Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit, Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, CT, USA; VA Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, USA.
3 papers in the library · 14 citations · publishing 2024-2025
After a single 10 mg oral dose of THC, women reported a heightened subjective feeling of being 'high' compared to men, while psychotomimetic and physiological effects were similar across sexes. No sex differences appeared in verbal learning and memory. The findings suggest that women may experience a more pronounced subjective psychoactive response to THC, pointing to individual vulnerabilities that could inform tailored interventions for cannabis use disorder.
A systematic review of clinical studies on psychedelics for opioid use disorder found few completed trials using serotonergic psychedelics; most investigated ibogaine or ketamine. The evidence is limited by weak study designs focused on opioid withdrawal, few double-blind or placebo-controlled trials, and considerable methodological heterogeneity that makes comparisons across compounds difficult. Most studies had a high risk of bias, mainly due to lack of randomization, blinding, and blinded outcome assessment. The review outlines these limitations and steps to improve the quality of future research in this area.
Virtual reality simulations of psychedelic phenomenology can replicate neurophysiological and behavioral markers of classic serotonergic psychedelics in healthy subjects, suggesting they may serve as an adjunct or replacement for aspects of psychedelic-assisted therapy for alcohol use disorder. The authors propose four clinical applications: preparing patients for psychedelics, extending their efficacy, facilitating integration after dosing, and standardizing the therapeutic set and setting. Virtual reality may also function as a placebo in clinical research and as a tool to study subjective psychedelic experiences. Integrating virtual reality into psychedelic therapy and research could enable new treatment possibilities and implementation pathways.