Psychopharmacology
July 1, 2026
Sarah Ann Smith, Haseeb Mohammad, Lik Hang N Lee et al.
Interest in psychedelic drugs has increased rapidly because of their potential therapeutic role in psychiatric disorders. Impairments in the sociocognitive skills needed to build and maintain social relationships are prominent features of many psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Emerging evidence suggests that compounds such as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), lysergic acid...
BJPsych Open
September 12, 2025
Karim S Ladha, Jiwon Lee, Gabriella Mattina et al.
Nitrous oxide may possess antidepressant effects; however, limited data exist on repeated administrations and active placebo-controlled studies in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). We aimed to test the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial examining a 4-week course of nitrous oxide or midazolam, an active placebo. In this randomised, active, placebo-controlled pilot trial, 40...
Psychedelic Medicine
June 1, 2024
Ryan Yermus, John Bottos, Nathan Bryson et al.
13 citations
Ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) is an emerging treatment option to alleviate treatment-resistant affective disorders, but its long-term effectiveness remains unclear. To examine the treatment effects of KAP on anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at 1, 3, and 6 months post-treatment. This retrospective effectiveness study included self-reported outcomes from...
Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology
April 1, 2023
Brett Melanson, Michael Wolter, Zion Leatham et al.
This study was designed to explore the clinical belief that "set and setting" play an important role in favorable responses to psychedelic agents such as ketamine (KET). In fact, there is evidence in animals that the antidepressant effect of this drug may involve drug-environment interactions in which a context paired with its effects acquires the ability to influence behavior. Therefore, it...
medRxiv
January 17, 2023
Ryan Yermus, Michael Verbora, Sidney H. Kennedy et al.
2 citations
preprint
Abstract IMPORTANCE Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) is an emerging treatment option to alleviate treatment resistant affective disorders, but its long term effectiveness remains unclear. OBJECTIVE To examine the treatment effects of KAP on anxiety, depression, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at 1, 3, and 6 months post treatment. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This...
The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
August 17, 2022
Joshua D. Rosenblat, Muhammad Ishrat Husain, Yena Lee et al.
58 citations
Objective Serotonergic psychedelics are re-emerging as potential novel treatments for several psychiatric disorders including major depressive disorder. The Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) convened a task force to review the evidence and provide a consensus recommendation for the clinical use of psychedelic treatments for major depressive disorder. Methods A systematic...
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
August 1, 2022
Helen Liu, Jaimie Kerzner, Ilya Demchenko et al.
To systematically review published research studies and ongoing clinical trials investigating nitrous oxide (N2 O) in psychiatric disorders, providing an up-to-date snapshot of the clinical research landscape. A comprehensive literature search was conducted for studies published until June 2021 using the OVID databases (MEDLINE, Embase, APA PsycInfo) and the clinical trial registries...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
May 26, 2022
Ilya Demchenko, Vanessa K Tassone, Sidney H. Kennedy et al.
31 citations
Conventional monoamine-based pharmacotherapy, considered the first-line treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), has several challenges, including high rates of non-response. To address these challenges, preclinical and clinical studies have sought to characterize antidepressant response through monoamine-independent mechanisms. One striking example is glutamate, the brain's foremost...
The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
November 11, 2020
Jennifer Swainson, Alexander McGirr, Pierre Blier et al.
109 citations
OBJECTIVE: -methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, has demonstrated rapid antidepressant effects in patients with TRD. The Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) convened a task force to review the evidence for efficacy and safety of racemic ketamine and to provide recommendations for its use in clinical practice. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted with...
BMC Psychiatry
June 2, 2020
J. Phillips, N. Jaworska, Elizabeth Kamler et al.
22 citations
Background Recent evidence underscores the utility of rapid-acting antidepressant interventions, such as ketamine, in alleviating symptoms of major depressive episodes (MDE). However, to date, there have been limited head-to-head comparisons of intravenous (IV) ketamine infusions with other antidepressant treatment strategies in large randomized trials. This study protocol describes an ongoing...
Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology
August 2017
Maryam I Al Shirawi, Sidney H. Kennedy, Keith T. Ho et al.
The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness, tolerability, and safety of oral ketamine as an antidepressant treatment in adults with treatment-resistant depression. We reviewed retrospective data on 22 patients with treatment-resistant depression, who failed at least 3 adequate antidepressant treatment trials and 1 adequate trial of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation;...
Brain Connectivity
December 5, 2016
Lauren Mak, Luciano Minuzzi, Glenda Macqueen et al.
354 citations
When the brain is not engaged in goal-directed activities and at rest, there are still measureable patterns of activity. One resting-state network, the default mode network (DMN) is responsible for a self-referential introspective state. There are many factors that influence normal changes in brain activity. The purpose of this review is to summarize differences in DMN functional connectivity...
BJPsych Open
May 1, 2016
Gin S. Malhi, Yulisha Byrow, Frederick Cassidy et al.
31 citations
SUMMARY: The appeal of ketamine - in promptly ameliorating depressive symptoms even in those with non-response - has led to a dramatic increase in its off-label use. Initial promising results await robust corroboration and key questions remain, particularly concerning its long-term administration. It is, therefore, timely to review the opinions of mood disorder experts worldwide pertaining to...