Hallucinogen-persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD) is a rare condition characterized by the re-experiencing of one or more perceptual symptoms that an individual experienced while intoxicated with a hallucinogenic substance when the individual is sober. While there are several case reports of HPPD in adult patients, there is a scarcity of documented cases in children and adolescents. The...
Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chief psychoactive ingredient of cannabis, acts in the brain primarily via cannabinoid CB1 receptors. These receptors are implicated in several forms of synaptic plasticity - depolarization-induced suppression of excitation (DSE), metabotropic suppression of excitation (MSE), long term depression (LTD) and activation-dependent desensitization. Cultured...
Interest in and use of hallucinogens has been increasing rapidly. While a frequently raised concern is that hallucinogens may be associated with an increased risk of psychosis, there are limited data on this association. To examine whether individuals with an emergency department (ED) visit involving hallucinogen use have an increased risk of developing a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD)....
The relationship between substance use and the onset of psychosis has been a subject of clinical and academic debate for centuries. The potential for cannabis to trigger psychosis was first suggested by Grose in 1772, who documented issues related to cannabis use in India (1). Karl Jaspers later explored this connection in his Allgemeine Psychopathologie (1959), describing toxic intoxications...
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...
Individuals who had an emergency department (ED) visit related to use of psychedelic drugs were at higher risk of developing a psychotic disorder than those in the general population, a retrospective cohort study has found. These individuals also were more likely to develop a schizophrenia spectrum disorder compared with those who had an ED visit involving alcohol or cannabis, the researchers...
Ethnographic research suggests that people across the United States are increasingly gathering to commune with their creators, to interact with their ancestors, to enter the spirit world, to gain supernatural insights, and to engage in what they otherwise describe as religious or spiritual experiences. In this regard, their actions are not particularly revolutionary or novel. What distinguishes...
This study explores the psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) associated with recreational ketamine use among young adults. Ketamine, initially introduced as an anesthetic, is now widely used recreationally for its dissociative effects, raising concerns about its impact on mental health. Ten participants aged 18-24, who used ketamine recreationally multiple times a week, were assessed using the...
This paper is about the search for the "truth serum" (i.e., a drug that prevents an individual from lying), which the US intelligence agencies, especially the Central Intelligence Agency (the CIA) and its forerunners, carried out from 1941 (when the Office of the Coordinator of Information [COI] was founded) until 1973 (when the CIA director Richard M. Helms ordered all the MKULTRA-related...
Frontiers in Psychiatry2025Rebecca Paetow, Maike Franziska Dohrn, Michelle Finner-Prével et al.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is used for anesthetic purposes but has gained popularity as a recreational substance. Despite its potentially severe adverse effects, knowledge about N2O use within psychiatric populations is limited. This study aimed to evaluate the life-time prevalence and patterns of N2O consumption among patients with psychiatric disorders. A retrospective observational cohort study was...