Neurotherapeutics
May 5, 2017
Ben Sessa
11 citations
Since the late 1980s the psychoactive drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has had a well-known history as the recreationally used drug ecstasy. What is less well known by the public is that MDMA started its life as a therapeutic agent and that in recent years an increasing amount of clinical research has been undertaken to revisit the drug's medical potential. MDMA has unique...
Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience
April 20, 2017
Ling-Sha Ju, Jiao-Jiao Yang, Lei Lei et al.
A combination of antidepressant drugs and psychotherapy exhibits more promising efficacy in treating fear disorders than either treatment alone, but underlying mechanisms of such treatments remain largely unknown. Here we investigated the role of DNA methylation of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) gene in the therapeutic effects of ketamine in combination with extinction training in...
The FASEB Journal
April 1, 2017
Michael P Trahan, Sebastian Leth-Petersen, William E Fantegrossi
R (−)‐2,5‐Dimethoxy‐4‐iodoamphetamine (DOI) and other compounds with agonist affinity for serotonergic 5‐HT2A receptors are hallucinogenic drugs of abuse, but also have therapeutic potential in numerous neuropsychiatric conditions, including major depressive disorder, post‐traumatic stress disorder, and in the treatment of migraine and cluster headaches. Thus, commonly abused hallucinogens...
Cannabinoids and the Brain
March 1, 2017
Linda A. Parker
Marijuana is often used for relaxation, therefore, it is not surprising that the endocannabinoid system is critically involved in the regulation of emotion, anxiety and mood. In preclinical animal models, THC and other CB1 agonists produce a biphasic effect on anxiety, with low doses reducing anxiety (by blocking the release of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate) and high doses promoting...
Frontiers in Psychology
February 17, 2017
Vedat Şar
The nature of consciousness and the autonomy of the individual's mind have been a focus of interest throughout the past century and inspired many theories and models. Revival of studies on psychological trauma and dissociation, which remained outside mainstream psychiatry, psychology, and psychoanalysis for the most part of the past century, has provided a new opportunity to revisit this...
Current Psychiatry Reports
January 30, 2017
Annegret Krause-Utz, R. Frost, D. Winter et al.
Dissociation involves disruptions of usually integrated functions of consciousness, perception, memory, identity, and affect (e.g., depersonalization, derealization, numbing, amnesia, and analgesia). While the precise neurobiological underpinnings of dissociation remain elusive, neuroimaging studies in disorders, characterized by high dissociation (e.g., depersonalization/derealization disorder...
CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets
2017
Eric Murillo-Rodriguez, Jose Carlos Pastrana-Trejo, Mireille Salas-Crisóstomo et al.
Cannabinoids are derivatives that are either compounds occurring naturally in the plant, Cannabis sativa or synthetic analogs of these molecules. The first and most widely investigated of the cannabinoids is Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), which is the main psychotropic constituent of cannabis and undergoes significant binding to cannabinoid receptors. These cannabinoid receptors are...
December 15, 2016
M. Ikeda, Misari Oe, K. Ogi et al.
We report a case of posttraumatic stress disorder. A 14 year-old female was hospital-ized due to posttraumatic stress symptoms including nightmare, and depressive symptoms including suicide ideation. A psychoeducation program for nightmare of PTSD based on imagery rescripting was conducted with pharmacotherapy. Her nightmares became less fre-quent and she discharged after the improvement of...
Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment
December 1, 2016
Christine E. Valdez, Andrew M. Sherrill, Michelle M. Lilly
Conventional views purport that mindfulness includes two components: present moment contact (PMC) and nonjudgment. While mindfulness-based interventions that target a broad spectrum of psychopathology, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), emphasize “being present” as a key mechanism toward wellness, researchers have struggled to measure PMC and assess its clinical utility. Is there...
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience
November 29, 2016
Linda Li, Phillip E. Vlisides
382 citations
Ketamine was introduced into clinical practice in the 1960s and continues to be both clinically useful and scientifically fascinating. With considerably diverse molecular targets and neurophysiological properties, ketamine's effects on the central nervous system remain incompletely understood. Investigators have leveraged the unique characteristics of ketamine to explore the invariant,...