Psychiatric News
2022
T. D'Arrigo
Aduhelm Shows Promise for Alzheimer's DiseaseTwo phase 3 clinical trials of Aduhelm (aducanumab) showed a correlation between plasma p-tau reduction and less cognitive and functional decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease, Biogen and Esai announced last November. The accumulation of the protein tau inside neurons leads to neurofibrillary tangles—a pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
2022
Charles L. Raison, Rakesh Jain, Andrew Penn et al.
75 citations
Survey-based studies suggest naturalistic psychedelic use provides mental health benefits similar to those observed in clinical trials. The current study sought to confirm these findings in a large group of psychedelic users and to conduct a novel examination of associations between amount of psychedelic use and behavioral outcomes, as well as frequency of harms ascribed to psychedelic use. A...
Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences
2022
Gabrielle Agin-Liebes, Alan K. Davis
16 citations
Depression is highly prevalent and represents the leading cause of global disability and primary contributor to overall global burden of disease. Several lines of evidence from early-phase experimental trials suggest that serotonergic psychedelics, particularly psilocybin, with therapeutic support show great promise in the treatment of depression with large effect sizes. Neuroimaging data have...
Pharmaceutical journal/The pharmaceutical journal
2022
The largest trial to date of the psychedelic drug psilocybin has shown that, alongside psychological support, a single 25mg dose may improve the symptoms of treatment-resistant depression. The phase II study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on 3 November 2022, was conducted across 22 sites in 10 countries, including the UK, between […]
2022
Nicole Amavisca, Nicole Amavisca
1 citation
Given the number of people who are treated for depression each year and the knowledge that treatments work differently for everyone, there is a pressing need to provide a variety of treatment options. Although psychedelic research had been halted for a few decades due to recreational abuse, there has been revived interest due to its therapeutic potential in the treatment of mood disorders and...
Neuroscience Applied
2022
Lea J. Mertens, Michael Koslowski, Felix Betzler et al.
40 citations
Psychedelics such as psilocybin have recently gained remarkable interest in both the specialist literature and the lay press because studies suggest that these substances may have great therapeutic potential in various psychiatric disorders, including major depression. However, clinical trials with psychedelic drugs pose particular methodological challenges to researchers, some of which differ...
European Neuropsychopharmacology
December 1, 2021
S. Penedos, C. Ramos, M. Miguel et al.
1 citation
Introduction: Psychedelics have seen various labels: mystical sacrament aids, potential interrogation tools for the Cold War, agents for social change in the Hippie counter movement, a panacea for various mental disorders, and a tool to “hack” of the psyche. This has led to their reputation as both societal threat and a psychopharmacological breakthrough. After the loss of data on over 1000...
Journal of Neurological Sciences
December 1, 2021
Craig S Pearson, J. Siegel, J. Gold
30 citations
There is a serious need for novel therapies that treat individuals with depression, including major depressive disorder (MDD) and treatment-resistant depression (TRD). An emerging body of research has demonstrated that psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin, combined with supportive psychotherapy, exert rapid and sustained antidepressant effects. The use of psychedelics is not new: they have a...
BMJ Open
December 1, 2021
James Rucker, Hassan Jafari, Tim Mantingh et al.
23 citations
Introduction Psilocybin-assisted therapy may be a new treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), with encouraging data from pilot trials. In this trial (short name: PsiDeR) we aimed to test the feasibility of a parallel-group, randomised, placebo-controlled design. The primary outcomes in this trial are measures of feasibility: recruitment rates, dropout rates and the variance of the...
Scientific Reports
November 18, 2021
Joseph M. Rootman, Pamela Kryskow, Kalin Harvey et al.
78 citations
Abstract The use of psychedelic substances at sub-sensorium ‘ microdoses’, has gained popular academic interest for reported positive effects on wellness and cognition. The present study describes microdosing practices, motivations and mental health among a sample of self-selected microdosers ( n = 4050) and non-microdosers ( n = 4653) via a mobile application. Psilocybin was the most commonly...