Pharmacopsychiatry
July 7, 2026
Kie Nomoto, Yohei Ohtani, Taisuke Yatomi et al.
Introduction: While the rapid and robust effects of ketamine on depressive symptoms in treatment-resistant depression (TRD) have been demonstrated, the influence of ketamine treatment on cognitive function has not yet been fully elucidated. We aimed to evaluate the effects of ketamine treatment on cognitive function as part of a study that investigated the efficacy of repeated ketamine...
Pharmacopsychiatry
February 26, 2026
Ping-Chung Wu, Wei-Chen Lin, Tung-Ping Su et al.
As accumulating evidence suggests the antisuicidal properties of ketamine, elucidating its underlying mechanisms and predictors of treatment response has become crucial. Whether a combination of clinical markers can enhance the prediction of the antisuicidal response to ketamine remains unclear.Using data from our previous randomized placebo-controlled and open-label trials, this post hoc...
Pharmacopsychiatry
February 5, 2026
Tianyi Xu, Sabrina Wong, Gia Han Le et al.
Serotonergic psychedelics, such as lysergic acid diethylamide, and psilocybin, and the entactogen 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine exhibit agonist activity at the 5-hydroxytryptamine 2B receptor, a signalling pathway known to mechanistically mediate drug-induced valvular heart disease. This systematic review evaluates whether chronic or repeated use of psychedelics and...
Pharmacopsychiatry
June 2, 2025
Ludovic C Dormegny-Jeanjean, Suzie Lenoir, Ilia Humbert et al.
1 citation
Ketamine and esketamine (ESK) offer new treatment options for resistant depression. Unlike traditional antidepressants, they can be used in combination with non-selective monoamine oxidase inhibitors (NS-MAOI) without the risk of serotonergic syndrome. However, potential sympathomimetic synergy may lead to elevated blood pressure (BP). This series investigates whether cardiovascular parameters...
Pharmacopsychiatry
April 17, 2025
Aleksander Kwaśny, Zuzanna Gaca, Damian Swieczkowski et al.
2 citations
Abstract Regulatory compliance is crucial in the clinical development of psychedelic substances, including psilocybin. This study aimed to examine the alignment of clinical trial protocols for psilocybin in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) and treatment-resistant depression (TRD) with established regulatory requirements. A cross-sectional investigation was conducted on...
Pharmacopsychiatry
December 20, 2024
Mu-Hong Chen, Tung-Ping Su, Wei-Chen Lin et al.
1 citation
Low-grade inflammation (LGI) contributes to resistance against traditional antidepressants. However, whether the antidepressant and antisuicidal effects of ketamine on patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) differ between those with LGI and those without LGI remains unknown.This study included 167 patients with TRD, among whom 46 had LGI and 121 did not have LGI. The patients...
Pharmacopsychiatry
July 30, 2023
Kengo Yonezawa, Hiroyuki Uchida, Taisuke Yatomi et al.
8 citations
Abstract Introduction Predictors of treatment response to intravenous ketamine remain unclear in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD); therefore, this study aimed to clarify these predictors using the US National Institutes of Health database of clinical trials. Methods Data from a placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized controlled trial were used to assess the efficacy of...
Pharmacopsychiatry
January 25, 2022
John W Smallridge, Franz X. Vollenweider
107 citations
Abstract Renewed interest in the effects of psychedelics in the treatment of psychiatric disorders warrants a better understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the effects of these substances. During the past two decades, state-of-the-art studies of animals and humans have yielded new important insights into the molecular, cellular, and systems-level actions of psychedelic...
Pharmacopsychiatry
January 19, 2022
Hitoshi Sakurai, Kengo Yonezawa, Hideaki Tani et al.
35 citations
Abstract Introduction There is an imminent need for faster-acting and more effective antidepressants beyond the monoaminergic hypothesis. Methods We systematically searched the US Clinical Trials registry for antidepressant compounds with completed phase II and III trials. Compounds that demonstrated significant superiority over placebo in the primary outcome measure in the latest phase of...
Pharmacopsychiatry
August 4, 2021
Sandeep M. Nayak, Natalie Gukasyan, Frederick S. Barrett et al.
67 citations
Abstract Introduction Psychedelics show promise in treating unipolar depression, though patients with bipolar disorder have been excluded from recent psychedelic trials. There is limited information on the use of classic psychedelics (e. g., LSD or psilocybin) in individuals using mood stabilizers to treat bipolar disorder. This is important to know, as individuals with bipolar depression may...
Pharmacopsychiatry
July 1, 2021
Sandeep M. Nayak, Matthew W Johnson
66 citations
Psychedelics have shown great promise in modern clinical trials for treating various psychiatric conditions. As a transdiagnostic treatment that exerts its effects through subjective experiences that leave enduring effects, it is akin to psychotherapy. To date, there has been insufficient discussion of how psychedelic therapy is similar to and different from conventional psychotherapy. In this...
Pharmacopsychiatry
June 24, 2021
Gerhard Gründer
9 citations
The renaissance of psychedelics has accelerated further over the past year. At least that’s true if you follow the public press. The New York Times recently titled “The Psychedelic Revolution Is Coming. Psychiatry May Never Be the Same.” on its front page 1.
Pharmacopsychiatry
May 12, 2021
Gerhard Gründer, Henrik Jungaberle
32 citations
Abstract Serotonergic psychedelics such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), or dimethyltryptamine (DMT), as well as psychoactive drugs that trigger phenomenologically- related experiences like 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and ketamine, belong to the most promising treatment approaches in contemporary psychiatry. Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is not only a new...
