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Allan H. Young

King's College London, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust

63 papers in the library · 4,131 citations · publishing 2013-2026

Papers

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The anterior cingulate cortex as a key locus of ketamine’s antidepressant action

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews May 10, 2021 Laith Alexander, Luke A. Jelen, Mitul A. Mehta et al. 79 citations

The subdivisions of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) - including subgenual, perigenual and dorsal zones - are implicated in the etiology, pathogenesis and treatment of major depression. We review an emerging body of evidence which suggests that changes in ACC activity are critically important in mediating the antidepressant effects of ketamine, the prototypical member of an emerging class of...

Psilocybin: From Serendipity to Credibility?

Frontiers in Psychiatry April 21, 2021 James Rucker, Allan H. Young 40 citations

Psilocybin has a long history of non-medical use and some seem to infer from this that it has therapeutic utility. Early phase clinical trials with psilocybin are encouraging, but suggest only that larger, multicentre trials are required. These are ongoing but will take many years to complete. Meanwhile, retreat centers offering paid experiences with psilocybin truffles have opened in some...

Ketamine: A tale of two enantiomers

Journal of Psychopharmacology November 6, 2020 Luke A. Jelen, Allan H. Young, James Stone 244 citations

The discovery of the rapid antidepressant effects of the dissociative anaesthetic ketamine, an uncompetitive N-Methyl-D-Aspartate receptor antagonist, is arguably the most important breakthrough in depression research in the last 50 years. Ketamine remains an off-label treatment for treatment-resistant depression with factors that limit widespread use including its dissociative effects and...

Practical recommendations for the management of treatment-resistant depression with esketamine nasal spray therapy: Basic science, evidence-based knowledge and expert guidance

The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry November 3, 2020 Siegfried Kasper, Wiesław Jerzy Cubała, Andrea Fagiolini et al. 84 citations

OBJECTIVES: -methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor antagonist, is a novel, fast-acting option in this patient population. This manuscript provides expert guidance on the practicalities of using esketamine nasal spray. METHODS: A group of six European experts in major depressive disorder (MDD) and TRD, with clinical experience of treating patients with esketamine nasal spray, first...

21 Psychedelic treatment of functional neurological disorder – a systematic review

Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry July 20, 2020 Matthew Butler, Mathieu Seynaeve, Timothy R. Nicholson et al.

Aims Functional neurological disorder (FND), formerly known as conversion disorder, causes a high burden of disability and distress, and is amongst the most commonly encountered conditions in neurology clinics and neuropsychiatry services, yet the therapeutic evidence base is limited. Research into psychedelics such as psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is currently being...

Historic psychedelic drug trials and the treatment of anxiety disorders

Depression and Anxiety July 5, 2020 N. Weston, Damian Gibbs, Catherine Bird et al. 38 citations

INTRODUCTION: In this paper, we systematically review literature from 1940 to 2000 relating to the combined use of psychological therapies and psychedelic drugs in the treatment of ICD-10 anxiety disorders. METHODS: The databases Ovid MEDLINE(R), PsycINFO, and Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) were searched for case reports and trials involving humans in the treatment...

The pharmacological interaction of compounds in ayahuasca: a systematic review

Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry July 3, 2020 Simon Ruffell, Nige Netzband, Catherine Bird et al. 43 citations

Ayahuasca is a South American psychoactive plant brew used as traditional medicine in spiritual and in cultural rituals. This is a review of the current understanding about the pharmacological mechanisms that may be interacting in ayahuasca. Searches were performed using PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases and 16 papers were selected. As hypothesized, the primary narrative in...

Relative effectiveness of augmentation treatments for treatment-resistant depression: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

International Review of Psychiatry June 5, 2020 Ben Carter, Rebecca Strawbridge, Muhammad Ishrat Husain et al. 45 citations

Most interventions for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) are added as augmenters. We aimed to determine the relative effectiveness of augmentation treatments for TRD. This systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA) sought all randomized trials of pharmacological and psychological augmentation interventions for adults meeting the most common clinical criteria for TRD. The NMA compared...

Esketamine Nasal Spray Plus Oral Antidepressant in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Depression

The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry April 20, 2020 Ewa Wajs, Leah Aluisio, Richard Holder et al. 288 citations

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate long-term safety and efficacy of esketamine nasal spray plus a new oral antidepressant (OAD) in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). METHODS: This phase 3, open-label, multicenter, long-term (up to 1 year) study was conducted between October 2015 and October 2017. Patients (≥ 18 years) with TRD (DSM-5 diagnosis of major depressive disorder and nonresponse...

Psychedelic treatment of functional neurological disorder: a systematic review

Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology 2020 Matthew Butler, Mathieu Seynaeve, Timothy R. Nicholson et al. 38 citations

Functional neurological disorder (FND), formerly known as conversion disorder, causes a high burden of disability and distress, and is amongst the most commonly encountered conditions in neurology clinics and neuropsychiatric services, yet the therapeutic evidence base is somewhat limited. There has been recent interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics such as psilocybin and...

Psychedelics in the treatment of unipolar mood disorders: a systematic review

Journal of Psychopharmacology November 18, 2016 James Rucker, Luke A. Jelen, Sarah Kalen Flynn et al. 187 citations

Unipolar mood disorders, including major depressive disorder and persistent depressive disorder (dysthymia), confer high rates of disability and mortality and a very high socioeconomic burden. Current treatment is suboptimal in most cases and there is little of note in the pharmaceutical development pipeline. The psychedelic drugs, including lysergic acid diethylamide and psilocybin, were used...

Cannabis use and first-episode psychosis: relationship with manic and psychotic symptoms, and with age at presentation

Psychological Medicine May 24, 2013 James Stone, Helen L. Fisher, Barnaby Major et al. 69 citations

BACKGROUND: Cannabis use has been reported to be associated with an earlier onset of symptoms in patients with first-episode psychosis, and a worse outcome in those who continue to take cannabis. In general, studies have concentrated on symptoms of psychosis rather than mania. In this study, using a longitudinal design in a large naturalistic cohort of patients with first-episode psychosis, we...

Randomized Placebo-Controlled Phase 2 Study of Extended-Release Ketamine Tablets (R-107) for Treatment-Resistant Depression – the BEDROC Study

Paul Glue, Colleen Loo, Johnson Fam et al. preprint

Abstract Ketamine has rapid-onset antidepressant activity in patients with treatment-resistant major depression (TRD). The safety and tolerability of racemic ketamine may be improved if given orally, as an extended release tablet (R-107), compared with other routes of administration. In this phase 2 multicentre clinical trial, adult patients with TRD and Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating...