Psychiatric News
March 31, 2021
Stanley N. Caroff
1 citation
Recently, a movement reviving psychedelic drugs has emerged among physicians, echoed by activists like Michael Pollan, who promoted psychedelics for treating a variety of conditions and for "the betterment of well people" in his latest book, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. Pollan...
Psychiatric News
March 1, 2021
Nick Zagorski
Back to table of contents Previous article Next article APA & MeetingsFull AccessSession on Psychedelics Sure to Be EnlighteningNick ZagorskiNick ZagorskiSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:2 Mar 2021https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2021.3.14AbstractLeaders in psychedelic research will discuss the therapeutic potential of psychedelic compounds in psychiatry and important...
Psychiatric News
September 29, 2020
Nicole Harrington Cirino
1 citation
Back to table of contents Previous article Next article ViewpointsFull AccessWait for the Science Before Widespread Use of PsilocybinNicole Harrington Cirino, M.D.Nicole Harrington Cirino, M.D.Published Online:28 Sep 2020https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2020.10a32AbstractThe momentum behind psilocybin as the next big "breakthrough" in treating psychiatric disorders is strong, but Oregon...
Psychiatric News
April 13, 2020
Nick Zagorski
Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical & ResearchFull AccessPsychedelics for Psychiatric Disorders: More Research NeededNick ZagorskiNick ZagorskiSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:13 Apr 2020https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2020.4a14AbstractAPA’s Work Group on Biomarkers and Novel Treatments suggests that psychedelic drug trials need more standard...
Psychiatric News
March 20, 2020
Katie O’connor
Though the field is young, psychedelics appear to hold promise as a treatment for addiction, even as barriers to research persist. Researchers around the world are investigating how drugs such as LSD, MDMA (also known as ecstasy), ketamine, and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) can treat patients with substance use disorders (SUD). Though there is still a lot to learn, early...
Psychiatric News
October 28, 2019
Nick Zagorski
1 citation
A total of $17 million in private donations to the Hopkins center is expected to provide five years of operational funding for the center’s researchers and staff. The center will also train graduate students. With the aid of $17 million in private funds, Johns Hopkins University has launched a center to explore the potential of psychedelic compounds such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and...
Psychiatric News
May 3, 2019
S. Caroff
Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Full AccessPsychedelic Medicine: Much More Study NeededStanley CaroffM.D.Stanley CaroffSearch for more papers by this authorM.D.Published Online:30 Apr 2019https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2019.5a24AbstractStanley Caroff, M.D., is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.While new-age spiritual...
Psychiatric News
May 3, 2019
P. Summergrad
Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Full AccessPsychedelic Medicine: Careful Studies, Regulations Are the AnswerPaul SummergradM.D.Paul SummergradSearch for more papers by this authorM.D.Published Online:30 Apr 2019https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2019.5a25AbstractPaul Summergrad, M.D., is the Dr. Frances S. Arkin Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and a...
Psychiatric News
February 28, 2019
Nick Zagorski
New research suggests that, if used properly, psychedelic compounds may be able to help patients with treatment-resistant psychiatric disorders. Psychedelic compounds such as LSD and magic mushrooms were the subject of a good deal of psychiatric research in the first half of the 20th century. This all changed in 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed the Controlled Substances Act, which in...
Psychiatric News
October 2, 2018
Jun Yan
After much time and investment, several new classes of antidepressants may soon be available. When ketamine was found to exert a rapid antidepressant effect by researchers at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) more than a decade ago, it sparked hope for a new generation of treatments for depressive disorders. Now, new drug candidates are finally edging toward the finish line....
Psychiatric News
September 21, 2018
Lynne Lamberg
Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical and Research NewsFull AccessSleep Specialists Assess Treatments for Nightmares in AdultsLynne LambergLynne LambergPublished Online:21 Sep 2018https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2018.8b24AbstractAn American Academy of Sleep Medicine panel evaluates behavioral, psychological, and pharmacologic options for treating nightmares in...
Psychiatric News
May 4, 2018
Mark Moran
If replication trials support these findings, safeguards will need to be established to guard against the risk of abuse while ensuring access to those patients who may benefit from esketamine. Intranasal esketamine appears to rapidly improve depression scores and measures of suicidality among depressed patients at imminent risk of suicide, according to a report published April 16 in AJP in...
Psychiatric News
April 4, 2018
Nick Zagorski
Though several promising investigational compounds that regulate glutamate signaling have faltered in recent clinical studies, upcoming data on esketamine and rapastinel may turn the tide. When the anesthetic ketamine was first shown to have strong and rapid antidepressant properties back in 2000, it triggered a wave of excitement in the psychiatric community. Studies of mood disorders have...
Psychiatric News
November 30, 2017
Richard Karel
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) holds promise to once again become a therapeutic tool. After 16 years of preliminary clinical trials, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late August gave expedited approval for multiple phase 3 trials of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) as a potential "breakthrough therapy" for treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The complex...
Psychiatric News
March 17, 2016
Nick Zagorski
Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical and Research NewsFull AccessResearch Identifies Gene Linked to Cannabis-Induced PsychosisNick ZagorskiNick ZagorskiSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:17 Mar 2016https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2016.3b53AbstractVariants in the AKT1 gene increase risk of acute psychotic symptoms, but another potential...
Psychiatric News
June 12, 2015
Aaron R. Levin
Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Association NewsFull Access‘All You Need is Love,’ Says 1960s Guru Ram DassAaron LevinAaron LevinSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:12 Jun 2015https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2015.6b15AbstractA search for deeper truths along the life course occupied the psychologist who became Ram Dass.At APA’s 2015 annual meeting in...
Psychiatric News
December 31, 2014
Joan Arehart-Treichel
The stars were already aligning in childhood for a boy who would eventually become "a rising star in the area of mood and alcohol disorders research." When Mark Niciu, M. D. , Ph. D. , was growing up, it looked as if the stage was already being set for his future career. Mark Niciu, M. D. , Ph. D. : "To be a good psychiatrist-scientist, you need to be passionate, inquisitive, and willing to...
Psychiatric News
December 16, 2011
Joan Arehart-Treichel
Even if ingesting the hallucinogen psilocybin can increase positive feelings of bliss or oneness with the universe, it is questionable whether such feelings represent authentic mystical experience or spiritual growth.
Psychiatric News
July 1, 2011
Lynne Lamberg
The Museum of Art of Latin America in Buenos Aires, the MALBA, recently mounted an exhibit of photo montages from a series titled "Los Sueños" (The Dreams). These surreal images accompanied a weekly column, "Psychoanalysis Will Help You," published in a popular women's magazine, Idilio (Idyll), from 1948 to 1951. Photojournalist Grete Stern created the montages to illustrate dream reports...
Psychiatric News
October 1, 2010
Aaron R. Levin
Ecstasy might take some of the agony out of psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), if findings from a phase 2 pilot study are any indication. Outcomes of the small, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial indicated that MDMA, better known by its street name of ecstasy, may be useful as an adjunct to psychotherapy for patients with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD....
Psychiatric News
September 17, 2010
Lynne Lamberg
Imagery rehearsal therapy that combines education about sleep and nightmares, devising pleasant imagery, rescripting target nightmares, and rehearsing new dream scenarios helps combat veterans improve sleep and reduce severity of PTSD symptoms.
Psychiatric News
May 21, 2010
Mark Moran
2 citations
Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical & Research NewsFull AccessCannabis Use, Psychosis Symptoms Show Strong LinkMark MoranMark MoranSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:21 May 2010https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.45.10.psychnews_45_10_028AbstractMarijuana use among individuals with schizophrenia is associated with more severe positive psychotic symptoms...
Psychiatric News
December 7, 2007
Mark Moran
1 citation
A newly widowed woman wanders the rooms of her now empty home hearing the voice of her dead spouse. A Gallup poll reveals that a significant percentage of people believe in the devil, black magic, the ability to foretell the future, and extrasensory perception. A patient on a psychiatric ward confides that sparrows nesting on a neighbor's roof had urged him to destroy the neighbor's satellite...
Psychiatric News
February 3, 2006
Joan Arehart-Treichel
1 citation
Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical & Research NewsFull AccessMarijuana-Induced Psychosis May Foretell Future EpisodesJoan Arehart-TreichelJoan Arehart-TreichelSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:3 Feb 2006https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.41.3.0023Reports from various researchers have suggested that marijuana-induced psychosis is generally short-lived...
Psychiatric News
January 21, 2005
Eve Bender
4 citations
Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Clinical & Research NewsFull AccessFDA Approves Study of Ecstasy In Some Terminally Ill PatientsEve BenderEve BenderPublished Online:21 Jan 2005https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.40.2.00400046a Can the same drug that in the past decade has found a niche among young people during rave parties at crowded dance clubs also help terminally ill patients...