See also: Family Guy S02E14 Let’s Go to the Hop

Psychological flexibility is a multifaceted construct composed of:

(1) openness to experience (experiential acceptance);

(2) behavioral awareness (i.e., mindful attention to the present moment); and

(3) values-driven action

Lykos’ application is for talk therapy combined with MDMA, commonly called ecstasy, as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.

The FDA granted the application priority review, meaning the agency will review it over six months instead of the standard 10-month timeline. The agency set a target date of Aug. 11 to decide whether to approve the application.

The August target date isn’t the end of the line. Should the FDA approve Lykos’ application, the Drug Enforcement Administration must reschedule MDMA before doctors can prescribe it.

TL;DR:

• A single dose of DMT produced a fast antidepressant response in 55% of patients the day after dosing.

• A durable antidepressant effect was also shown, with 55% of patients in remission from depression at day 29 and 45% in remission at day 85.

• DMT demonstrated a short treatment duration, with acute effects resolving and patients deemed dischargeable within an average time of less than 2 hours.

• DMT was generally well-tolerated with no serious adverse events reported.

The Republican governor of Utah has allowed a bill to become law without his signature that authorizes a pilot program for hospitals to administer psilocybin and MDMA as an alternative treatment option.

Initially focusing on ketamine-assisted therapy, this coverage is designed to include psilocybin and MDMA once they are legalized for therapy in Canada.

Abstract:

Current research suggests that ketamine-assisted psychotherapy has benefit for the treatment of mental disorders. We report on the results of ketamine-assisted intensive outpatient psychotherapeutic treatment of a client with treatment-resistant, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of experiences of racism and childhood sexual abuse.

The client’s presenting symptoms included hypervigilance, social avoidance, feelings of hopelessness, and intense recollections. These symptoms impacted all areas of daily functioning.

Psychoeducation was provided on how untreated intergenerational trauma, compounded by additional traumatic experiences, potentiated the client’s experience of PTSD and subsequent maladaptive coping mechanisms.

Ketamine was administered four times over a 13-day span as an off-label, adjunct to psychotherapy. Therapeutic interventions and orientations utilized were mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP).

New skills were obtained in helping the client respond effectively to negative self-talk, catastrophic thinking, and feelings of helplessness. Treatment led to a significant reduction in symptoms after completion of the program, with gains maintained 4 months post-treatment.

This case study demonstrates the effective use of ketamine as an adjunct to psychotherapy in treatment-resistant PTSD.

In a recent study, a group of scientists investigated adults who had been victims of childhood abuse. Through collecting data from various questionnaires, they compared symptoms of C-PTSD between those who had used psychedelics in an intentional therapeutic way, with those who hadn’t.

The scientists found that adults who had used psychedelics multiple times with therapeutic intent had lower scores on a DSO scale - a measure of C-PTSD core features including low self-worth, problems with regulating emotions, and difficulties in relationships. Their results also showed those who had an increased number of intentional psychedelic uses revealed decreased levels of self-shame, another common C-PTSD symptom.

The gold standard in the context of medical trials is the double-blind randomized trial. In such trials, the response to a potential therapeutic agent is measured relative to the response to an inactive placebo.

Psychedelics are thought to be powerful therapeutic agents. Some psychedelics may be therapeutic even at sub-perceptual doses, but it is likely that some therapeutic benefit can be obtained at psychoactive doses, and - in some cases - the psychoactive experience itself may contribute to the therapeutic effect.

The problem that this review addresses is: How do you run a blind trial with a placebo when the "active" ingredient is expected to produce a psychoactive experience? Participants are by definition not supposed to know whether they took the placebo or the active agent... but someone who experiences a powerful psychoactive experience is unlikely to remain "blind".

The review goes over some ideas such as the use of "active placebo comparators" which are psychoactive substances that are different enough to the substance under test.

An argument is also made for a paradigm shift: let's move away from double blinded placebo trials as the global gold standard and establish alternative methods to show efficacy - such as "pragmatic clinical trial designs".

I was going through the literature and thought this was an interesting topic to share and discuss. What do you think? 😄

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/12684314

How psilocybin, the psychedelic in mushrooms, may rewire the brain to ease depression, anxiety and more

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10996654

Ketamine’s remarkable effect bolsters a new theory of mental illness.