Journal of Behavioral Addictions
March 26, 2024
Pedro Romero, Andrea Czakó, Wim van den Brink et al.
7 citations
Abstract Gambling disorder is a severe mental health and behavioural problem with harmful consequences, including financial, relationship and mental health problems. The present paper initiates discussion on the use of psychedelics combined with psychotherapeutic support as a potential treatment option for people living with a gambling disorder. Recent studies have shown promising results using...
Scientific Reports
February 5, 2024
Alistair Niemeijer, Erwin Krediet, Jeanine Kamphuis et al.
50 citations
Abstract Psilocybin is the most researched classic psychedelic for Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD). While optimizing set and setting are considered essential for efficacy and safety, patient perspectives on these aspects have rarely been investigated. To address this knowledge gap, the current paper explored the experiences of 11 TRD patients (8 women, 3 men) participating in a...
Psychopharmacology
July 1, 2023
Joost J. Breeksema, Alistair Niemeijer, Bouwe Kuin et al.
26 citations
Ketamine and its enantiomers are widely researched and increasingly used to treat mental disorders, especially treatment-resistant depression. The phenomenology of ketamine-induced experiences and their relation to its psychotherapeutic potential have not yet been systematically investigated. To describe the phenomenology of patient experiences during oral esketamine treatment for...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 26, 2022
Joost J. Breeksema, Bouwe Kuin, Jeanine Kamphuis et al.
171 citations
Introduction: Small-scale clinical studies with psychedelic drugs have shown promising results for the treatment of several mental disorders. Before psychedelics become registered medicines, it is important to know the full range of adverse events (AEs) for making balanced treatment decisions. Objective: To systematically review the presence of AEs during and after administration of...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 1, 2022
Jan Van Amsterdam, Wim van den Brink
Background: Nitrous oxide (N 2 O) is a frequently used anaesthetic. Since the year 2000, recreational use of N 2 O, also known as ‘laughing gas’, became popular as a recreational drug due to its mild psychedelic effect. In the 1980s, several reports warned against N 2 O-induced reproductive risks among healthcare personnel, questioning the occupational safety of N 2 O in health care. Methods:...
Expert Opinion on Drug Safety
February 26, 2022
Jan Van Amsterdam, Wim van den Brink
74 citations
Psilocybin - mostly combined with psychotherapy or psychotherapeutic support - shows a promise as a treatment for various (treatment-resistant) mental disorders. Larger double-blind RCTs with objective (long-term) outcomes are needed to confirm these findings before standard clinical use of psilocybin can be considered.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
2022
Joost J. Breeksema, Alistair Niemeijer, Bouwe Kuin et al.
41 citations
Ketamine and its enantiomer esketamine represent promising new treatments for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Esketamine induces acute, transient psychoactive effects. How patients perceive esketamine treatment, and which conditions facilitate optimal outcomes, remains poorly understood. Understanding patient perspectives on these phenomena is important to identify unmet needs, which can...
Drug Science, Policy and Law
2022
Plinio Ferreira, Adam Winstock, Anne Katrin Schlag et al.
9 citations
The recent surge in recreational (non-medical) use of nitrous oxide (N 2 O, also known as ‘laughing gas’) often by inhaling it from balloons, has attracted the attention of some politicians with calls to control its possession under the United Kingdom (UK) Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (currently selling, but not possession, for recreational use is controlled under the Psychoactive Substances Act...
Psychopharmacology
2022
Nina Schimmers, Joost J. Breeksema, Sanne Y Smith-Apeldoorn et al.
Terminally ill patients may experience existential distress, depression, or anxiety, limiting quality of life in the final stage. Existing psychotherapeutic or pharmacological interventions have (time) limited efficacy. Psychedelic treatment may be a safe and effective alternative treatment option. Systematically review studies on psychedelic treatment with and without psychotherapy for...
Neurotoxicity Research
December 2021
Jan Van Amsterdam, Tibor M Brunt, Mimi Pierce et al.
Although MDMA (ecstasy) is a relatively safe recreational drug and is currently considered for therapeutic use for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD), recreational MDMA use occasionally elicits hyperthermia and hyponatremia, sometimes with a fatal outcome. Specific risk factors for both adverse effects are profuse sweating while vigorously...
Expert Opinion on Drug Safety
June 26, 2021
Jan Van Amsterdam, Wim van den Brink
42 citations
BACKGROUNDS: Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that is currently considered for several new indications. AIM: To deduce the safety of long-term ketamine treatment using the harm of heavy recreational (non-medical) ketamine use as a proxy for maximal possible harm of ketamine treatment. METHODS: Systematic literature review according to PRISMA guidelines to identify controlled studies on...
Drugs Education Prevention and Policy
September 10, 2020
Jan Van Amsterdam, Johannes G. Ramaekers, Ton Nabben et al.
