The pace of psychedelic treatments continues to increase. Regulation and coherent clinical guidance have not been established. A philosophical divide limits effective resolution of a practice delivery quandary: is this primarily a pharmacological or psychotherapeutic intervention? Lykos (formerly MAPS) has submitted its new drug application (NDA) request to the FDA for...
Purpose of review Despite advances in treatment modalities for mood disorders over recent decades, further therapeutic options are still required. Increased research is occurring, with the pursuit of psychedelic-based pharmacotherapies for a range of mood disorders and other conditions. Recent findings Serotonergic psychedelics have been found to modulate brain networks underlying various...
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Psychedelics are reawakening interest from psychiatry, cognitive neuroscience and the general public with impressive outcomes in small-scale clinical trials, intriguing human brain imaging work and high-impact journalism. RECENT FINDINGS: This brief opinion piece offers a perspective on how psychedelics work in the brain that may help contextualize these developments. It...
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The article reviews the recent evidence for mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) for patients with residual depressive symptoms or in remitted patients at increased risk for relapse. RECENT FINDINGS: Randomized controlled trials have shifted focus from comparing MBCT with treatment-as-usual to comparing MBCT against interventions. These studies have provided evidence...
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review covers recent books and articles on the perennial problem of how mind and brain work together to produce psychiatric symptoms. RECENT FINDINGS: Discussed in this article are research on predictors of anxiety disorders, evidence relating to agency and sense of self-ownership, the extended mind hypothesis, and brain differences in genders of moral sensitivity....
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review explores what is known about the association of cannabis with schizophrenia, its effects on the brain, and whether the brain changes known to be present in schizophrenia could be caused by cannabis and thus lead to a psychosis. RECENT FINDINGS: The heavy use of cannabis is known to be associated with some adverse consequences, such as the occurrence of acute...
Cannabis use is the most commonly abused illicit substance. Its relation with psychosis remains a topic of debate. Epidemiological studies suggest that cannabis is a component cause accounting for approximately 10% of cases. An increasing number of studies have been published on neurobiological effects of cannabis and vulnerability of psychosis. Acute cannabis administration can induce memory...
Recent research about the nature of mental or functional disorder, its classification and etiology acknowledges underlying methodological and metaphysical theory.In such broad attempts to understand mental disorder and the science and practice of psychiatry, the philosophy of mind is increasingly recognized as playing an important and helpful role.
The tension between two fundamentally different approaches to characterizing and treating psychopathology has increased during the last year. These are the traditional diagnostic-category approach and the symptom dimensional approach. Progress made in the symptom-dimensional approach has reached the point where it may now challenge the diagnostic-category approach. This challenge has been...