Abstract Aims We aim to provide an evidence‐based overview of the use of psychedelics in chronic pain, specifically LSD and psilocybin. Content Chronic pain is a common and complex problem, with an unknown etiology. Psychedelics like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin, may play a role in the management of chronic pain. Through activation of the serotonin‐2A (5‐HT2A) receptor,...
AIMS Public Health2023Aderonke Oyetunji, C. Blanco Huelga, Kailee Bunte et al.9 citations
Depression and suicidality are significant challenges faced by cancer patients, particularly those in advanced stages of the disease or nearing the end of life. Conventional antidepressant therapies often have limited effectiveness or delayed onset of action, making the exploration of alternative treatments crucial. The use of ketamine as a potential treatment for depression and suicidality in...
In 1991 the U.S. Congress mandated that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) form the Office of Alternative Medicine to study alternative medical therapies, especially in oncology care. Shortly after, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) created its own division of complementary and alternative medicine (Office of Complementary and Alternative Medicine). At the genesis of the field 30 years...
Abstract Objectives A resurgence of research investigating the administration of psychedelic compounds alongside psychotherapy suggests that this treatment is a promising intervention for anxiety, depression, and existential distress in people with cancer. However, psychedelic treatment that induces a mind-altering experience potentially poses barriers to vulnerable cancer patients, and...
Anxiety associated with life-threatening illness (LTI) is a pervasive mental health issue with a wide impact. A spectrum of traditional pharmacotherapies and psychotherapies are available, but offer varying success in reducing symptoms and improving quality of life. We explore a novel therapy for this condition by assessing prominent thematic elements from participant narrative accounts of a...
Existing pharmacological treatments for psychiatric disorders have demonstrated limited efficacy, delayed onset of action, and significant burden of side effects. Recent findings from human studies with psychedelics have shown promise, demonstrating rapid and sustained clinical benefits of these compounds for a variety of psychiatric disorders. Classical psychedelics have a rich history and...
In addition to physical symptoms and treatment burden, people affected by serious illness experience psychological, social, and spiritual distress. Medical professionals who care for them, including psychiatrists and other mental health clinicians, attend to these multiple dimensions of suffering with the hope and promise of improving patients' quality of life. Yet anxiety, depression,...
Research on the use of psychoactive substances in mental disorder treatment has become increasingly important over the last 50 years. Numerous publications suggest their effectiveness in the treatment of many diseases, including depression and anxiety disorders, PTSD, psychoactive substance dependence, ADHD and Tourette’s Syndrome. Particularly noteworthy is the use of psychedelics such as...
Freedom Inside? offers a combination of personal narrative and scholarly research in order to examine the role of yoga and meditation in US prisons. It offers a glimpse inside the system now known as mass incarceration, which disproportionately punishes, confines, and controls those from black, brown, and/or poor communities at exponentially higher rates, diminishing their life-chances and...
Therapy of existential distress of incurable patients is no less important task of palliative medicine than, in fact, relief ofphysical pain. At the same time, the unreliability of the means used in this field, noted by experts, forces us to pay attention to their al-ternative in the form of psychedelics-entheogens, whose therapeutic potential, judging by the content of world mythology, was...