Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
December 7, 2020
Cortland J. Dahl, Christine D Wilson-Mendenhall, Richard J. Davidson
Research indicates that core dimensions of psychological well-being can be cultivated through intentional mental training. Despite growing research in this area and an increasing number of interventions designed to improve psychological well-being, the field lacks a unifying framework that clarifies the dimensions of human flourishing that can be cultivated. Here, we integrate evidence from...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
December 3, 2020
Daniela Dudysová, Karolína Janků, Michal Šmotek et al.
37 citations
Serotonergic agonist psilocybin is a psychedelic with antidepressant potential. Sleep may interact with psilocybin’s antidepressant properties like other antidepressant drugs via induction of neuroplasticity. The main aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of psilocybin on sleep architecture on the night after psilocybin administration. Regarding the potential antidepressant properties, we...
Oxford University Press eBooks
December 1, 2020
Agnes M.F. Wong
In this chapter, the author explores the relevant brain networks and their plasticity in response to mindfulness and compassion training. The chapter begins by reviewing how foundational mindfulness practices, in the form of focused attention and open monitoring, set the stage for compassion/loving-kindness training by modulating attentional resources (in the attention networks), regulating...
Journal of Neural Transplantation and Plasticity
November 16, 2020
R. Tang, Karl Friston, Yi-Yuan Tang
Previous studies suggest that the practice of long-term (months to years) mindfulness meditation induces structural plasticity in gray matter. However, it remains unknown whether short-term (<30 days) mindfulness meditation in novices could induce similar structural changes. Our previous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) identified white matter changes surrounding the anterior cingulate...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
November 16, 2020
Bashkim Kadriu, Maximillian Greenwald, Ioline D. Henter et al.
98 citations
BACKGROUND: The glutamatergic modulator ketamine has created a blueprint for studying novel pharmaceuticals in the field. Recent studies suggest that "classic" serotonergic psychedelics (SPs) may also have antidepressant efficacy. Both ketamine and SPs appear to produce rapid, sustained antidepressant effects after a transient psychoactive period. METHODS: This review summarizes areas of...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
November 4, 2020
Oskar Hougaard Jefsen, Betina Elfving, Gregers Wegener et al.
123 citations
Background: Psilocybin is a serotonergic psychedelic found in “magic mushrooms” with a putative therapeutic potential for treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and addiction. In rodents, psilocybin acutely induces plasticity-related immediate early genes in cortical tissue; however, studies into the effects on subcortical regions, of different doses, and the...
October 1, 2020
Laura Musazzi
1 citation
Intranasal esketamine has been recently approved by both the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for treatment-resistant depression in adults and will be soon clinically available also in Italy. Esketamine is the (S) enantiomer of ketamine, a non-competitive N-Methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor antagonist, introduced in clinics as...
Scientific Reports
September 30, 2020
M. G. Ramesh Babu, Rajagopal Kadavigere, K Prakashini et al.
39 citations
Studies provide evidence that practicing meditation enhances neural plasticity in reward processing areas of brain. No studies till date, provide evidence of such changes in Rajyoga meditation (RM) practitioners. The present study aimed to identify grey matter volume (GMV) changes in reward processing areas of brain and its association with happiness scores in RM practitioners compared to...
Neuropsychopharmacology
September 12, 2020
Justin Hudak, Adam W. Hanley, William R. Marchand et al.
46 citations
Veterans experience chronic pain at greater rates than the rest of society and are more likely to receive long-term opioid therapy (LTOT), which, at high doses, is theorized to induce maladaptive neuroplastic changes that attenuate self-regulatory capacity and exacerbate opioid dose escalation. Mindfulness meditation has been shown to modulate frontal midline theta (FMT) and alpha oscillations...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
September 8, 2020
Leo R. Silberbauer, B. Spurny, P. Handschuh et al.
43 citations
Introduction Converging evidence suggests that ketamine elicits antidepressant effects via enhanced neuroplasticity precipitated by a surge of glutamate and modulation of GABA. Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) illustrates changes to cerebral glutamate and GABA immediately following ketamine administration during dissociation. However, few studies assess subacute changes in the...