Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is one of the most potent psychoactive agents known, producing dramatic alterations of consciousness after submilligram (≥20 μg) oral doses. Following the accidental discovery of its potent psychoactive effects in 1943, it was supplied by Sandoz Laboratories as an experimental drug that might be useful as an adjunct for psychotherapy, or to give psychiatrists...
Objective At-risk high school students, those considered to have a higher probability for academic failure or dropping out, were assessed for various sleep disorders. Effects were compared between students with and without the nightmare triad syndrome (NTS+), the sleep disorders' cluster of frequent nightmares, insomnia disorder and suspected sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). Methods Data were...
February 12, 2018Kristy Martin, Nima Golijani-Moghaddam, R. Das Nair
Background: Mindfulness-based therapy has been found to be an efficacious treatment for a range of mental and physical health conditions. There are increasing efforts to deliver benefits of mindfulness through less intensive/more accessible modalities but whether this efficacy holds in lower-intensity forms is unknown. This paper reviews the effectiveness of mindfulness delivered in a self-help...
Anxiety and depression are some of the most common psychiatric symptoms of patients suffering with life-threatening diseases, often associated with a low quality of life and a poor overall prognosis. 5-HT2A-receptor agonists (serotonergic hallucinogens, 'psychedelics') like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin were first investigated as therapeutic agents in the 1960s. Recently,...
Objectives: we used a quantitative method to systematically synthesize the emerging literature and critically evaluate the effects of Baduanjin on depression and anxiety in people with physical or mental illnesses. Additionally, we determined if the number of total Baduanjin training sessions is associated with decreased anxiety and depression levels. Methods: both English and Chinese databases...
AIMS: This article presents a qualitative interview study of people who microdose with psychedelic drugs, which means that the user takes about one tenth of an ordinary recreational dose. DESIGN: = 21) were recruited at several Internet fora for individual interviews via private messaging. Every participant was male, and the median respondent was in his 30s with a stable job and relationship...
Abstract Background Ayahuasca is a botanical hallucinogenic preparation traditionally used by indigenous populations of Northwestern Amazonian countries for ritual and therapeutic purposes. It is rich in β-carboline alkaloids and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Preclinical, observational, and experimental studies suggest that ayahuasca and its alkaloids have anxiolytic and antidepressive effects....
ABSTRACT The incidence of major depression in adolescents, aged between 15 to 18 years, reaches approximately 14%. Usually, this disorder presents a recurrent way, without remission of symptoms even after several pharmacological treatments, persisting through adult life. Due to the relatively low efficacy of commercially available antidepressant, new pharmacological therapies are under...
Even with an expanding evidence base confirming safety and benefits, political, regulatory, and industry issues impose challenges to the legitimate use of psychedelics. The federal expanded access program and right-to-try laws in multiple states provide precendents for giving terminally ill patients access to medications that have not yet earned FDA approval. Given the prevalence of persistent...
January 19, 2018Sima Nabipour, Amin Rafiepour, K. H. Alizadeh
Background: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive group therapy (MBCT) on reducing suicidal thoughts and death anxiety of patients with cancer. Materials and Methods: This study was applied and semi-experimental conducted by using pre-test and post-test with a control group. The research community included all patients with cancer who referred to Shahid...
Introduction: It is a basic principle of the "psychedelic" treatment model that the quality of the acute experience mediates long-term improvements in mental health. In the present paper we sought to test this using data from a clinical trial assessing psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). In line with previous reports, we hypothesized that the occurrence and magnitude of Oceanic...
Abstract MDMA exerts its main effects via the serotonergic system and the serotonin transporter. The gene coding for this transporter determines the expression rate of the transporter. Previously it was shown that healthy individuals with the short allelic variant (‘ s -group’) of the 5-HTTLPR-polymorphism displayed more anxiety and negative mood, and had a lower transcriptional efficiency...
Background: Macrophage migration inhibitory factor is a proinflammatory cytokine that has been associated with various psychiatric disorders. MicroRNA-451a can directly target macrophage migration inhibitory factor and downregulate its expression in cells. However, the role of macrophage migration inhibitory factor and microRNA-451a in psychiatric patients treated with psychotherapeutic...
Yoga contains sub-components related to its physical postures (asana), breathing methods (pranayama), and meditation (dhyana). To test the hypothesis that specific yoga practices are associated with reduced psychological distress, 186 adults completed questionnaires assessing life stressors, symptom severity, and experience with each of these aspects of yoga. Each yoga sub-component was found...
The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between recurrent nightmare and indefinite complaints and to determine the explanatory variables of indefinite complaints related to nightmares in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Sleep quality and dream anxiety in nightmare were assessed with the Athens Insomnia Scale and Van Dream Anxiety Scale. Using a visual analog scale and the...
Background: Sleep quality plays an important role in the overall health of nurses, which may influence the quality of patient care provided by nurses. The LINE messaging app is a commonly used tool for sending messages easily and quickly. Therefore, in this study, to improve sleep quality among nurses, we designed and implemented an intervention with modified transcendent meditation (MTM),...
Mindfulness-based intervention has been receiving growing attention in cancer care. This study aimed to examine feasibility and to preliminary explore effectiveness of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) in Japanese breast cancer patients, and to explore possible modification of the program so that it fits better with this population. Twelve participants with diagnosis of Stage I-III...
What works for whom in mindfulness-based group interventions for social anxiety disorder (SAD)? The present article compared the experiences of 14 participants in a clinical study of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for young adults with SAD. A two-staged mixed methods design was used to identify the participants who reported the highest (n = 7) and lowest (n = 7) levels of symptomatic...
Background: Increasing studies have found that high trait anxiety is a key susceptibility phenotype that causes depression. Mindfulness-based interventions can target on dealing with depressogenic vulnerability effectively. Evidence indicates that trait anxiety could affect the trajectory of anti-depressive psychotherapy, and play an important role in the relationship between mindfulness and...