Psychedelic psychotherapy, therapy enhanced with psychedelic drugs such as LSD or psilocybin (the active ingredient of ‘magic mushrooms’), has been suggested to improve psychological well-being. For this reason, trials on psychedelic therapy for the treatment of depression, addiction and other conditions are ongoing. Recently, ‘microdosing’ – a way of administering psychedelics that involves...
The smoking incentive in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) depends on stimulation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in the central nervous system. To detect potential predictor genes for nicotine responses in SCZ, we explored common factor using research data in human and animal samples. In lymphoblastoid cell lines from SCZ, the mRNA expression level of α7 nAChR subunit was...
Classical psychedelics are a group of drugs characterized by their activation of the serotonin-2A (5-hydroxytryptamine-2A; 5-HT2A) receptor and the unique hallucinogenic and mystical-type experiences that result. After a substantial period of restrictions limiting investigations into the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, a relatively recent recommencement of interest has sparked the...
Abstract Cannabidiol (CBD) and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are two major constituents of cannabis with contrasting mechanisms of action. THC is the major psychoactive, addiction-promoting, and psychotomimetic compound, while CBD may have somewhat opposite effects. The brain effects of these drugs alone and in combination are poorly understood. In particular the striatum is implicated in the...
Psychedelic substances have traditionally been used in medicine and religious rituals. Their use dates back thousands of years with fossil evidence as old as 10 000 years. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s psychedelics were used in clinical studies. These drugs then saw widespread use in hippie culture and were viewed as a drug of abuse with no medicinal value. Currently, psychedelics are being...
Addiction BiologyNovember 2020Daniela Neuhofer, Sade M Spencer, Vivian C Chioma et al.
Glutamatergic plasticity in the nucleus accumbens core (NAcore) is a key neuronal process in appetitive learning and contributes to pathologies such as drug addiction. Understanding how this plasticity factors into cannabis addiction and relapse has been hampered by the lack of a rodent model of cannabis self-administration. We used intravenous self-administration of two constituents of...
Opioid addiction in the United States currently presents a national crisis despite availability of different treatments. Prior findings suggest that both repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and subanesthetic dose of ketamine are efficacious in patients with opioid use disorders (OUD) when administered in isolation. However, their therapeutic value may be undermined by varying...
ABSTRACT On the traditional picture, accidents must inhere in substances in order to exist. Berkeley famously argues that a particular class of accidents—the sensible qualities—are mere ideas—entities that depend for their existence on minds. To defend this view, Berkeley provides us with an elegant alternative to the traditional framework: sensible qualities depend on a mind, not in virtue of...
3,4-Methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine (MDMA) is increasing being used by youth in Europe and in France, but characteristics of its use are unknown. Objectives: The aim was to characterize MDMA use in a sample of French medical students. Methods: Cross-sectional study of Paris VII medical students (N = 592) with an online self-reporting questionnaire. Results: 592 students completed the online...
Dear Editor, The use of the psychedelic Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) has again provoked scientific debate over its efficacy and safety. In the 1950s-1960s LSD was used in psychotherapy for treating depression, anxiety related to terminal cancer, addiction, and pain. (...)
Psychedelics (i.e., ketamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, psilocybin) have been effectively used globally for centuries to treat mental health and addiction issues. However, in the 1950s–1970s, a number of factors, including misuse, abuse, and poorly conceptualized and conducted clinical trials, caused the Federal Drug Administration to classify most of the psychedelic substances as having...
Bien que les substances dites « hallucinogènes » ou « psychédéliques » telles que l’ayahuasca connaissent depuis peu un regain d’intérêt pour leurs propriétés thérapeutiques, notamment dans le champ de la santé mentale, les ressorts de leur efficacité restent mal connus. En s’appuyant sur les données recueillies au cours d’une enquête ethnographique menée dans une clinique d’Amazonie...
AIM: The objective of the current study was to identify risk factors that affect the onset of dependence and chronic psychosis due to cannabis use. METHODS: We examined clinical genetic factors, psychiatric disorders prior to cannabis use, starting age of cannabis use, duration and frequency of cannabis use, types of cannabis products used, combined use of other psychoactive substances, and the...
Background Ibogaine is a psychedelic drug used by for-profit clinics and lay-people to treat addiction, despite some reported fatalities and a lack of rigorous clinical research. Little is known about ibogaine therapy from a consumer perspective. Online discussions generate and disseminate information about ibogaine therapy and provide a window into how people understand ibogaine's risks and...
There is evidence that long-term cannabis use is associated with alterations to glutamate neurotransmission and glial function. In this study, twenty-six long-term cannabis users (males=65.4%) and 47 non-cannabis using healthy controls (males=44.6%) underwent proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in order to characterize neurometabolite...
Recent research highlighted the therapeutic potential of ayahuasca, a psychoactive plant brew used ritually in traditional Amazonian medicine (TAM). The present study evaluates the impact of integrating ayahuasca and TAM with psychotherapy on depression and anxiety in an inpatient addiction treatment program. Male patients (N = 31) were evaluated pre and post treatment using the Beck Anxiety...
BACKGROUND: Substance use disorders are prevalent and returning to substance use (i.e., relapse) following treatment is common, underscoring the need for effective treatments that will help individuals maintain long-term reductions in substance use. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been increasingly developed and evaluated for the treatment of substance use disorders. The aim of this...
In recent years, research on meditation as an important alternative therapy has developed rapidly and been widely applied in clinical medicine. Mechanism studies of meditation have also developed progressively, showing that meditation has great impact on brain structure and function, and epigenetic and telomere regulation. In line with this, the application of meditation has gradually been...
Our results suggest that the Amazonian medicine-based therapy attracts a diverse patient group not limited to regional residents and may be particularly appealing to more impaired SUD patients with a history of unsuccessful treatment. The sample's cultural diversity suggests an existing interest in such therapies among international SUD treatment-seeking patients. These findings are relevant in...
Abstract The recent revivification of interest in the therapeutic use of psychedelics has had a particular focus on mood disorders and addiction, although there is reason to think these drugs may be effective more widely. After outlining pertinent aspects of psilocybin and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), the current review summarizes the evidence indicating that there may be a role for...