up
Adult development, the midlife passage, and the laundry Mind & perception, Psychedelic medicine
- The accelerator and the brake
Seventy years of teen slang, comics, and the adolescent brain Mind & perception, Families
- The ninety seconds after
What to do in the gap between a trigger and your reaction Mind & perception, Therapy, Meditation, Emotion science
- Solve for now
Ten equations of meditation, each with an experiment to run Mind & perception, Therapy, Meditation
- What emotional intelligence actually is
The evidence on EI: what it is, what it predicts, how to train it Mind & perception, Therapy, Emotion science
- Coming home to the body
Interoception, embodiment, and guided ways back into the body Therapy, Mind & perception, PTSD & trauma, Meditation
- Was it the pill?
Placebo, nocebo, and how to tell what a medicine is really doing Psychopharmacology, Mind & perception, Psychedelic medicine, Evidence
- When the trip doesn't end
HPPD: when visuals linger after psychedelics, and what helps Psychedelic medicine, Mind & perception, Psychopharmacology
- Ten signposts out of the woods
Ten playful meditations, with the research behind each Mind & perception, Therapy, Meditation
- The hidden therapist
How music works inside a psychedelic session Psychedelic medicine, Mind & perception, Therapy, Music
- The life of an adverse event
How a side effect becomes a line in the package insert Psychopharmacology, Psychedelic medicine, Evidence
- Meditation, deconstructed
A field guide to training attention, and how to begin today Mind & perception, Therapy, Meditation
- How much of the change is the molecule?
The drug, the therapist, or neither: what does the work? Psychedelic medicine, Therapy, Evidence
- The reuptake era
How reuptake blockers built modern psychiatry, Prozac onward Psychopharmacology, Mood & anxiety, ADHD & attention
- One size fits few
Precision psychiatry and pharmacogenomic (PGx) testing, explained Psychopharmacology, Mind & perception, Mood & anxiety, Evidence
- The doubting disease
OCD: what it is, how it is measured, and how exposure works Mood & anxiety, Food & eating, Therapy
- Gluten is (usually) not the enemy
Celiac, sensitivity, nocebo, and gluten in eating disorders Food & eating, Mind & perception
- No one chooses this
Eating disorders explained for families, and what to say Food & eating, Therapy, Families
- The worry engine
Generalized anxiety and its relatives, with a self-check for each Mood & anxiety, Psychedelic medicine, Therapy
- The warning in the box
Why some psychiatric medicines carry a suicide warning Mood & anxiety, Suicide prevention, Psychopharmacology, ADHD & attention, Evidence
- New ADHD medications since 2021
Every ADHD approval since 2021, and what each one costs ADHD & attention, Psychopharmacology
- The committee inside
Internal Family Systems, with tools to map your parts Therapy, PTSD & trauma
- The gentlest experiment
Hakomi: mindfulness, the body and loving presence Therapy, PTSD & trauma, Meditation
- Feelings are data
An emotion primer through Emotion-Focused Therapy Therapy, Emotion science
- What lies underneath
The science of suicidal pain: theories and neurobiology Mood & anxiety, Suicide prevention
- A plan for the hardest hour
Build a safety plan, with a free tool you can save or text Mood & anxiety, Suicide prevention, Families
- Not evenly shared
Who suicide touches most, and what protects Mood & anxiety, Suicide prevention
- Keeping people safe
What prevents suicide and how to check in on someone Mood & anxiety, Suicide prevention, Families
- Ketamine and the suicidal crisis
Rapid relief of suicidal thinking: what we know and don't Psychedelic medicine, Mood & anxiety, Suicide prevention
- The Gray Vial Years
How GLP-1 injections became normal, and three earlier waves Food & eating
- Why does that chord feel sad?
