Despite growing interest in the therapeutic potential of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), no targeted measure to systematically assess side effects of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy (MDMA-AP) exists. Our aim was to develop an MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy Side Effects Tool (M-SET) to capture side effects over the course of MDMA-AP. Informed by a systematic review and a review of other...
Australia recently became the first country to reschedule methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) to permit authorized prescribing for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) outside of clinical trials. This study explored the direct experience of Australian clinicians, researchers, and patients regarding the use of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy (MDMA-AP) for PTSD to inform guideline development....
Background Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) has gained attention as a promising intervention for conditions including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, but understanding of its side-effects is limited. This review evaluates the quality of side-effects reporting in PAP trials, to guide treatment, policy and research. Aims To assess side-effects reporting quality in...
Abstract Background & Aims There are few effective treatments for methamphetamine use disorder, despite increasing global demand. Here, we assessed the safety and feasibility of outpatient psilocybin‐assisted psychotherapy for methamphetamine use disorder. Design Single arm, open label pilot study. Setting Outpatient public stimulant treatment program at St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney,...
Despite recent clinical and research interest, medical use of psychedelics has not been legalised in most jurisdictions. The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration rescheduled methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in July 2023 to permit authorised prescribing of MDMA for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) outside of the clinical trial setting. This manuscript describes the development of...
RATIONALE: Despite the critical role of choice processes in substance use disorders, the neurobehavioral mechanisms guiding human decisions about drugs remain poorly understood. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to characterize the neural encoding of subjective value (SV) for cannabis versus non-drug rewards (snacks) in people who use cannabis on a near-daily/daily frequency (PWUCF) and assessed the impact...
Methamphetamine use disorder is a significant public health concern. No pharmacological treatment options currently exist for methamphetamine use disorder, and psychotherapy is only moderately effective. Preliminary evidence suggests that ketamine-assisted psychotherapy produces sustained improvements in substance use and mental health symptomatology. In addition to direct antidepressant...
Abstract Evidence suggests that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy (MDMA-AP) has therapeutic potential for treatment of psychiatric illness. We conducted the first comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of the side effects of MDMA-AP across indications. We also assessed the quality of side effects-reporting in published trials of MDMA-AP. PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, MEDLINE and Cochrane...
Abstract What happens when an emerging programme of medical research overlaps with a surging social movement? In this article we draw on the anthropological term ‘chemosociality’ to describe forms of sociality born of shared chemical exposure. Psychedelic administration in the context of recent clinical trials appears to have been particularly chemosocial in nature. We argue that one...
Recent years have seen escalating media, public and scientific interest in psychedelic medicine. Australia and New Zealand have been late to this research; however, in the past 2 years, rapid developments suggest that this is changing. Here, we argue for the need to critically review existing evidence in this field to guide future directions. We focus on...
March 15, 2023Will Lawn, Xuejun Hao, Anna B. Konova et al.
preprint
Background: Despite the critical role of choice processes in substance use disorders, the neurobehavioral mechanisms guiding human decisions about drugs remain poorly understood. We adapted a neuroeconomic framework to characterize the neural encoding of subjective value (SV) for cannabis versus non-drug rewards (snacks) in near-daily cannabis users. We also assessed the impact of cannabis and...
Despite the high prevalence of polysubstance use, outcomes and potential risks associated with common drug combinations are not well characterized. Many individuals who use cocaine also use cannabis, yet little is known about how interactions between the two drugs might contribute to continued co-use. The aim of this double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to determine the physiological and...
Abstract The detection of changes in mental states such as those caused by psychoactive drugs relies on clinical assessments that are inherently subjective. Automated speech analysis may represent a novel method to detect objective markers, which could help improve the characterization of these mental states. In this study, we employed computer-extracted speech features from multiple domains...
Cannabidiol (CBD), a constituent of cannabis with few psychoactive effects, has been reported in some studies to attenuate certain aspects of Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) intoxication. However, most studies have tested only one dose of CBD in combination with one dose of oral THC, making it difficult to assess the nature of this interaction. Further, the effect of oral CBD on smoked cannabis...
Drug dependence may be at its core a pathology of choice, defined by continued decisions to use drugs irrespective of negative consequences. Despite evidence of dysregulated decision making in addiction, little is known about the neural processes underlying the most clinically relevant decisions drug users make: decisions to use drugs. Here, we combined functional magnetic resonance imaging...
Rationale: ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is widely believed to increase sociability. The drug alters speech production and fluency, and may influence speech content. Here, we investigated the effect of MDMA on speech content, which may reveal how this drug affects social interactions. Method: Thirty-five healthy volunteers with prior MDMA experience completed this two-session,...
There is growing evidence that drugs of abuse alter processing of emotional information in ways that could be attractive to users. Our recent report that Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) diminishes amygdalar activation in response to threat-related faces suggests that THC may modify evaluation of emotionally-salient, particularly negative or threatening, stimuli. In this study, we examined the...
Ecstasy users report that the drug produces feelings of increased empathy and sociability [1]. Such ‘empathogenic’ effects are thought to motivate recreational use of ecstasy [2]. In addition, the rationale for the proposed use of MDMA as an adjunct to psychotherapy centers on these effects [3]. Controlled studies confirm that MDMA administration produces prosocial feelings in humans [e.g. 4],...