Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common and debilitating psychiatric disorder. Traditional antidepressants are of limited efficacy and take weeks to months to yield full therapeutic effects. Thus, there is a clear need for effective rapid-acting antidepressant medications. The N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDA-R) antagonist, ketamine, has received a great deal of attention over the last...
Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) for academic evaluation anxiety and self-confidence in 70 help-seeking bachelor's and master's students was examined. A repeated measures analysis of covariance on the 46 students who completed pretreatment and posttreatment measures (median age = 24 years, 83% women) showed that evaluation anxiety and self-confidence improved. A growth curve analysis...
As mobile data capture tools for patient-reported outcomes proliferate in clinical research, a key dimension of measure performance is sensitivity to change. This study compared performance of patient-reported measures of mindfulness, depression, and anxiety symptoms using traditional paper-and-pencil forms versus real-time, ambulatory measurement of symptoms via ecological momentary assessment...
The drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy", "molly") is a widely used illicit drug and experimental adjunct to psychotherapy. MDMA has unusual, poorly understood socioemotional effects, including feelings of interpersonal closeness and sociability. To better understand these effects, we conducted a small (n=12) within-subjects double-blind placebo controlled study of the...
BACKGROUND The amount of studies showing different benefits of practicing meditation is growing. EEG brainwave patterns objectively reflect both the cognitive processes and objects of meditation. This study aimed to examine the effects of transcendental meditation (TM) practice on baseline EEG brainwave patterns (outside of meditation) and to examine weather TM reduces state and trait anxiety....
Background: People whose chronic pain limits their independence are especially likely to become anxious and depressed. Mindfulness training has shown promise for stress-related disorders. Methods: Chronic pain patients who complained of anxiety and depression and who scored higher than moderate in Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) as well...
The relationship between anxiety and impaired academic performance has been well documented by a number of investigators (Tyron, 1980; Hill & Wigfield, 1984; Topp, 1989; Sud & Sharma, 1990; Zeidner, 1990; Zoller & Ben-chain, 1990). Everyone should feel somewhat anxious before they begin to take a test. Anxiety becomes a problem when it begins to interfere with a student’s ability to think...
During Flotation-REST a person is floating inside a quiet and dark tank, filled with heated salt saturated water. Deep relaxation and beneficial effects on e.g. stress, sleep difficulties, anxiety and depression have been documented in earlier research. Despite that treatments for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are effective; it is till the least successfully treated anxiety disorder,...
Asian Social ScienceMarch 19, 2016Mansoor Alimehdi, Parvin Ehteshamzadeh, Farah Naderi et al.
The Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is one of the most chronic and detrimental disorders and it is considered a common disorder in childhood and adolescence. Furthermore, this disorder is associated with many problems in the health domain. As such, this study attempted to gauge the impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction on intolerance of uncertainty and anxiety sensitivity among...
To date, pharmacological treatments for mood and anxiety disorders and for drug dependence show limited efficacy, leaving a large number of patients suffering severe and persistent symptoms. Preliminary studies in animals and humans suggest that ayahuasca, psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) may have antidepressive, anxiolytic, and antiaddictive properties. Thus, we conducted a...
Ayahuasca is the Quechua name for a tea obtained from the vine Banisteriopsis caapi, and used for ritual purposes by the indigenous populations of the Amazon. The use of a variation of the tea that combines B. caapi with the leaves of the shrub Psychotria viridis has experienced unprecedented expansion worldwide for its psychotropic properties. This preparation contains the psychedelic 5-HT2A...
This study investigated whether mindfulness training increases athletes' mindfulness and flow experience and decreases sport-specific anxiety and sport-specific pessimism. Cyclists were assigned to an eight-week mindfulness intervention, which incorporated a mindful spin-bike training component, or a wait-list control condition. Participants completed baseline and post-test measures of...
Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a transdiagnostic construct in various anxiety and depressive disorders. However, the relationship between IU and panic symptom severity is not yet fully understood. We examined the relationship between IU, panic, and depressive symptoms during mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) in patients with panic disorder. We screened 83 patients with panic...
Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) reduces depression, anxiety, and pain for people suffering from a variety of illnesses, and there is a growing need to understand the neurobiological networks implicated in self-reported psychological change as a result of training. Combining complementary and alternative treatments such as MBSR with other therapies is helpful; however, the time...
Considering the need for new drugs that produce fewer adverse effects and are more effective in reducing anxiety and depression symptomatology, the described effects of ayahuasca and its alkaloids should be further investigated.
Mindfulness refers to an awareness that emerges by intentionally focusing on the present experience in a nonjudgmental or evaluative manner. Evidence regarding its efficacy has been increasing exponentially, and recent research suggests that the practice of meditation is associated with longer leukocyte telomere length. However, the psychological mechanisms underlying this potential...
BACKGROUND: Recent studies with intravenous (i.v.) application of ketamine show remarkable but short-term success in patients with MDD. Studies in patients with chronic pain have used different ketamine applications for longer time periods. This experience may be relevant for psychiatric indications. AIMS: To review the literature about the dosing regimen, duration, effects and side-effects of...
Objectives Replicated evidence has demonstrated that ketamine exerts rapid-acting and potent antidepressant effects. Notwithstanding, its promise to mitigate depressive symptoms and suicidality in antidepressant-resistant populations, several limitations and safety concerns accompany ketamine including, but not limited to, the potential for abuse and psychotomimetic/dissociative experiences....
The first study of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted therapy for the treatment of social anxiety in autistic adults commenced in the spring of 2014. The search for psychotherapeutic options for autistic individuals is imperative considering the lack of effective conventional treatments for mental health diagnoses that are common in this population. Serious Adverse Events (SAEs)...
ABSTRACT This pilot study assessed the effects of a five day focused meditation training on the interplay between emotional interference and anxiety in a non clinical sample randomized into two groups (experimental=13; control=18). Emotional interference was indexed comparing the reaction times in an attention span task with negative or neutral distracting images. Anxiety experienced during the...