Expert Opinion on Drug Safety
April 6, 2022
M. I. Husain, M. Umer, Benoit H. Mulsant
Classic psychedelics are a loosely grouped class of drugs that activate serotonin 5HT2A receptors to induce complex behavioral, psychological, and physiological effects [1]; 5HT2A agonism induces the hallucinogenic experiences that distinguish psychedelics [2] while pre-medicating with a 5HT2A antagonist, such as ketanserin, prevents them [3,4]. In the 1950s and 1960s, after Albert Hoffman’s...
Psychiatric News
April 1, 2022
Michael Avissar, A. J. Ambrose
A growing body of research suggests that psychedelic compounds may be useful for treating patients with certain disorders. As highlighted by several sessions at the APA Annual meeting, there’s a growing renewed interest in psychedelics, which are compounds that induce changes in thought, perception, and mood, in the clinical and research communities. Classic psychedelics refer to a subset whose...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
March 24, 2022
David Haslacher, Nikolina Novkovic, Maria Buthut et al.
Background: Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder (HPPD) is characterized by spontaneous recurrence of visual hallucinations or disturbances after previous consumption of hallucinogens, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). The underlying physiological mechanisms are unknown and there is no standardized treatment strategy available. Case Presentation: A 33-year-old male patient...
Frontiers in Epidemiology
March 23, 2022
Alan K. Davis, Brooke J. Arterberry, Yitong Xin et al.
20 citations
Background The current study is one of the first to examine race, ethnic, and sex differences in the prevalence of and trends in hallucinogen use among lifetime users in the United States. Methods Data came from the 2015–2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health and included respondent's reporting ever-using hallucinogens ( n = 41,060; female = 40.4%). Descriptive and multinomial logistic...
Cambridge University Press eBooks
March 20, 2022
Timmen Cermak
Jackson was bored with his massage therapy practice and was looking for something more interesting to do. Cannabis legalization had reawakened his interest in the use of natural, psychoactive substances as healing and spiritual agents. A once-a-month user of cannabis, he was enthusiastic about Johns Hopkins University’s research on the potential mental health benefits of psilocybin, the...
Journal of Fungi
March 11, 2022
Elaine Meade, Sarah Hehir, Neil J. Rowan et al.
24 citations
Mushrooms have been used as traditional medicine for millennia, fungi are the main natural source of psychedelic compounds. There is now increasing interest in using fungal active compounds such as psychedelics for alleviating symptoms of mental health disorders including major depressive disorder, anxiety, and addiction. The anxiolytic, antidepressant and anti-addictive effect of these...
C&EN Global Enterprise
March 7, 2022
Bethany Halford
Over the past decade, psychedelic compounds like psilocybin and ecstasy have emerged as potentially life-changing treatments for mental illnesses, including major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. Read on to learn how some companies are trying to bring these once-demonized drugs to market and how others are hoping to use chemistry to eliminate their hallucinogenic effects—a...
Journal of Chemistry Studies
March 5, 2022
Victor Chiruta
Here is a theoretical synthesis for a cinnamaldehyde adduct formation of a hypothetically proposed lysergamide derivative named cinnamylidene-bislysergamide or lysergic acid biscinnamylidene amide (LSBC). This lysergamide name and abbreviation is in keeping with names of other lysergamide derivatives, such as d-lysergic acid amine (LSA), lysergic acid 2-butyl amide (LSB), lysergic acid...
Frontiers in Psychology
March 4, 2022
Agnieszka D. Sekula, Luke A. Downey, Prashanth Puspanathan
27 citations
Psychotherapy with the use of psychedelic substances, including psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), ketamine, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), has demonstrated promise in treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, addiction, and treatment-resistant depression. Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PP) represents a unique psychopharmacological model that...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
March 1, 2022
Catherine Bird, A. H. Young
As we head into the (Northern Hemisphere) spring, the Journal publishes another set of papers which illustrate the robust health of the science of psychopharmacology. Once again, papers mostly focus on psychedelic drugs and related topics reflecting the zeitgeist (Young, 2022). de Wit et al. (2022) explore translational challenges and opportunities between clinical research and laboratory...