Depression is common at the end of life, and there is longstanding concern that it may affect terminally ill patients' decisions to request physician-assisted death (PAD). However, it is difficult for clinicians to determine the role of depression in a patient's PAD request. A recent case series described rapid responses to intranasal ketamine in three patie...
Suicidal behaviour is a public health problem whose magnitude is both substantial and increasing. Since many individuals seek medical treatment following a suicide attempt, strategies aimed at reducing further attempts in this population are a valid and feasible secondary prevention approach. An evaluation of the available evidence suggests that existing tre...
Effects of serotonin 2A/1A receptor stimulation by psilocybin on mood and emotion processing in major depressive disorder: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the world's greatest contributor to the global burden of disease and MDD affects around 17% of the Swiss population (Tomonaga et al. 2013). It i...
BackgroundSuicide is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and rates within the United States have risen over the past two decades. Hence, there is a critical need for novel tools to treat suicidal ideation and related mental health conditions. 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)/ecstasy and classic psychedelics may be two such tools.AimsThe aim ...
The available interventions for people who are at risk of suicide have limited efficacy. Recently, research on new mental health treatments has started to consider psychedelic compounds, particularly psilocybin, a molecule with a few thousand years of history of use in human societies. The possible effects of psilocybin on suicidal ideation and behaviors hav...
People with advanced cancer are at heightened risk of desire for hastened death (DHD), suicidal ideation (SI), and completed suicide. Loss of Meaning (LoM), a component of demoralization, can be elevated by a cancer diagnosis and predicts DHD and SI in this population. We completed a randomized controlled trial in which psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PAP...
Anticholinergic toxicity is a relatively uncommon occurrence. When it does occur, it is usually attributed to an overdose of anticholinergic agents, especially in the elderly population. In younger patients, anticholingeric toxicity is usually due to an intentional overdose in a suicide attempt, accidental exposure to jimson weed or deadly nightshade plant, ...
Use of classic psychedelics (e.g., psilocybin, ayahuasca, and lysergic acid diethylamide) is increasing, and psychedelic therapy is receiving growing attention as a novel mental health intervention. Suicidality remains a potential safety concern associated with classic psychedelics and is, concurrently, a mental health concern that psychedelic therapy may sh...
Importance: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a substantial public health burden, but current treatments have limited effectiveness and adherence. Recent evidence suggests that 1 or 2 administrations of psilocybin with psychological support produces antidepressant effects in patients with cancer and in those with treatment-resistant depression. Objective: T...
Anderson et al.’s [[1]Anderson B.T. Danforth A. Daroff R. Stauffer C. Ekman E. Agin-Liebes G. et al.Psilocybin-facilitated group therapy for demoralized older long-term AIDS survivor men: an open-label safety and feasibility pilot study.Eclinical Med. 2020; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100538Summary Full Text Full Text PDF Scopus (74) Google Scholar...
Psilocybin, an active component in "magic mushroom", may have the potential to meet the therapeutic needs for a number of indications without the addictiveness and overdose risk of other mind-altering drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, alcohol, methamphetamine, and so forth. The need for new therapies is urgent because addiction, overdose, and suicide deaths ha...
Fatalities implicating psychedelic mushrooms are not a common clinical situation in everyday forensic medicine. Despite classification as an illegal drug in many countries, psilocybin mushrooms have the reputation of being safe. We report the case of a young man who jumped from a second story balcony under the influence of psilocybin mushrooms. The psilocin ...
BackgroundConventional antidepressants are thought to produce their impact on clinical symptoms by increasing the central availability of biogenic amine neurotransmitters (the monoamine hypothesis of depression). These drugs continue to be the primary medicines used in major depressive disorder. Although they have biological effects after acute dosing, full ...
Acute and enduring adverse effects of psilocybin have been reported anecdotally, but have not been well characterized. For this study, 1993 individuals (mean age 30 yrs; 78% male) completed an online survey about their single most psychologically difficult or challenging experience (worst "bad trip") after consuming psilocybin mushrooms. Thirty-nine percent ...
A recent large population study of 130,000 adults in the United States failed to find evidence for a link between psychedelic use (lysergic acid diethylamide, psilocybin or mescaline) and mental health problems. Using a new data set consisting of 135,095 randomly selected United States adults, including 19,299 psychedelic users, we examine the associations b...
Mental health problems are endemic across the globe, and suicide, a strong corollary of poor mental health, is a leading cause of death. Classic psychedelic use may occasion lasting improvements in mental health, but the effects of classic psychedelic use on suicidality are unknown. We evaluated the relationships of classic psychedelic use with psychological...
Psilocybin/psilocin from so-called psychoactive mushrooms causes hallucinogenic effects. Especially for people with mental or psychiatric disorders ingestion of magic mushrooms may result in horror trips combined with the intention of self-destruction and suicidal thoughts. Automutilation after consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms has already been describ...