Pharmacopsychiatry
January 20, 2021
Lea J. Mertens, Katrin H. Preller
63 citations
Abstract Classical psychedelics, primarily psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), have been used and extensively studied in Western medicine as part of substance-assisted psychotherapy in the 1950s and 1960s. Modern clinical research is currently gaining momentum and provides new evidence for the safety and efficacy of classical psychedelics (primarily psilocybin, but also LSD and...
Pharmacopsychiatry
December 7, 2020
David E. Nichols, Hannes Walter
131 citations
Abstract Initial interest in the value of psychedelic drugs (“psychotomimetics”) in psychiatry began in the early 20th century, with explorations of the possibility that mescaline or peyote could produce psychosis-like effects. Over time, interest was focused on whether the effects of psychedelics could inform as to the underlying basis for psychiatric disorders. As research continued, and...
Pharmacopsychiatry
April 25, 2017
Norbert Scherbaum, Fabrizio Schifano, Udo Bonnet
46 citations
Over the last few years, hundreds of new psychoactive substances (NPS) have been identified in Europe. Apart from some herbal compounds, NPS mainly include synthetic cannabinoids and a range of new synthetic stimulants (e. g., cathinones). Synthetic NPS are often developed whilst modifying the basic chemical (e. g., phenethylamine or tryptamine) structure. Although the pharmacology and...
Pharmacopsychiatry
June 23, 2014
Nancy B. Lundin, Mark J. Niciu, David A. Luckenbaugh et al.
17 citations
INTRODUCTION: Deficiencies in both vitamin B12 and folate have been associated with depression. Recently, higher baseline vitamin B12 levels were observed in individuals with bipolar depression who responded to the antidepressant ketamine at 7 days post-infusion. This study sought to -replicate this result by correlating peripheral vitamin levels with ketamine's antidepressant efficacy in...
Pharmacopsychiatry
September 1, 2011
P Roser, IS Haussleiter, HJ Chong et al.
2 citations
Preclinical and clinical research suggests that the endogenous cannabinoid system is involved in cognitive impairments related to schizophrenia. In particular, deficient generation of mismatch negativity (MMN) indicating auditory sensory memory is a characteristic finding in schizophrenic patients. Experimental studies implicate deficient N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor functioning in such...
Pharmacopsychiatry
September 1, 2011
Milan Scheidegger, Anke Henning, Martin Walter et al.
Background: Ketamine is a potent NMDA receptor antagonist with rapid antidepressant properties at subanaesthetic doses. This multimodal imaging study reveals the effects of a subanaesthetic ketamine infusion on fMRI-BOLD responses during an emotional processing task and their relationship to glutamatergic metabolite concentrations in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (PACC) assessed by...
Pharmacopsychiatry
September 1, 2011
Simone Grimm, Milan Scheidegger, Anke Henning et al.
Ketamine is a potent glutamatergic NMDA receptor antagonist with rapid antidepressant properties, thus providing a valuable research tool for the investigation of the neurobiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). Increasing evidence underscores the role of glutamate dependent neuroplasticity and glutamatergic neurotransmission and metabolism in the pathophysiology of MDD. This multimodal...
Pharmacopsychiatry
January 2011
J M Stone, K M Abel, M P G Allin et al.
Misattribution of distorted self-generated speech in patients with schizophrenia has been associated with increased lateral temporal activation. As a pharmacological model of schizophrenia, we tested whether ketamine would induce the same effects in healthy individuals. Participants were 8 healthy male volunteers who were naïve to ketamine (mean age: 28 years). Ketamine (0.23 mg/kg bolus...
Pharmacopsychiatry
July 22, 2010
James Stone, Paul D. Morrison, Judith Nottage et al.
13 citations
We tested the hypothesis that THC disrupts self-timed actions in healthy volunteers, and that this effect is related to self-rated perceptions of time distortion. We found that THC impaired subjective time perception and reduced the rate of button pressing, although the change in the rate of button pressing was more closely related to impaired concentration and intoxication. We conclude that...
Pharmacopsychiatry
August 31, 2009
Torsten Passie
The classification of psychoactive substances (stimulants, entactogens, hallucinogens) in the frame of psychopharmacology was not worked on since the 1960s. Based on the authors empirical and theoretical research about the psychophysical correlates of waking altered states of consciousness, he lecture will present a recently developed new classification of psychoactive substances. Method: The...
Pharmacopsychiatry
November 1, 2005
Euphrosyne Gouzoulis‐mayfrank, Karsten Heekeren, Anna Neukirch et al.
198 citations
INTRODUCTION: Pharmacological challenges with hallucinogens are used as models for psychosis in experimental research. The state induced by glutamate antagonists such as phencyclidine (PCP) is often considered as a more appropriate model of psychosis than the state induced by serotonergic hallucinogens such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT)....
Pharmacopsychiatry
September 1, 2005
Euphrosyne Gouzoulis‐mayfrank, Anna Neukirch, Karsten Heekeren
2 citations
Pharmacological challenges with hallucinogens are used as models for psychosis in experimental research. The state induced by glutamate antagonists such as phencyclidine (PCP) is often considered as a more appropriate model of psychosis than the state induced by serotonergic hallucinogens such as lysergic acid (LSD), psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). However, so far, this question has...