This is an open-label trial evaluating feasibility, tolerability, safety and efficacy of psilocybin assisted cognitive processing therapy for chronic Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Current front-line treatments for Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are ineffective for up to half of patients, with serious medical and societal consequences. It is imp...
The proposed open-label, controlled study at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research (CPCR) will test the following primary hypotheses in adult patients with chronic PTSD who are currently taking a serotonin reuptake inhibitor: psilocybin therapy will be feasible and safe for participants, significantly remediate PTSD symptoms, an...
The goal of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the efficacy of psilocybin administered with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) as an intervention to reduce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom burden in adult (aged 18-65) survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). This trail will test the following 2 aims: AIM1: To compare the e...
Novel interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) leverage the psychoactive properties of psychedelic compounds, such as ketamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine and psilocybin, which may overcome limitations of conventional treatments. Through the modulation of pathways involved in synaptic plasticity, psychedelic interventions are believed t...
Introduction: Psilocybin, a serotonergic psychedelic, has shown therapeutic potential in treating mental health disorders by, amongst the many effects, promoting neuroplasticity and reorganising functional connectivity across cortical and subcortical networks involved in emotion and cognition. Veterans with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) often experience chr...
BACKGROUND: Psychedelic treatment is a rapidly emerging therapeutic approach for a host of chronic, difficult to treat psychiatric disorders, including anorexia nervosa (AN). Trauma and its sequelae, such as dissociation, often contribute to comorbidity and treatment refractoriness. AIMS: In this report, we describe the therapeutic emergence of previously di...
This retrospective case study features a woman in her mid-50s who spent her childhood in a religious community plagued by sexual abuse of children. She was abused by her father for more than a decade. The church and her mother ignored her reports about it. In her early twenties, she enrolled herself in the Erhard Seminars Training program that destabilized h...
BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects 3.9% of the general population. While massed cognitive processing therapy (CPT) has demonstrated efficacy in treating chronic PTSD, a substantial proportion of patients still continue to meet PTSD criteria after treatment, highlighting the need for novel therapeutic approaches. Preliminary evidence sup...
5-MeO-DMT is a psychedelic substance with a short duration of action and intensive effects. Its therapeutic efficacy and practicality may significantly surpass those of classical psychedelics such as ayahuasca and LSD. This retrospective ethnographic inquiry features a woman in her mid-thirties who witnessed her mother's violent suicide and its bloody afterm...
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex disorder expressed as a variety of neurobiological symptoms, including anxiety, re-experiencing, hyperarousal, and avoidance symptoms, along with comorbidities such as anxiety, depression, and increased risk for self-medicating substance abuse. Currently, there are only two approved medications in the United...
This Special Issue of Neuropharmacology on psychedelics provides a timely and comprehensive update on progress following the previous Neuropharmacology Special Issue "Psychedelics: New Doors, Altered Perceptions". Remarkable advances have been made in basic and clinical research on psychedelics in the five years since 2018. It is partly based on the seminar ...
Inflammation is an organism’s biological defense mechanism. Acute and chronic inflammation of the body triggers the production of pro- and anti-inflammatory pathways that can affect the content of cytokines in the brain and thus cause brain inflammation. Disorders such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are often associated with elevated ...
In medicine, psychedelics were initially considered as a tool for clinicians to understand psychotic states. Based on the presented case data, a reversal of that concept is proposed: psychedelics could be conceptualized as a tool for people chronically anxious and depressed since early childhood to understand ordinary states of mind (e.g. calmness, hopefulne...
The on-boarding of unregulatable trauma in the United States has reached 20%, which is 1/5 of the population. A population of this magnitude, by definition has now reached an epidemic classification. The population with chronic illness as stated: PTSD, Chronic Depression, MS, HIV, and SARS-CoV-2- Long Haulers Syndrome. These chronic conditions/illnesses many...
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a significant public health concern for which existing therapies are only marginally effective. Indisputably, the primary line of treatment for PTSD is psychotherapy, according to current treatment guidelines. However, PTSD continues to be a chronic condition even after psychotherapy, with high psychiatric and medical...
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), characterized by abnormally persistent and distressing memories, is a chronic debilitating condition in need of new treatment options. Current treatment guidelines recommend psychotherapy as first line management with only two drugs, sertraline and paroxetine, approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for trea...
IntroductionTreatment outcomes for PTSD with current psychological therapies are poor, with very few patients achieving sustained symptom remission. A number of authors have identified physiological and immune disturbances in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) patients, but there is no unifying hypothesis that explains the myriad features of the disorder....
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating, chronic disorder and efficacy rates of current PTSD treatments are underwhelming. There is a critical need for innovative approaches. We provide an overview of trauma and PTSD and cite literature providing converging evidence of the therapeutic potential of psilocybin for PTSD. No study to date has inve...
Introduction Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often a chronic condition, despite the existence of evidence-based treatment options. Psychotherapy is the designated first line treatment for PTSD, although high rates of psychiatric and medical comorbidity are observed among patients who have undergone treatment. The psychoactive properties of psychedel...
There are few medications with demonstrated efficacy for the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Treatment guidelines have unequivocally designated psychotherapy as a first line treatment for PTSD. Yet, even after psychotherapy, PTSD often remains a chronic illness, with high rates of psychiatric and medical comorbidity. Meanwhile, the search ...