European Journal of Psychotraumatology
December 1, 2025
Eirini Aikaterini Melegkovits, Ava J C Mason, Jordan Reid et al.
2 citations
Background: Among individuals with psychotic experiences, those with a history of developmental trauma face greater symptom severity and worse clinical outcomes compared to those without. Dissociation constitutes a prominent, characteristic of this group's clinical presentation, whose nuances and associated characteristics remain however understudied in psychosis research. We aimed to address...
Clinical Psychology Review
February 26, 2025
Eirini Aikaterini Melegkovits, Rui Tang, Olivia Pounds et al.
8 citations
Developmental trauma (DT), defined as abuse or neglect before age 18, is linked with elevated risk and poorer outcomes in psychosis. This systematic review aimed to elucidate the relationship between DT and dissociation in psychosis and discern the potential mediating role of dissociation in the link between DT and psychotic manifestations. Our study protocol was pre-registered with PROSPERO...
Psychopharmacology
February 28, 2024
Daniel L. Hall, Will Lawn, Shelan Ofori et al.
5 citations
RATIONALE: Attentional bias to drug-related stimuli is hypothesised to contribute towards addiction. However, the acute effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on attentional bias to cannabis cues, the differential response in adults and adolescents, and the moderating effect of cannabidiol (CBD) are unknown. OBJECTIVES: Our study investigated (1) the acute effects of vaporised cannabis on...
Addiction
February 8, 2023
Will Lawn, Katie Trinci, Claire Mokrysz et al.
36 citations
Abstract Background and Aims Long‐term harms of cannabis may be exacerbated in adolescence, but little is known about the acute effects of cannabis in adolescents. We aimed to (i) compare the acute effects of cannabis in adolescent and adult cannabis users and (ii) determine if cannabidiol (CBD) acutely modulates the effects of delta‐9‐tetrahydocannabinol (THC). Design Randomised, double‐blind,...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
May 20, 2022
Matthew B. Wall, Tom P. Freeman, Chandni Hindocha et al.
21 citations
Background: Cannabidiol (CBD) and Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are the two major constituents of cannabis with contrasting mechanisms of action. THC is the major psychoactive, addiction-promoting, and psychotomimetic compound, while CBD may have opposite effects. The brain effects of these drugs alone and in combination are poorly understood. In particular, the striatum is implicated in the...
American Journal of Psychiatry
January 11, 2022
Meryem Grabski, Amy Mcandrew, Will Lawn et al.
169 citations
OBJECTIVE: Early evidence suggests that ketamine may be an effective treatment to sustain abstinence from alcohol. The authors investigated the safety and efficacy of ketamine compared with placebo in increasing abstinence in patients with alcohol use disorder. An additional aim was to pilot ketamine combined with mindfulness-based relapse prevention therapy compared with ketamine and alcohol...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
November 21, 2020
Matthew B. Wall, Tom P. Freeman, Chandni Hindocha et al.
4 citations
preprint
Abstract Cannabidiol (CBD) and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are two major constituents of cannabis with contrasting mechanisms of action. THC is the major psychoactive, addiction-promoting, and psychotomimetic compound, while CBD may have somewhat opposite effects. The brain effects of these drugs alone and in combination are poorly understood. In particular the striatum is implicated in the...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 5, 2020
Will Lawn, J. P. Hill, Chandni Hindocha et al.
23 citations
BACKGROUND: Cannabidiol has potential therapeutic benefits for people with psychiatric disorders characterised by reward function impairment. There is existing evidence that cannabidiol may influence some aspects of reward processing. However, it is unknown whether cannabidiol acutely affects brain function underpinning reward anticipation and feedback. HYPOTHESES: We predicted that cannabidiol...
Psychological Medicine
April 28, 2020
Claire Mokrysz, Natacha D. C. Shaban, Tom P. Freeman et al.
