Psychopharmakotherapie
2026
Antonia Bendau, Felix Betzler, Twyla Michnevich et al.
1 citation
Party drugs encompass a broad spectrum of legal and illegal psychoactive substances used in party settings such as clubs, festivals, raves or private gatherings to modulate mood, perception, social interaction and bodily states. Most commonly, alcohol and cannabis are consumed, followed by amphetamine, MDMA (“ecstasy”), cocaine and ketamine. Synthetic cathinones, GHB/GBL (“liquid ecstasy”),...
Spiral (Imperial College London)
December 30, 2025
Rayyan Zafar
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...
Substance Use & Misuse
September 2, 2025
Laura Gurrieri, Margaret C. Wardle, Eric L Garland
Background: Polysubstance use is common in alcohol use disorder (AUD) and associated with poor treatment outcomes. Cannabis and cocaine often co-used with alcohol, have no approved medication treatments and respond poorly to common behavioral treatments. Thus, treatments that can reduce use of these substances alongside AUD are critically needed. Objectives: We tested whether...
Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental
September 1, 2025
Renée Martin-Willett, Carillon J. Skrzynski, Angela D Bryan et al.
This study examined the effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) on negative mood and drinking behaviors, and whether those effects were moderated by levels of perceived discrimination among participants who identify with a racial, ethnic, gender, or sexual identity that is underrepresented in research. Participants were either not using cannabis, using cannabis with THC, or...
JAMA Network Open
July 1, 2025
Sarah-Catherine Rodan, Sarah Maguire, Noah Meez et al.
5 citations
There are few effective pharmacotherapies for treating eating disorders (EDs). High rates of substance use among individuals with EDs suggest potential self-medication of symptoms. To explore the experiences of individuals with EDs regarding use of prescribed and nonprescribed drugs. This survey study assessed responses to the Medications and Other Drugs for Eating Disorders (MED-FED) survey,...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
June 18, 2025
Maria Bălăeţ, William Trender, Annalaura Lerede et al.
2 citations
Mental health implications of COVID-19 drug use patterns are still unclear. We used data-driven clustering in a large citizen science cohort recruited agnostically to an interest in drug-use to categorise people according to common patterns of drug use and analysed their mental health symptoms (GAD-7 and PHQ-9 items), from recruitment prior to COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 (N = 242,260) to...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
May 1, 2025
Sean P. Goldy, Benjamin A Du, Julia S Rohde et al.
15 citations
As classic psychedelics' therapeutic potential is studied and their popularity continues to rise, it is important to establish their relative risks and benefits. Previous surveys have tended to use convenience sampling on social media, select participants who have had either extremely positive or negative effects, and have not compared the risk/benefit profile of psychedelics to other...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
April 22, 2025
Irina Topchiy, Bernat Kocsis
Brain oscillations in different behavioral states are essential for cognition, and oscillopathies contribute to cognitive dysfunction in neuropsychiatric diseases. Cannabis-1 receptor (CB1-R) activation was reported to suppress theta and fast gamma activities in rats during waking exploration, and here, we show that cannabis fundamentally alters network activity during sleep as well. Prominent...
Asian Journal of Psychiatry
April 1, 2025
Nathan Menke, Elizabeth Hoffman, Kelsey Gaylor et al.
4 citations
Ketamine's unique pharmacological profile, safety, modulation of multiple neurotransmitter systems, and ability to produce neuroplastic changes make it a subject of study with implications for a wide range of neuropsychiatric disorders beyond its traditional use as an anesthetic agent. This article aims to provide an overview of the pharmacology of ketamine and briefly discuss its emerging use...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
February 20, 2025
Broc A. Pagni, Andreas Halman, Jerome Sarris et al.
7 citations
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...