4 citations
Introduction Ecstasy (MDMA) is a popular recreational drug, but its illegal production and trade in the Netherlands have developed into a serious public order and ecological problem which endanger and question the harm reduction approach of the Dutch ecstasy policy.Methods The market characteristics, adverse health effects, risk profile, and link to criminal activity of ecstasy were...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
March 2018
Regi Schipper, Mathilde Dekker, Lieuwe de Haan et al.
Cannabis use disorders are frequently comorbid in patients with a psychotic disorder and are associated with worse outcomes. To date there are no proven effective strategies to achieve cannabis abstinence in this population. An alternative for abstinence might be harm reduction, i.e. replacing the use of street cannabis with high tetrahydrocannabinol and low cannabidiol levels by medicinal...
Psychopharmacology
April 2012
Tibor M Brunt, Maarten W Koeter, Raymond J.m. Niesink et al.
Most studies on the subjective effects of ecstasy are based on the assumption that the substance that was taken is 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). However, many tablets sold as ecstasy contain other substances and MDMA in varying doses. So far, few attempts have been made to take this into account while assessing subjective effects. This study aims to link the pharmacological content...
International Journal of Drug Policy
March 2012
Tibor M Brunt, Raymond J.m. Niesink, Wim van den Brink
A recent decline in MDMA-like substances in ecstasy tablets has been reported by a number of countries in the European Union. This study describes the instability of the ecstasy market in The Netherlands during 2008 and 2009, and investigates whether this had any impact on drug testing or patterns of drug use. The health concerns of drug users handing in drug samples at drug testing facilities...
Regulatory toxicology and pharmacology : RTP
April 1, 2011
Jan Van Amsterdam, Antoon Opperhuizen, Wim van den Brink
208 citations
In 2007, the Minister of Health of the Netherlands requested the CAM (Coordination point Assessment and Monitoring new drugs) to assess the overall risk of magic mushrooms. The present paper is an updated redraft of the review, written to support the assessment by CAM experts. It summarizes the literature on physical or psychological dependence, acute and chronic toxicity, risk for public...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
September 8, 2010
Tibor M Brunt, Anneke Poortman, Raymond J.m. Niesink et al.
217 citations
Recently, several reports have indicated instability of the ecstasy market in the Netherlands and other EU countries. In the current study, we demonstrate this instability in the Netherlands, showing a decrease of ecstasy tablets containing 3,4-methylenedioxymetamphetamine (MDMA) by more than 50% in 2009. In addition, we describe a partial replacement of MDMA in tablets sold as ecstasy by a...
Psychopharmacology
April 2009
Thelma Schilt, Anneke E. Goudriaan, Maarten W Koeter et al.
Ecstasy (+/-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is a widely used recreational drug that may damage the serotonin system and may entail neuropsychological dysfunctions. Few studies investigated predictors for ecstasy use. Self-reported impulsivity does not predict the initiation of ecstasy use; the question is if neuropsychological indicators of impulsivity can predict first ecstasy use. This...
Psychopharmacology
August 2007
Gerry Jager, Maartje M. L. de Win, Hylke K E Vervaeke et al.
Heavy ecstasy use in humans has been associated with cognitive impairments and changes in cognitive brain function supposedly due to damage to the serotonin system. There is concern that even a single dose of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine may be neurotoxic, but very little is known about the consequences of a low dose of ecstasy for cognitive brain function. The objective of the study was...
Addictive Behaviors
August 2007
Hylke K E Vervaeke, Dirk J Korf, Annemieke Benschop et al.
This article documents the design and the sampling procedures of a prospective longitudinal multidisciplinary study on the neurotoxicity of ecstasy (MDMA): the Netherlands XTC Toxicity Study (NeXT). Targeted and snowball sampling was used to recruit 188 respondents who were ecstasy-naive at baseline. All respondents completed baseline questionnaires and underwent medical and neuropsychological...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
March 1, 2006
Liesbeth Reneman, Maartje M. L. de Win, Wim van den Brink et al.
85 citations
Users of ecstasy (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine; MDMA) may be at risk of developing MDMA-induced injury to the serotonin (5-HT) system. Previously, there were no methods available for directly evaluating the neurotoxic effects of MDMA in the living human brain. However, development of in vivoneuroimaging tools have begun to provide insights into the effects of ecstasy on the human brain....
Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental
December 1, 2001
Liesbeth Reneman, Jan Booij, Charles B.l.m. Majoie et al.
50 citations
Abstract Human users of 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ‘Ecstasy’) users may be at risk of developing MDMA‐induced neuronal injury. Previously, no methods were available for directly evaluating the neurotoxic effects of MDMA in the living human brain. However, development of in vivo neuroimaging tools has begun to provide insights into the effects of MDMA in the human brain. In this...
Archives of General Psychiatry
October 1, 2001
Liesbeth Reneman, Jules Lavalaye, Ben Schmand et al.
192 citations
The present study suggests that, while the neurotoxic effects of MDMA on 5-HT neurons in the human cortex may be reversible, the effects of MDMA on memory function may be long-lasting.