See end of section below orange swirl for introduction to using free MEDSCAPE links.
Psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline were used experimentally for decades in psychiatry and other areas of medicine, until the counterculture's embrace of [and trafficking in] the agents in the 1960s led to their criminalization. With clinicians in need of more effective psychiatric therapies, hallucinogens are once again being explored for therapeutic value. source below the fold.
Over the past near-decade, increasing discovery of
pharmaceutical industry data not previously available, and of data on adverse drug effects researched but not previously published, has stimulated overdue focus on adverse effects, lack of demonstrable therapeutic effects, mis-administration, mis-prescribing, the role of genetics in drug metabolism capacity, and related efficacy issues. An intense discussion is in progress, including about alternatives.
In psychiatry, concern has been expressed that the pharmaceutical industry is not developing new drugs, (which implicitly underlines dissatisfaction with existing ones,) and that conventional psychotropics have a record of not quite "working" as hoped/expected/desired/advertised more often than was acknowledged previously, particularly when brain damage such as injury or dementia (including the dementias typical of advanced age) is part of the picture ~the patient may exhibit some change of behavior/action, but the change may be more related to sedation, for example, than to remediation of the psychological ailment~ and in connection with relatively new difficult-to-treat diagnoses such as post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD).
In addition, straightforward relief for extreme mental or physical distress, alone or as part of severe illness continually gains credence as objectively valuable adjunctive treatment, (e.g," "Light-up Nation: What Israel can teach America about medical marijuana: Israel sets a new standard for legal medical marijuana research, production and sales" ), even independently of unrealistic expectation of or demand for "correcting" or "curing" patient mood permanently and discontinuing the medication. Functionality is key. Worldwide, patients are less and less accepting of adverse effects of conventional drugs, notably cognitive impairment, even if it's expected to be short-term, citing impact upon holding their jobs, taking care of their families, and aging with reasonable safety.
These and other factors bring renewed interest to psychedelic drugs.
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A recent Special Report from Medscape includes a slideshow, "Psychedelic Medicine: Worth the Trip?" (hover the mouse over the plus symbol to bring up the text for each image) and reasonably skimmable articles entitled:
~Psychedelic Drugs No Risk to Mental Health, Possibly Beneficial
~Ketamine's Efficacy Validated in Major Refractory Depression
~{Psilocybin} May Have a Role in Psychotherapy
and
~Ecstasy-Assisted Psychotherapy Effective, Durable for PTSD
Another article, Tuning In to Psychedelics' Therapeutic Potential, covers some of the same ground at greater length.
Basically, they all ask and try to answer what is really known about these substances that may tell us if they can serve along with conventional psychiatric drugs. (The elephant in the room ~the murder-fraught, society-wrecking, international illicit pleasure-trafficking created largely by customer demand in the wealthiest nations of the world upon some of the poorest~ is barely touched on and left to munch its hay quietly in the middle while the mice chat around the edges.)
Sometime in the hopefully not too distant future, genomics bids fair to revolutionize the entire kaleidoscope into individualized medicine in every field, including psychiatry. Meanwhile, it makes good sense for us to return to some of the roots --botanical and otherwise-- of the world's pharmacopeia, to review sidelined drugs and re-discover what benefit they might be now, rather than rely solely on what the pharmaceutical industry devises next.
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Medscape is a mostly-plain-English news & research report service geared for healthcare professionals but FREE to all who register - "Consumer" can be selected on the PROFESSIONS list in the registration process when first using a Medscape link.
Picking multiple topics for email notification may flood your inbox, because a tremendous number of medical journals worldwide contribute to Medscape, so it's a good idea to start with few, or none.
Many Medscape articles are commentable - if you use a screen-name for privacy, it's worth devising one that won't undermine your impact.
Where articles start with videos of speakers, you can shut sound off if you'd rather just read the transcript below the vid window. Some articles are slideshows with explanatory text accompanying the illustrations and photographs.
Keep in mind that the competitive nature of publishing can skew writing to imply certainties not fully supported by findings, and there are always the basics to watch out for, such as: "Many Studies Have 'Elementary Statistical Errors'". Medical science, like every realm of human endeavor, is a work in progress. Read critically for best results.
Thu Mar 20, 2014 at 1:47 AM PT: LSD for Anxiety: Hallucinogen as Treatment Revisited