24 citations
BACKGROUND: Acute cannabis administration can produce transient psychotic-like effects in healthy individuals. However, the mechanisms through which this occurs and which factors predict vulnerability remain unclear. We investigate whether cannabis inhalation leads to psychotic-like symptoms and speech illusion; and whether cannabidiol (CBD) blunts such effects (study 1) and adolescence...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
April 23, 2019
Matthew B. Wall, Rebecca Pope, Tom P. Freeman et al.
89 citations
BACKGROUND: -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). THC is the main psychoactive component; CBD may buffer the user against the harmful effects of THC. AIMS: We examined the effects of two strains of cannabis and placebo on the human brain's resting-state networks using fMRI. METHODS: Seventeen healthy volunteers (experienced with cannabis, but not regular users) underwent three drug...
Pharmacology & Therapeutics
October 20, 2018
Michael Bloomfield, Chandni Hindocha, Sebastian F Green et al.
236 citations
receptor. Acutely, cannabis and THC produce a range of effects on several neurocognitive and pharmacological systems. These include effects on executive, emotional, reward and memory processing via direct interactions with the endocannabinoid system and indirect effects on the glutamatergic, GABAergic and dopaminergic systems. Cannabidiol, a non-intoxicating cannabinoid found in some forms of...
Psychopharmacology (Berl)
November 8, 2017
R. L. Carhart-Harris, Mark Bolstridge, C. M. J. Day et al.
978 citations
RATIONALE: Recent clinical trials are reporting marked improvements in mental health outcomes with psychedelic drug-assisted psychotherapy. OBJECTIVES: Here, we report on safety and efficacy outcomes for up to 6 months in an open-label trial of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression. METHODS: Twenty patients (six females) with (mostly) severe, unipolar, treatment-resistant major...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 30, 2017
Tom P. Freeman, Rebecca Pope, Matthew B. Wall et al.
67 citations
Background: Despite the current shift towards permissive cannabis policies, few studies have investigated the pleasurable effects users seek. Here, we investigate the effects of cannabis on listening to music, a rewarding activity that frequently occurs in the context of recreational cannabis use. We additionally tested how these effects are influenced by cannabidiol, which may offset...
Psychopharmacology
September 2, 2016
Will Lawn, Tom P. Freeman, Rebecca Pope et al.
177 citations
RATIONALE: Anecdotally, both acute and chronic cannabis use have been associated with apathy, amotivation, and other reward processing deficits. To date, empirical support for these effects is limited, and no previous studies have assessed both acute effects of Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), as well as associations with cannabis dependence. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of...
Lancet Psychiatry
May 17, 2016
Robin Carhart-Harris, Mark Bolstridge, James Rucker et al.
1,546 citations
BACKGROUND: Psilocybin is a serotonin receptor agonist that occurs naturally in some mushroom species. Recent studies have assessed the therapeutic potential of psilocybin for various conditions, including end-of-life anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and smoking and alcohol dependence, with promising preliminary results. Here, we aimed to investigate the feasibility, safety, and efficacy...
Biological Psychiatry
January 10, 2014
Robin Carhart-Harris, Kevin Murphy, Robert Leech et al.
182 citations
The MTLs appear to be specifically implicated in the mechanism of action of MDMA, but further work is required to elucidate how the drug's characteristic subjective effects arise from its modulation of spontaneous brain activity.
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
December 17, 2013
Robin Carhart-Harris, Matthew B. Wall, David Erritzøe et al.
110 citations
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a potent monoamine-releaser that is widely used as a recreational drug. Preliminary work has supported the potential of MDMA in psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The neurobiological mechanisms underlying its putative efficacy are, however, poorly understood. Psychotherapy for PTSD usually requires that patients revisit traumatic...
Schizophr Bull
January 26, 2012
Oliver Howes, Paul Shotbolt, Michael Bloomfield et al.
94 citations
Dopaminergic function in the psychosis spectrum: an [18F]-DOPA imaging study in healthy individuals with auditory hallucinations.