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- Psychedelic Journal Watch
Psychedelic Journal Watch
Keeping health professionals abreast of the latest research in psychedelic medicine
I. Psilocybin Disrupts Typical Brain Pathways
Psilocybin disrupts functional connectivity between the default mode network and the anterior hippocampus, according to Nature.
In this randomized cross-over functional brain mapping study at Washington University in St. Louis, 7 healthy adults underwent MRI imaging after taking either 25mg of psilocybin, 40mg of methylphenidate, or no drug (~18 imaging visits per participant).
The hippocampus is known to play a key role in memory, learning, and emotions; the default mode network is thought to create our sense of space, time, and self. Reduction of hippocampal-default mode network connectivity may represent the neuroanatomical mechanism by which psychedelics produce neuroplastic and therapeutic effects.
According to Ginger Nicol, associate professor of psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and one of the study authors, “when psilocybin is on board, the brain is disconnecting from its typical pathways and reconnecting to different parts of the brain.”
II. One Year Later: LSD Therapeutic Effects Sustained
LSD-assisted therapy shows long-lasting improvements in anxiety, depression, and neuroticism, according to the British Journal of Psychiatry.
In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study, 39 participants were followed up 1 year after receiving LSD-assisted therapy.
Participants reported a significant reduction in anxiety, depression, and neuroticism, as well as a significant increase in extraversion 1 year after LSD-assisted therapy.
According to the authors, “changes in [neuroticism and extraversion] support the long-lasting therapeutic outcomes and indicate a … deep-lying effect of LSD-assisted therapy.”
III. Clinical Efficacy of Ketamine for Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD)
Ketamine is effective for TRD, according to the Journal of Affective Disorders.
Number needed to treat (NNT) is a measure of the average number of patients that need to receive a treatment in order to produce positive benefit in one patient.
In this meta-analysis of 21 studies on ketamine or esketamine, including 2042 participants, NNT was calculated.
NNT was found to be less than 10 across multiple time points, which suggests ketamine is effective for TRD (a difficult to treat psychiatric disorder).
According to the authors, “the results of the NNT analysis herein align with previous studies, which have reported on the rapid and clinically meaningful improvement in depression in adults receiving ketamine and esketamine.”
Nobel Prize winner and inventor of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Dr. Kary Banks Mullis said, "Would I have invented PCR if I hadn't taken LSD? I seriously doubt it. I could sit on a DNA molecule and watch the polymers go by."
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