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Richard J. Zeifman

Toronto Metropolitan University, Imperial College London

37 papers in the library · 1,092 citations · publishing 2019-2026

Papers

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How does psilocybin therapy work? An exploration of experiential avoidance as a putative mechanism of change.

Journal of Affective Disorders August 1, 2023 Richard J. Zeifman, Anne C Wagner, Candice M Monson et al. 56 citations

Psilocybin therapy is receiving attention as a mental health intervention with transdiagnostic potential. In line with psychotherapeutic research, qualitative research has highlighted the role of reductions in experiential avoidance (and increases in connectedness) within psilocybin therapy. However, no quantitative research has examined experiential avoidance as a mechanism underlying...

Canalization and plasticity in psychopathology

Neuropharmacology December 27, 2022 Robin Carhart-Harris, Shamil Chandaria, David Erritzøe et al. 106 citations

This theoretical article revives a classical bridging construct, canalization, to describe a new model of a general factor of psychopathology. To achieve this, we have distinguished between two types of plasticity, an early one that we call 'TEMP' for 'Temperature or Entropy Mediated Plasticity', and another, we call 'canalization', which is close to Hebbian plasticity. These two forms of...

MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder.

Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing) October 1, 2022 Jenna M Traynor, Daniel E. Roberts, Stephen Ross et al. 14 citations

Borderline personality disorder is a complex psychiatric disorder with limited treatment options that are associated with large heterogeneity in treatment response and high rates of dropout. New or complementary treatments for borderline personality disorder are needed that may be able to bolster treatment outcomes. In this review, the authors comment on the plausibility for research on...

From Relaxed Beliefs Under Psychedelics (REBUS) to Revised Beliefs After Psychedelics (REBAS): Preliminary Development of the RElaxed Beliefs Questionnaire (REB-Q)

July 7, 2022 Richard J. Zeifman, Meg J. Spriggs, Hannes Kettner et al. 13 citations preprint

Background: The Relaxed Beliefs Under pSychedelics (REBUS) model proposes that serotonergic psychedelics decrease the precision weighting of neurobiologically-encoded beliefs, and offers a unified account of the acute and therapeutic action of psychedelics. Although REBUS has received some neuroscientific support, little research has examined its psychological validity. We conducted a...

Corrigendum to “Decreases in Suicidality Following Psychedelic Therapy

The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry May 9, 2022 Richard J. Zeifman, Dengdeng Yu, Nikhita Singhal et al. 2 citations correction

To the Editor: Our group recently published in JCP the first meta-analysis of patient-level data on the effects of psychedelics on suicidality. 1 While not described in our article, it is noteworthy that 2 suicidality-related events that had been deemed not attributable to the administration of a psychedelic (by the authors of the primary outcome studies) occurred within the studies included in...

Prospective examination of the therapeutic role of psychological flexibility and cognitive reappraisal in the ceremonial use of ayahuasca

Journal of Psychopharmacology March 1, 2022 Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, Richard J. Zeifman, Jason B. Luoma et al. 51 citations

Background: Evidence suggests that psychedelic-assisted therapy carries transdiagnostic efficacy in the treatment of mental health conditions characterized by low mood and the use of avoidance coping strategies. Aims: While preliminary evidence suggests that psychological flexibility and emotion regulation processes play an important role within psychedelic therapy, this prospective study...

Decreases in Suicidality Following Psychedelic Therapy

The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry January 13, 2022 Richard J. Zeifman, Dengdeng Yu, Nikhita Singhal et al. 18 citations

Objective: Suicide is a global health concern, and innovative interventions that target suicidality are needed. While psychedelic therapy shows promise for a range of mental health concerns, including suicidality, not all psychedelic therapy trials have published their suicidality results and no meta-analysis has been published on the topic. Therefore, we completed the first meta-analysis of...

Acute and Sustained Reductions in Loss of Meaning and Suicidal Ideation Following Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy for Psychiatric and Existential Distress in Life-Threatening Cancer

ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science March 18, 2021 Stephen Ross, Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, Sharon L. Lo et al. 133 citations

People with advanced cancer are at heightened risk of desire for hastened death (DHD), suicidal ideation (SI), and completed suicide. Loss of Meaning (LoM), a component of demoralization, can be elevated by a cancer diagnosis and predicts DHD and SI in this population. We completed a randomized controlled trial in which psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) produced rapid and sustained...

On the Relationship between Classic Psychedelics and Suicidality: A Systematic Review

ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science March 11, 2021 Richard J. Zeifman, Nikhita Singhal, Leah Breslow et al. 60 citations

Use of classic psychedelics (e.g., psilocybin, ayahuasca, and lysergic acid diethylamide) is increasing, and psychedelic therapy is receiving growing attention as a novel mental health intervention. Suicidality remains a potential safety concern associated with classic psychedelics and is, concurrently, a mental health concern that psychedelic therapy may show promise in targeting. Accordingly,...

Rapid and sustained decreases in suicidality following a single dose of ayahuasca among individuals with recurrent major depressive disorder: results from an open-label trial.

Psychopharmacology February 1, 2021 Richard J. Zeifman, Nikhita Singhal, Rafael G. Dos Santos et al. 79 citations

Suicidality is a major public health concern with limited treatment options. Accordingly, there is a need for innovative interventions for suicidality. Preliminary evidence indicates that treatment with the psychedelic ayahuasca may lead to decreases in depressive symptoms among individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, there remains limited understanding of whether ayahuasca...

Post-Psychedelic Reductions in Experiential Avoidance Are Associated With Decreases in Depression Severity and Suicidal Ideation

Frontiers in Psychiatry August 7, 2020 Richard J. Zeifman, Anne Catherine Wagner, Ros Watts et al. 104 citations

Psychedelic therapy shows promise as a novel intervention for a wide range of mental health concerns but its therapeutic action is incompletely understood. In line with acceptance and commitment therapy's (ACT's) transdiagnostic model, qualitative research has suggested that reductions in experiential avoidance are an important component of therapeutic outcomes associated with psychedelics....

The Impact of Ayahuasca on Suicidality: Results From a Randomized Controlled Trial

Frontiers in Pharmacology November 19, 2019 Richard J. Zeifman, Fernanda Palhano-Fontes, Jaime E. C. Hallak et al. 79 citations

Suicide is a major public health problem. Given increasing suicide rates and limitations surrounding current interventions, there is an urgent need for innovative interventions for suicidality. Although ayahuasca has been shown to target mental health concerns associated with suicidality (i.e., depression and hopelessness), research has not yet explored the impact of ayahuasca on suicidality....