Research indicates that first‐episode psychosis (FEP) with cannabis use disorder (CUD) carries a substantial disease burden, but more granular clinical trajectories of cannabis‐related psychoses remain unclear. This study examines the clinical trajectories of first clinically diagnosed FEP&CUD and cannabis‐induced psychosis (CIP) in comparison with FEP without substance use disorder (SUD).
ABSTRACT Introduction Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder resulting from exposure to traumatic events. Evidence suggests that ketamine may be efficacious in treating PTSD, however, ketamine's mechanisms in treating PTSD remain unclear. Herein, this review aims to evaluate the clinical outcomes of ketamine treatment in persons with PTSD and investigate the possible...
Childhood trauma is a well‐established risk factor for major depressive disorder (MDD) and is often associated with attenuated response to conventional antidepressant therapies. Ketamine has emerged as an effective treatment for treatment‐resistant depression (TRD), but the impact of childhood trauma on its effectiveness remains unclear. Herein, we aimed to determine whether childhood trauma...
ABSTRACT Introduction There is growing interest in the use of psychedelic‐assisted therapy (PAT) for major depressive disorder (MDD), including treatment‐resistant depression. We used randomized controlled trial (RCT) data to compare summary estimates of change in depression ratings with PAT versus comparator treatments in MDD. We also compared response and remission rates, and adverse effects....
It is almost axiomatic with most drugs and for most disorders in psychiatry that whatever elicits response and remission during the acute phase of illness will prevent relapse and recurrence of illness during the maintenance phase of treatment. Logically, this principle should apply to ketamine, as well, when the drug is used for patients with depression; thus, at the very least, the treatment,...
Depressive disorders represent a significant economic and health burden globally. This is particularly evident in treatment-resistant depression (TRD), commonly defined as the absence of a satisfactory response to at least two different antidepressant trials (as defined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration/FDA and European Medicine Agencies/EMA). The foregoing TRD cases frequently manifest...
INTRODUCTION: While evidence strongly supports a causal effect of cannabis on psychosis, it is less clear whether the symptom pattern, clinical course, and outcomes differ in cases of schizophrenia with and without a background of cannabis use. METHODS: Analysis of medical records from a longitudinal follow-up of Swedish conscripts with data on cannabis use in adolescence and subsequent...
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...
Background: We report the psychometric properties of the Patient-Reported Impact of Symptoms in Schizophrenia Scale (PRISS), which assesses the impact of subjective experiences or qualia in outpatients with this condition. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 162 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia in Spain. The PRISS measures the presence, frequency, concern and interference...
Abstract Objective To conduct a systematic review of modern‐era (post‐millennium) clinical studies assessing the therapeutic effects of serotonergic psychedelics drugs for mental health conditions. Although the main focus was on efficacy and safety, study characteristics, duration of antidepressants effects across studies, and the role of the subjective drug experiences were also reviewed and...
To perform a network meta‐analysis (NMA) to compare the long‐term effectiveness of mindfulness‐based cognitive therapy (MBCT) with available strategies for prevention and time to depressive relapse.
Meditation techniques are widely used as therapy and wellbeing practices, but there are growing concerns about its potential for harm. The aim of the present study is to systematically review meditation adverse events (MAEs), investigating its major clinical categories and its prevalence.
OBJECTIVE: Ketamine's effects on different dimensions of depressive symptomatology, including typical/melancholic and atypical depression, remain largely unknown. This study examined the effects of a single intravenous dose of ketamine on general depressive symptoms (measured using the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), typical/melancholic symptoms (measured using the MADRS5),...
To examine the long‐term (up to 10 years) patterns related to cannabis use in a sample of patients with first episode of psychosis (FEP) and the effect that consumption might have on clinical, functioning, and neurocognition at long‐term.
Three years ago, when I accepted a position as Director of Clinical and Translational Research at Usona Institute, a non-profit medical research organization pursuing a new drug indication for the psychedelic medicine psilocybin, many of my colleagues in mental health research looked at me like I had two heads. A year later, many of these same colleagues were beginning to ask me how they could...
Objective To explore whether psilocybin with psychological support modulates personality parameters in patients suffering from treatment‐resistant depression (TRD). Method Twenty patients with moderate or severe, unipolar, TRD received oral psilocybin (10 and 25 mg, one week apart) in a supportive setting. Personality was assessed at baseline and at 3‐month follow‐up using the Revised NEO...
Objective It has been proposed that the thalamocortical system is an important site of action of hallucinogenic drugs and an essential component of the neural correlates of consciousness. Hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD can be used to induce profoundly altered states of consciousness, and it is thus of interest to test the effects of these drugs on this system. Method 100 μg LSD was...
We aimed to assess whether individuals at ultra high risk (UHR) for psychosis have higher rates of cannabis use and cannabis use disorders (CUDs) than non‐UHR individuals and determine whether UHR cannabis users have more severe psychotic experiences than non‐users.
This pilot study assessed the feasibility, efficacy and safety of an individual dose‐titration approach, and of the intravenous (IV), intramuscular (IM) and subcutaneous (SC) routes for treating depression with ketamine.
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are core features of psychotic illness and remain significant in predicting poor outcome and risk. There has been a wide range of approaches to understanding these experiences. A systematic literature review summarizing different methods of investigation and their results; phenomenology, descriptive psychopathology, psychological, cognitive neurobiology,...
OBJECTIVE: Childhood auditory vocal hallucinations (AVH) are mostly transient but may predict clinical outcomes. Little is known about their course over time and associations with risk factors, and how this may inform early intervention. Our objective was to assess the 11-year course of AVH, associated psychopathology and risk factors. METHOD: A 5-year (T1) and 11-year (T2) follow-up of a...
OBJECTIVE: Cannabis use has been examined as a predictor of psychosis in clinical high-risk (CHR) samples, but little is known about the impact of other substances on this relationship. METHOD: Substance use was assessed in a large sample of CHR participants (N = 370, mean age = 18.3) enrolled in the multisite North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study Phase 1 project. Three hundred and...
The endocannabinoid (EC) system is widely distributed throughout the brain and modulates many functions. It is involved in mood and related disorders, and its activity may be modified by exogenous cannabinoids. This article examines the therapeutic potential of cannabinoids in psychiatric disorders. An overview is presented of the literature focussed on the functions of the EC system, its...
Dragt S, Nieman DH, Schultze‐Lutter F, van der Meer F, Becker H, de Haan L, Dingemans PM, Birchwood M, Patterson P, Salokangas RKR, Heinimaa M, Heinz A, Juckel G, Graf von Reventlow H, French P, Stevens H, Ruhrmann S, Klosterkötter J, Linszen DH, on behalf of the EPOS group. Cannabis use and age at onset of symptoms in subjects at clinical high risk for psychosis. Objective: Numerous studies...
To investigate the relationship between cannabis use and mental health. A cross-sectional analysis in a sample of 17 698 individuals with a mean age of 22 years (SD: 4.2). Participants provided information on the amount and initial age of cannabis use and history of psychiatric hospitalizations through a web-based questionnaire. To quantify Δ(9) -tetrahydrocannabinol exposure, we...