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Tom A. Williams

10 papers in the library · 3,066 citations · publishing 2010-2021

Papers

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Study Protocol for “Psilocybin as a Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa: A Pilot Study”

Frontiers in Psychiatry October 20, 2021 Meg J. Spriggs, Hannah Douglass, Rebecca J. Park et al. 78 citations

Background: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a serious and life-threatening psychiatric condition. With a paucity of approved treatments, there is a desperate need for novel treatment avenues to be explored. Here, we present (1) an overview of the ways through which Public Patient Involvement (PPI) has informed a trial of psilocybin-assisted therapy for AN and (2) a protocol for a pilot study of...

Safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of low dose lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in healthy older volunteers

Psychopharmacology December 18, 2019 Neiloufar Family, Émeline L. Maillet, Luke T. J. Williams et al. 142 citations

Abstract Abstract Research has shown that psychedelics, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), have profound anti-inflammatory properties mediated by 5-HT 2A receptor signaling, supporting their evaluation as a therapeutic for neuroinflammation associated with neurodegenerative disease. Objective This study evaluated the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of orally...

The paradoxical psychological effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)

Psychological Medicine February 5, 2016 Robin Carhart-Harris, Mendel Kaelen, Mark Bolstridge et al. 301 citations

Background Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a potent serotonergic hallucinogen or psychedelic that modulates consciousness in a marked and novel way. This study sought to examine the acute and mid-term psychological effects of LSD in a controlled study. Method A total of 20 healthy volunteers participated in this within-subjects study. Participants received LSD (75 µ g, intravenously) on one...

The Effects of Acutely Administered 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine on Spontaneous Brain Function in Healthy Volunteers Measured with Arterial Spin Labeling and Blood Oxygen Level–Dependent Resting State Functional Connectivity

Biological Psychiatry January 10, 2014 Robin Carhart-Harris, Kevin Murphy, Robert Leech et al. 182 citations

The MTLs appear to be specifically implicated in the mechanism of action of MDMA, but further work is required to elucidate how the drug's characteristic subjective effects arise from its modulation of spontaneous brain activity.

The effect of acutely administered MDMA on subjective and BOLD-fMRI responses to favourite and worst autobiographical memories

The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology December 17, 2013 Robin Carhart-Harris, Matthew B. Wall, David Erritzøe et al. 110 citations

3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a potent monoamine-releaser that is widely used as a recreational drug. Preliminary work has supported the potential of MDMA in psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The neurobiological mechanisms underlying its putative efficacy are, however, poorly understood. Psychotherapy for PTSD usually requires that patients revisit traumatic...

Broadband Cortical Desynchronization Underlies the Human Psychedelic State

Journal of Neuroscience September 18, 2013 Matthew J. Brookes, David Errtizoe, Ben Sessa et al. 501 citations

Psychedelic drugs produce profound changes in consciousness, but the underlying neurobiological mechanisms for this remain unclear. Spontaneous and induced oscillatory activity was recorded in healthy human participants with magnetoencephalography after intravenous infusion of psilocybin—prodrug of the nonselective serotonin 2A receptor agonist and classic psychedelic psilocin. Psilocybin...

Functional Connectivity Measures After Psilocybin Inform a Novel Hypothesis of Early Psychosis

Schizophrenia Bulletin October 6, 2012 Robin Carhart-Harris, Robert Leech, David Erritzøe et al. 267 citations

Psilocybin is a classic psychedelic and a candidate drug model of psychosis. This study measured the effects of psilocybin on resting-state network and thalamocortical functional connectivity (FC) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Fifteen healthy volunteers received intravenous infusions of psilocybin and placebo in 2 task-free resting-state scans. Primary analyses focused on...

Implications for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: functional magnetic resonance imaging study with psilocybin

The British Journal of Psychiatry January 27, 2012 Robin Carhart-Harris, Robert Leech, Tom A. Williams et al. 241 citations

Background Psilocybin is a classic psychedelic drug that has a history of use in psychotherapy. One of the rationales for its use was that it aids emotional insight by lowering psychological defences. Aims To test the hypothesis that psilocybin facilitates access to personal memories and emotions by comparing subjective and neural responses to positive autobiographical memories under psilocybin...

Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences January 23, 2012 Alessandro Colasanti, Robin J. Tyacke, Robert Leech et al. 1,191 citations

Psychedelic drugs have a long history of use in healing ceremonies, but despite renewed interest in their therapeutic potential, we continue to know very little about how they work in the brain. Here we used psilocybin, a classic psychedelic found in magic mushrooms, and a task-free functional MRI (fMRI) protocol designed to capture the transition from normal waking consciousness to the...

The administration of psilocybin to healthy, hallucinogen-experienced volunteers in a mock-functional magnetic resonance imaging environment: a preliminary investigation of tolerability

Journal of Psychopharmacology April 15, 2010 Ben Sessa, Amanda Feilding, Robin Carhart-Harris et al. 53 citations

This study sought to assess the tolerability of intravenously administered psilocybin in healthy, hallucinogen-experienced volunteers in a mock-magnetic resonance imaging environment as a preliminary stage to a controlled investigation using functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the effects of psilocybin on cerebral blood flow and activity. The present pilot study demonstrated that...