The durability of ayahuasca's effects on mental health and the influence of clinical diagnoses on therapeutic response is unclear. Adults with no prior exposure to ayahuasca (n = 66) participating in neo-shamanic ayahuasca ceremonies completed questionnaires at baseline, 7 days, and 1, 6, and 12 months. Mixed models were used to characterize temporal trajectories in mental health, alcohol and...
Introduction It is common for college students to suffer from mobile phone addiction, which can seriously affect their physical and mental health. The current study looked at the impact of a brief online mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) on mobile phone addiction to address this problem. The mechanisms behind the influence of trait mindfulness (TM) on this process were also investigated in...
Abstract Introduction Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a major problem that causes significant health and social problem. Pharmacological treatments for AUD are limited in their effectiveness, and new drugs are required (ref). Recently, the potential use of psychedelics as novel therapies in treating mental diseases has come to the forefront in psychiatry. For instance, lysergic acid diethylamide...
Background and Objectives: Substance use disorders (SUDs) affect millions worldwide. Despite increasing drug use, treatment options remain limited. Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT), integrating psychedelic substances with psychotherapy, offers a promising alternative by addressing underlying neural mechanisms. Materials and Methods: This review’s purpose is to investigate the current...
Substance use disorders (SUDs) are a public health issue, with only some having FDA-approved indicated treatments and these having high attrition. Consequently, there has been interest in novel interventions (e.g. psychedelics that target 5-HT2A receptors) with some promising results. In this narrative review, we aim to focus on the role of the 5-HT2A receptors on the effectiveness of the...
Journal of PsychopharmacologyFebruary 1, 2025Sophie-Athéna Chapron, Guilhem Bonazzi, Laura Di Lodovico et al.5 citations
In the context of the need to increase treatment options for substance use disorders, recent research has evaluated the therapeutic potential of psychedelics. However, there is an incomplete understanding of psychedelics' effects on craving, a core symptom of addictive disorders and a predictor of substance use and relapse. To determine if the use of psychedelics is associated with changes in...
Drug addiction is rife in Nepal, with a high relapse rate following treatment. Apart from basic psychosocial support, there are no evidence-based aftercare services for individuals in recovery. Recently, mindfulness-based interventions have shown promising results in preventing relapse. We discuss the context, challenges and opportunities of organising a 2-day intensive face-to-face...
CureusFebruary 1, 2025Eric Boccio, Jason Haidar, Michael Thiefault et al.
Medical and recreational ketamine use is increasing in the United States; however, little is known regarding the side effects associated with chronic, frequent, and high-dose use. The lack of emergency physician awareness regarding ketamine-induced abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and dysuria, collectively and colloquially known as K-cramps, results in delayed recognition, underreporting, and...
Abstract Background and aims This is the first systematic review of the extant literature on all major psychedelic‐assisted treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD), tobacco use disorder (TUD) and other substance use disorders (SUD). We aimed to summarise the evidence for efficacy of psychedelic‐assisted treatment for AUD, TUD, and SUD; to evaluate its quality; and to offer recommendations for...
Addiction medicine is confronting challenges brought about by changes in our modern world, including shifts in the drug market and the increasing digitalization of our environments. This article highlights some of these challenges and explores potential strategies to address them. The field is also advancing through robust research momentum in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Additionally,...
The current opioid crisis has had an unprecedented public health impact. Approved medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) exist, yet their limitations indicate a need for innovative treatments. Limited preliminary clinical studies suggest specific psychedelics might aid OUD treatment, though most clinical evidence remains observational, with few controlled trials. This review aims to bridge...
In 1975, American writer Annie Dillard won the Pulitzer Prize for her book A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, in which she describes her year-long journey through Virginia, reflecting on transcendence in nature.1 The book reflects what, decades later, Dillard called her “spiritual promiscuity,” a personal belief system blending Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Sufism.2 Deliberately mixing spiritual...
The opioid crisis continues to exert a tremendous toll in North America, with existing interventions often falling short of addressing ongoing needs. Psychedelics are emerging as a possible alternative therapy for mental health and substance use disorders. This study aimed to gather insights on how people use or are considering using psychedelics to manage opioid use disorder (OUD), how these...
Differences in the volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala have consistently been observed between young adults with heavy cannabis use relative to their non-using counterparts. However, it remains unclear whether the subfields of these functionally and structurally heterogenous regions exhibit similar patterns of change in young adults with long-term heavy cannabis use disorder (CUD). This...
Smartphone Addiction (SA) is a rising global behavioral issue among adolescents. Extant studies rarely explore interventions to lower the risk of SA and increase resilience for adolescents. To investigate the feasibility of the study protocol designed with a cluster-RCT and examine the preliminary effect of the first 4-week group mindfulness-based cognitive program (MBCP) on Smartphone...
This article examines the question of whether living beings possess an innate, unchangeable nature or have the capacity for fundamental transformation—a question with profound implications for treating addiction-related physical illness. By integrating diverse perspectives from religious and philosophical traditions, mystical thought, modern neuroscience, genetics, and clinical approaches to...
Objective: Previous studies claim a healing effect on psychological and medical symptoms beyond the biopsychosocial construct of medicine to include a “spiritual” aspect with added experience of wholeness and well-being. A recommendation for the development of a human ontological model for research of this spiritual domain has been suggested. The objective of this study was to test feasibility...
Despite decades of neuroscience research and significant investment in addiction neuroimaging, clinical outcomes for individuals with substance use and behavioural addictions remain poor. Only 1.8% of people with substance use disorders receive effective treatment, highlighting a major disconnect between mechanistic understanding and clinical utility. This paper calls for a reorientation of...
Psychedelic-assisted therapy is a remarkably promising treatment for substance use disorders and for alcohol use disorder (AUD) in particular. Research supporting psychedelics as a safe and effective pharmacotherapy for AUD and its comorbid psychiatric conditions dates from the late1940s and includes over 2,000 published studies. There are, however, challenges to the clinical implementation of...
Substance use disorders (SUDs), including alcohol, opioid, and cocaine dependencies, present significant challenges in public health. Current treatment modalities often face limitations in efficacy and accessibility, necessitating exploration of novel therapeutic approaches. Ketamine, originally recognized for its anesthetic properties, has garnered attention for its potential in treating SUDs...