The global COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent transition to an endemic phase has highly increased psychosocial distress among healthcare workers. This chronic stress may culminate into burnout, which has been associated with impaired patient care and increased medical errors. Exposure to nature-based programs have been shown to reduce levels of perceived stress and promote well-being....
Abstract Background Depression is common in patients with cancer and is associated with lower treatment adherence and reduced quality of life. Antidepressants and psychotherapy have limited success in improving depression among patients with cancer. This study explored the safety, feasibility, and efficacy of psilocybin‐assisted therapy in patients with cancer and major depressive disorder....
BACKGROUND: Improvement of psychosocial-spiritual well-being in patients with life-threatening or life-limiting illness is desirable. Resilience and mindfulness are considered to be helpful for enhancing psychosocial-spiritual well-being. Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to promote resilience to stress and enhance well-being. However, in medical patients, evidence for the...
While psychedelics have been shown to improve psycho-spiritual well-being, the underlying elements of this change are not well-characterized. The NIH-HEALS posits that psycho-social-spiritual change occurs through the factors of Connection, Reflection & Introspection, and Trust & Acceptance. This study aimed to evaluate the changes in NIH-HEALS scores in a cancer population with major...
Identifying clinical correlates associated with reduced suicidal ideation may highlight new avenues for the treatment of suicidal thoughts. Anhedonia occurs across psychiatric diagnoses and has been associated with specific neural circuits in response to rapid-acting treatments, such as ketamine. This analysis sought to evaluate whether reductions in suicidal ideation after ketamine...
Anhedonia--which is defined as diminished pleasure from, or interest in, previously rewarding activities-is one of two cardinal symptoms of a major depressive episode. However, evidence suggests that standard treatments for depression do little to alleviate the symptoms of anhedonia and may cause reward blunting. Indeed, no therapeutics are currently approved for the treatment of anhedonia....
OBJECTIVE: Suicidal ideation is a medical emergency, especially when severe. Little research has been done on pharmacologic interventions that could address this problem. Ketamine, an N-methyl-D-asparate antagonist, has been reported to have antidepressant effects within hours. We examined the effects of a single dose of ketamine on suicidal ideation in subjects with treatment-resistant major...
CONTEXT: Existing therapies for major depression have a lag of onset of action of several weeks, resulting in considerable morbidity. Exploring pharmacological strategies that have rapid onset of antidepressant effects within a few days and that are sustained would have an enormous impact on patient care. Converging lines of evidence suggest the role of the glutamatergic system in the...