Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
December 17, 2025
Megan Dutton, Paul Schwenn, Jules S Mitchell et al.
1 citation
Australia’s reclassification of psilocybin as a Schedule 8 substance for treatment-resistant depression represents a significant shift in psychiatric policy. While this regulatory change positions Australia as a global leader in psychedelic medicine, its implementation has revealed substantial challenges. This article critically examines the regulatory, ethical and operational complexities...
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
December 11, 2025
Adem T. Can, Jim Lagopoulos, Paul B Fitzgerald et al.
2 citations
Ketamine has emerged as a rapid-acting intervention for treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders, generating both enthusiasm and unease. While evidence demonstrates robust antidepressant, anxiolytic and anti-suicidal effects, ketamine also carries risks, including dissociation, dependence and uncertain long-term safety. Its reputation as a recreational drug further complicates clinical...
Psychopharmacology
June 1, 2025
Nathan J Wellington, Ana P. Bouças, Jim Lagopoulos et al.
16 citations
Existing studies predominantly focus on the molecular and neurobiological mechanisms underlying Ketamine's acute treatment effects on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This emphasis has largely overlooked its sustained therapeutic effects, which hold significant potential for the development of targeted interventions. This systematic review examines the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic...
medRxiv
May 27, 2025
Nathan J Wellington, Ana Paula Bouças, Paul Schwenn et al.
1 citation
preprint
Abstract Background Ketamine has emerged as a rapid-acting therapeutic option for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, its ability to sustain long-term therapeutic outcomes remains poorly understood. Identifying molecular biomarkers predictive of a sustained response to ketamine may enhance personalised treatment strategies. This study investigates the epigenetic and transcriptomic...
medRxiv Preprint Server
May 26, 2025
Nathan J Wellington, Bonnie L. Quigley, Ana P. Bouças et al.
preprint
Ketamine’s rapid acting symptom relief make it a promising intervention for PTSD. However, the mechanisms driving its long-term efficacy over weeks and months remain poorly understood. This study investigated the short-and long-term impacts on gene expression of a six-week subanesthetic oral ketamine trial in 23 PTSD participants (9 males, 14 females). Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs)...
medRxiv Preprint Server
March 2, 2025
Bonnie L. Quigley, Emerald Orr, Sophie Kafka et al.
preprint
Ketamine has been investigated as a treatment alternative for PTSD for the last 20 years, yet there have been virtually no reports of biological changes or biomarker characterisation related to treatment. To address this significant gap, this study analysed blood samples from 25 participants with PTSD who took part in an open-label 6-week trial of low dose oral ketamine treatment. Serum and...
medRxiv Preprint Server
November 26, 2024
Bonnie L. Quigley, Adem T. Can, Megan Dutton et al.
1 citation
preprint
Ketamine is being actively investigated as a rapid-acting treatment for many conditions with a stress-related psychopathology, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The majority of studies regarding ketamine treatment for PTSD to date (including open-label and randomised control trials) have focused on intravenous (IV) ketamine administration. This administration route has...
Brain and Behavior
November 1, 2024
Jules S Mitchell, Toomas E Anijärv, Adem T. Can et al.
Subanesthetic doses of ketamine are a promising novel treatment for suicidality; however, the evidence for predictive biomarkers is sparse. Recently, measures of complexity, including Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZC) and multiscale entropy (MSE), have been implicated in ketamine's therapeutic action. We evaluated electroencephalogram (EEG)-derived LZC and MSE differences between responders and...
European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
May 21, 2024
Zack Y Shan, Adem T. Can, Abdalla Z Mohamed et al.
3 citations
The underlying brain mechanisms of ketamine in treating chronic suicidality and the characteristics of patients who will benefit from ketamine treatment remain unclear. To address these gaps, we investigated temporal variations of brain functional synchronisation in patients with suicidality treated with ketamine in a 6-week open-label oral ketamine trial. The trial's primary endpoint was the...
Clinical Case Reports
December 1, 2022
Adem T. Can, Daniel F. Hermens, Jim Lagopoulos
6 citations
Abstract Numerous studies have demonstrated that low‐dose subanesthetic intravenous ketamine infusion treatment leads to rapid improvement of treatment‐resistant depression. The following case report describes the use of a very low‐dose subcutaneous ketamine as a form of maintenance in a patient with severe treatment‐resistant depression using a retrospective chart review.
Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.)
November 2009
Jim Lagopoulos, Jian Xu, Inge Rasmussen et al.
In recent years, there has been significant uptake of meditation and related relaxation techniques, as a means of alleviating stress and maintaining good health. Despite its popularity, little is known about the neural mechanisms by which meditation works, and there is a need for more rigorous investigations of the underlying neurobiology. Several electroencephalogram (EEG) studies have...