Study identifies cognitive benefits of ketamine in patients with treatment-resistant depression

By The Conversation | December 8, 2022

Which fac­tors deter­mine what we believe about our world, our­selves, our past, and our future? Cog­ni­tive neu­ro­science sug­gests that our beliefs are depen­dent on brain activ­i­ty, specif­i­cal­ly on the way our brains process sen­so­ry infor­ma­tion in order to make sense of our envi­ron­ment. These beliefs (defined as prob­a­bil­i­ty esti­mates) are cen­tral to our brain’s predictive…

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Why MDMA-assisted psychotherapy may become an FDA-approved treatment for PTSD within 2 years

By The Conversation | December 21, 2021

For peo­ple with post-trau­­mat­ic stress dis­or­der, recall­ing mem­o­ries of phys­i­cal or sex­u­al assault, com­bat or dis­­as­ter-relat­ed events can induce intense anx­i­ety or pan­ic attacks as well as debil­i­tat­ing flash­backs. In the U.S., about 7% of peo­ple suf­fer from PTSD and lose an aver­age of about four work­ing days each month as a result. Trau­­ma-spe­­cif­ic psychotherapy,…

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Next: Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy?

By SharpBrains | February 4, 2021

How ecsta­sy and psilo­cy­bin are shak­ing up psy­chi­a­try (Nature): … The Impe­r­i­al study was one of a spate of clin­i­cal tri­als launched over the past few years using illic­it psy­che­del­ic drugs such as psilo­cy­bin, lyser­gic acid diethy­lamide (LSD) and MDMA (3,4‑methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also known as mol­ly or ecsta­sy) to treat men­­tal-health dis­or­ders, gen­er­al­ly with the close…

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