Background: In clinical studies, psychedelics including psilocybin and D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) demonstrate rapid and persistent antidepressant effects. Since the effective treatment with psychedelics is usually provided with psychotherapy, it is debatable whether their prolonged efficacy can be observed in infrahuman species. Preclinical reports on psychedelics’ effects most often...
In coming years, pharmacists will begin fielding more questions regarding psychedelic medicine, most notably with the imminent FDA approval of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) expected in 2024 and psilocybin for major depressive disorder (MDD) likely in 2025. Psychedelics are unique medications in many ways, but especially due to the mental...
Serotonergic psychedelics (SP) such as psilocybin, LSD or DMT pose significant potential for development of new strategies in treating neuropsychiatric disorders including major depression disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction. To bring these substances to clinical application, however, better understanding of the mechanisms behind their effects on many levels, including...
Chronic pain is a public health concern that affects approximately 1.5 billion people globally. Conventional therapeutic agents including opioid and non-opioid analgesics have been associated with adverse side effects, issues with addiction, and ineffective analgesia. Novel agents repurposed to treat pain via different mechanisms are needed to fill the therapeutic gap in chronic pain...
ABSTRACT Psychedelic drugs like lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin have emerged as potentially transformative therapeutics for many neuropsychiatric diseases, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, migraine, and cluster headaches. LSD and psilocybin exert their psychedelic effects via activation of the 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A receptor (HTR2A). Here we provide...
Psychedelics as therapeutic agents have generated significant attention from clinicians and media sources in recent years. The authors provide an update to the psychiatric trainee on the evidence for psychedelics in the treatment of major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant depression. Many modern clinical trials of the classic, serotonergic psychedelics, such as psilocybin, ayahuasca,...
It is largely unknown whether adverse effects experienced from recreational drug use affect willingness to use again. This study determined whether adverse effects from select party drugs affect reported willingness to use again in the next month among a high-risk population-people who attend electronic dance music parties at nightclubs or dance festivals. Adults (age ≥ 18) entering...
Substance abuse is on the rise, and while many people may use illicit drugs mainly due to their rewarding effects, their societal impact can range from severe, as is the case for opioids, to promising, as is the case for psychedelics. Common with all these drugs' mechanisms of action are G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), which lie at the center of how these drugs mediate inebriation,...
Psychedelic therapy (PT) is an emerging paradigm with great transdiagnostic potential for treating psychiatric disorders, including depression, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, and potentially others. 'Classic' serotonergic psychedelics, such as psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), which have a key locus of action at the 5-HT2A receptor, form the main focus of this...
Abstract Background Chronic pain is a major cause of suffering and disability and is often associated with psychiatric complications. Current treatments carry the risk of severe side effects and may lead to limited or no relief at all in a relevant portion of this patient population. Preliminary evidence suggests that classical psychedelics (e.g. LSD and psilocybin) may have analgesic effects...