According to most histories, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a pharmaceutical whose therapeutic potential was dashed by controversies concerning countercultural drug use and covert government research. In contrast to familiar accounts of a rapid government crackdown on the drug, Matthew Oram’s The Trials of Psychedelic Therapy: LSD Psychotherapy in America describes the conclusion of...
INTRODUCTION: Combinations of psychotherapy with antidepressants are gold-standard psychiatric treatments. They operate through complex and interactional mechanisms, not unlike the reemergent paradigm of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, which promising research suggests may also be highly effective in even challenging populations. AREAS COVERED: We review the therapeutic mechanisms behind...
Abstract Despite the popular support for psychedelics as aids for depression, academics and the public frequently overestimate the efficacy of available medications and psychotherapies. Metaanalyses reveal that antidepressant medications alone help only one in four patients and rarely surpass credible placebos. Their effects, though statistically significant, might not impress depressed...
Abstract Background PTSD is a chronic condition with high rates of comorbidity, but current treatment options are limited and not always effective. One novel approach is MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for people diagnosed with treatment-resistant PTSD, where MDMA is used as a catalyst to facilitate trauma processing during psychotherapy. The aim was to review all current research into...
Objectives Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe psychiatric disorder, with disabling potential and chronic evolution, that occurs at some people due to exposure to a specific traumatic event or threats of death, serious injury or sexual violence. Currently, psychotherapy is accepted as one of the most effective methods of treating PTSD. Incomplete clinical response as well as...
The efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapies for mental disorders has been attributed to the lasting change from experiential avoidance to acceptance that these treatments appear to facilitate. This article presents a conceptual model that specifies potential psychological mechanisms underlying such change, and that shows substantial parallels between psychedelic therapy and cognitive...
Abstract 3,4‐Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)–assisted psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been shown to significantly reduce clinical symptomatology, but posttraumatic growth (PTG), which consists of positive changes in self‐perception, interpersonal relationships, or philosophy of life, has not been studied with this treatment. Participant data ( n = 60) were pooled...
Psychedelic‐assisted psychotherapy is seeing a resurgence as a treatment approach for mental health disorders. It melds pharmacology and psychotherapy, using substances such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin, under medical supervision, to treat conditions such as post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and extreme depression.
Psychedelics are back in vogue. In popular culture, political legislation, and scientific research, we appear to be witnessing an early twenty-first century renaissance of the heady acid days of the 1960s. The success of Michael Pollan’s 2018 New York Times bestseller, How to Change Your Mind, the decriminalization of psilocybin-containing mushrooms in Denver in 2019, followed by all plant...
Background: A recently published randomized controlled trial compared single-dose psilocybin with single-dose niacin in conjunction with psychotherapy in participants with cancer-related psychiatric distress. Results suggested that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy facilitated improvements in psychiatric and existential distress, quality of life, and spiritual well-being up to seven weeks prior...