The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
March 12, 2020
Erwin Krediet, Tijmen Bostoen, Joost J. Breeksema et al.
262 citations
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often remains chronic after psychotherapy, and few effective medications exist. A promising new approach involves psychedelic drugs. This review discusses four compound types: MDMA, ketamine, classical psychedelics (psilocybin, LSD), and cannabinoids. It describes each compound's therapeutic rationale, administration setting, and current evidence for treating PTSD. Each offers unique qualities, from rapidly targeting symptoms to facilitating psychotherapy. The review outlines questions for future research.
Npj mental health research
October 6, 2024
Jack D C Dahan, David Dadiomov, Tijmen Bostoen et al.
13 citations
Subjective effects of psychedelics like ketamine and psilocybin appear to play a modest role in their therapeutic outcomes for depression and substance use disorder. A meta-analysis of 23 ketamine studies (471 patients) and 8 psilocybin studies (183 patients) found that subjective experiences explained 5–10% of therapeutic improvement for ketamine and 24% for psilocybin. Psilocybin showed a greater mediating effect than ketamine, especially for depression. Substance use disorder treatment showed a larger mediating effect than depression, regardless of the drug.
International review of neurobiology
January 1, 2025
Stephan Tap, Tijmen Bostoen, Joost Breeksema et al.
4 citations
Patients with life-threatening disease often experience end-of-life distress—physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual suffering linked to chronic illness and the prospect of death. Palliative care aims to improve quality of life, but current psychological and pharmacological interventions show inconclusive evidence with only short- to moderate effects and often require months to work. Over the past decade, psychedelic-assisted therapy has been investigated for addressing end-of-life distress, producing highly significant and sometimes sustained decreases in depression and death anxiety, along with improvements in meaning, spiritual well-being, optimism, life satisfaction, and attitudes toward disease. This chapter describes end-of-life distress, its prevalence, limitations of palliative interventions, the evidence for psychedelic-assisted therapy, why it may work for these patients, and future directions.
International review of neurobiology
January 1, 2025
Tijmen Bostoen, Stephan Tap, Joost Breeksema et al.
1 citation
MDMA-assisted therapy shows substantial and sustained reductions in PTSD symptoms, especially for patients resistant to conventional treatments. Over the past two decades, it has emerged as one of the most promising psychedelic treatments, with the FDA designating it a 'breakthrough therapy' in 2017. However, due to methodological concerns such as unblinding and potential expectancy effects, the FDA decided in 2024 not to approve it for clinical use, requiring additional research. The chapter examines psychological and neurobiological mechanisms of action, methodological challenges, and future directions for psychedelic-assisted therapies for PTSD.