Journal of psychopharmacology
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J. Psychopharmacol. (Oxford) · Oct 2020
Risk of incident dementia in late-life depression treated with antidepressants: A nationwide population cohort study.
Antidepressants are frequently used to treat depression in patients with dementia. In addition, late-life depression is associated with the incidence of subsequent cognitive impairment or dementia. However, the association between exposure to antidepressants in late-life depression and the development of incident dementia remains understudied. ⋯ Antidepressants did not increase the risk of incident dementia in patients with late-life depression.
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J. Psychopharmacol. (Oxford) · Jun 2020
Observational StudyMicrodosing psychedelics: Demographics, practices, and psychiatric comorbidities.
Microdosing psychedelics - the practice of consuming small, sub-hallucinogenic doses of substances such as LSD or psilocybin - is gaining attention in popular media but remains poorly characterized. Contemporary studies of psychedelic microdosing have yet to report the basic psychiatric descriptors of psychedelic microdosers. ⋯ Well-designed randomized controlled trials are needed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of this practice in clinical populations and to test claims about potential benefits.
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J. Psychopharmacol. (Oxford) · Jun 2020
Evaluating the co-use of opioids and cannabis for pain among current users using hypothetical purchase tasks.
Cannabinoids may potentiate opioid analgesia and therefore could be used to reduce reliance on opioids for analgesia. ⋯ These data provide behavioral economic evidence that cannabis access may modestly reduce demand for opioids in persons who have pain. Additional clinical studies that evaluate the analgesic effects of cannabis and cannabis-opioid effects on pain are warranted.
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J. Psychopharmacol. (Oxford) · May 2020
Randomized Controlled TrialIncreased dopamine availability magnifies nicotine effects on cognitive control: A pilot study.
The ability to adapt to new task demands flexibly and to stabilise performance in the presence of distractors is termed cognitive control and is mediated by dopaminergic and cholinergic neurotransmission. We aimed to test the hypothesis that the effect of the cholinergic agonist nicotine on cognitive control depends on baseline dopamine levels. ⋯ Our data provide preliminary evidence that nicotine has opponent effects on cognitive stability and flexibility. Subjects who received the dopamine precursor L-tyrosine were more prone to nicotine effects on behaviours, which are improvements in cognitive flexibility at the cost of decreased cognitive stability.
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J. Psychopharmacol. (Oxford) · Feb 2020
Long-term follow-up of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for psychiatric and existential distress in patients with life-threatening cancer.
A recently published randomized controlled trial compared single-dose psilocybin with single-dose niacin in conjunction with psychotherapy in participants with cancer-related psychiatric distress. Results suggested that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy facilitated improvements in psychiatric and existential distress, quality of life, and spiritual well-being up to seven weeks prior to the crossover. At the 6.5-month follow-up, after the crossover, 60-80% of participants continued to meet criteria for clinically significant antidepressant or anxiolytic responses. ⋯ These findings suggest that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy holds promise in promoting long-term relief from cancer-related psychiatric distress. Limited conclusions, however, can be drawn regarding the efficacy of this therapy due to the crossover design of the parent study. Nonetheless, the present study adds to the emerging literature base suggesting that psilocybin-facilitated therapy may enhance the psychological, emotional, and spiritual well-being of patients with life-threatening cancer.