Since childhood, Rachael Petersen had lived with an unexplainable sense of grief that no drug or talk therapy could entirely ease. So in 2017 she volunteered for a small clinical trial at Johns Hopkins University that was testing psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, for chronic depression.
Currently, there is an unmet need for the development of rapid-acting antidepressants aimed at treatment-resistant patients with either major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar disorder. A review of existing treatment options, as well as future possibilities, was published in Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences.
Date:July 31, 2019
Source:Johns Hopkins Medicine Summary:
In a new paper, the researchers clarify the mechanism behind ketamine’s mechanism of action in hopes of restoring the therapy’s standing among health care professionals and the public.
SARASOTA — This month’s decision by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to offer a psychedelic drug to treat post-traumatic stress disorder while marijuana remains off limits is leaving some stakeholders flummoxed amid the ongoing wave of veteran suicides.