An interactive lab on why music feels the way it does Mind & perception, Music, Art
- The Impossible Country
Yetis, inner fire and levitating lamas: a century of strange science Body & health
- MDMA, measured
An evidence-graded MDMA harm-reduction reference Psychedelic medicine, Psychopharmacology, PTSD & trauma
- Caffeine, America's favorite psychotropic
Why a psychiatrist cares about your coffee, with a dashboard for your dose and sleep Psychopharmacology, Body & health, Sleep
- Food Noise
Unwanted thoughts about food: why, how much, what helps Food & eating
- Sugar & Shadow: the placebo effect
Placebo and nocebo: why expectation is a measurable force Psychopharmacology, Mind & perception, Evidence
- How therapy works
The predictive brain, and why talking with someone changes it Therapy, Mood & anxiety
- Seeing Things
Why psilocybin, sleeplessness and a failing eye make the same visions Mind & perception, Psychedelic medicine, Sleep
- Your attention isn't broken
Why focus feels broken, and how to train it back ADHD & attention, Mind & perception, Meditation
- Serotonin & serotonin syndrome
Serotonin syndrome: how to recognize it, which combinations matter Psychopharmacology, Mood & anxiety
- 4-OH-DiPT: a research report
The shortest-acting oral psychedelic, now in trials Psychedelic medicine, Mood & anxiety
- 5-MeO-DMT: a research report
The toad molecule: biggest effect, shortest session Psychedelic medicine, Mood & anxiety
- MDMA: a research report
Two positive trials, one FDA rejection, and what comes next Psychedelic medicine, PTSD & trauma
- LSD: a research report
From counterculture to Phase 3 for anxiety Psychedelic medicine, Mood & anxiety
- Psilocybin and psilocin: a research report
Where psilocybin stands on the road to approval Psychedelic medicine, Mood & anxiety
- Methylone: a research report
A smoke-shop stimulant now in Phase 3 for PTSD Psychedelic medicine, PTSD & trauma
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Keeping people safe
What prevents suicide, what lies underneath it, who carries the most risk, what the medicine warnings really mean, and a plan you can make in fifteen minutes.
- Keeping people safeWhat prevents suicide, how to check in on someone, the honest science on SSRIs, and what each of us can do.
- A plan for the hardest hourSafety planning: what the evidence says, how to make a plan, and a free tool to build yours, save it as a PDF or text it to someone you trust.
- What lies underneathHow science understands suicidal pain: the leading theories, from Joiner's interpersonal theory to the three-step model, and the neurobiology underneath.
- Not evenly sharedWho suicide touches most, by age, place, condition and community; why LGBTQ+ people carry higher risk; and what protects.
- The warning in the boxWhy some psychiatric medicines carry a suicide warning, which ones do and don't, what twenty years of science shows, and how to stay safe when treatment starts.
- Ketamine and the suicidal crisisWhat we know and what we don't, plus a white paper (PDF) that separates rapid relief of suicidal thinking from the unanswered question of prevention.
If you or someone you love is struggling right now, call or text 988 (US) or text HOME to 741741. Everything on this topic.
Research reports
Long, sourced reports on the compounds in clinical development: where each came from, how it works, what the trials show, and what is still unknown.
- Psilocybin and psilocin: a research reportTwo completed Phase 3 trials, an NDA in preparation, and an effect size worth arguing about.
- LSD: a research reportA circulatory stimulant that failed, became a counterculture, and is now in Phase 3 for generalized anxiety.
- MDMA: a research reportTwo positive Phase 3 trials, a 10 to 1 advisory vote against, and the rejection that reshaped a field.
- 5-MeO-DMT: a research reportThe largest reported effect size in the field, from the shortest session, and an indigenous tradition that appears to have been invented in 1984.
- 4-OH-DiPT: a research reportThe shortest-acting oral psychedelic Shulgin ever described, now a prodrug in three Phase 2 trials.
- Methylone: a research reportThirty years from a Shulgin patent to a Phase 3 PTSD candidate, by way of a smoke-shop shelf.
Reference sites
- White papers Long, fully referenced briefings, one clinical question at a time.
- The Psychiatry Wiki A field guide to psychiatry from the ground up: conditions, pharmacology, rating scales, a mechanism lab and the receptor “bloom” drawings.
- NooGrade Nootropics graded on the evidence.
- Cannabinoid Dose Lab Finding the lowest dose that works, and why it varies.
- ED Currents Eating-disorder science: a non-profit living review of the literature, by Reid Robison and Anya Ragnhildstveit.
- Psychedelic Therapy Frontiers The podcast, 220+ episodes with Dr. Steve Thayer.