Drug Testing and Analysis
June 26, 2012
Torsten Passie, Hinderk M. Emrich, Matthias Karst et al.
114 citations
It is known from clinical studies that some patients attempt to cope with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by using recreational drugs. This review presents a case report of a 19-year-old male patient with a spectrum of severe PTSD symptoms, such as intense flashbacks, panic attacks, and self-mutilation, who discovered that some of his major symptoms were dramatically...
Cephalalgia
March 26, 2010
Matthias Karst, John H. Halpern, Michael Bernateck et al.
104 citations
Cluster headache (CH) is a stereotyped primary headache characterized by strictly unilateral severe orbital or periorbital pain and categorized as either episodic or chronic (1,2). Its prevalence is 0.1% (3). Oxygen and sumatriptan are the treatments of choice for individual attacks, whereas verapamil, lithium, corticosteroids and other neuromodulators can suppress attacks during cluster...
CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics
November 11, 2008
Torsten Passie, John H. Halpern, Dirk O. Stichtenoth et al.
459 citations
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) was synthesized in 1938 and its psychoactive effects discovered in 1943. It was used during the 1950s and 1960s as an experimental drug in psychiatric research for producing so‐called “experimental psychosis” by altering neurotransmitter system and in psychotherapeutic procedures (“psycholytic” and “psychedelic” therapy). From the mid 1960s, it became an illegal...
Neurology
June 26, 2006
R. Andrew Sewell, John H. Halpern, Harrison G. Pope
259 citations
The authors interviewed 53 cluster headache patients who had used psilocybin or lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) to treat their condition. Twenty-two of 26 psilocybin users reported that psilocybin aborted attacks; 25 of 48 psilocybin users and 7 of 8 LSD users reported cluster period termination; 18 of 19 psilocybin users and 4 of 5 LSD users reported remission period extension. Research on...
Biological Psychiatry
October 15, 2005
John H. Halpern, Andrea R Sherwood, James I. Hudson et al.
186 citations
Hallucinogens are widely used, both by drug abusers and by peoples of traditional cultures who ingest these substances for religious or healing purposes. However, the long-term residual psychological and cognitive effects of hallucinogens remain poorly understood. We recruited three groups of Navajo Native Americans, age 18-45: 1) 61 Native American Church members who regularly ingested peyote,...
Pharmacology & Therapeutics
May 1, 2004
John H. Halpern
209 citations
It is usually believed that drugs of abuse are smuggled into the United States or are clandestinely produced for illicit distribution. Less well known is that many hallucinogens and dissociative agents can be obtained from plants and fungi growing wild or in gardens. Some of these botanical sources can be located throughout the United States; others have a more narrow distribution. This article...
Current Psychiatry Reports
October 1, 2003
John H. Halpern
42 citations
Research of hallucinogen abuse rarely extends beyond epidemiology and observed pathology. Even less research has been completed on the special circumstances surrounding the religious use of hallucinogens or on potential therapeutic applications. Rather than offer another basic review on the well-known hazards of illicit hallucinogen use, this paper provides an overview and practice...
Addiction Research
1996
John H. Halpern
63 citations
AbstractResearch into treating drug dependence with hallucinogens, although promising, ended with questions still unanswered because of varying, in some cases skeptical, methodology and insufficient adherence to a double-blind, placebo-controlled design. Interest is again emerging, especially with the recent patenting in the United States of ibogaine for its apparent anti-craving properties. A...