Substance Abuse Treatment Prevention and Policy
May 14, 2022
Victor Mocanu, Lindsay Mackay, Devon Christie et al.
27 citations
International drug policy is changing alongside promising evidence for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) to treat mental health conditions. Canada has expanded therapeutic access, reversing an 8-year ban on medical exemptions through the Special Access Programme in January 2022 and granting the first exemptions for legal possession and personal use of psilocybin mushrooms in 2020, nearly 50 years after criminalization. This piece clarifies factors for safely expanding access to psychedelics. Streamlining safe, evidence-based compassionate use of PAP could offer timely treatment options while encouraging further research and outcome surveillance to refine best practices.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
September 6, 2021
Elena Argento, Devon Christie, Lindsay Mackay et al.
12 citations
The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to have lasting effects on mental health, adding to the pre-existing global burden where 1 billion people suffer from mental health disorders, with depression and anxiety costing US$1 trillion per year. Among hospitalized COVID-19 patients in China, about 96% experienced post-traumatic stress symptoms, and studies of ICU patients with previous coronaviruses show 30-40% rates of PTSD, depression, and anxiety persisting months after discharge. Indirect exposure through media or worry also triggers PTSD. Pandemic conditions—uncertainty, grief, isolation, economic instability, and reduced service access—exacerbate mental health problems and substance use, with fatal overdose spikes in North America disproportionately affecting racialized groups. The authors argue for considering psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy as a novel approach with potential antidepressant, anxiolytic, and anti-addictive effects that may foster connectedness.
Frontiers in Psychiatry
November 3, 2022
Devon Christie, Berra Yazar-Klosinski, Ekaterina Nosova et al.
8 citations
Chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) frequently co-occur and worsen each other. In a Phase 2 open-label trial of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, 84% of 32 participants reported pain and 75% reported pain-related disability. After treatment, those with the highest baseline pain showed significant reductions in pain intensity, disability, and overall severity grade; those with medium baseline pain also showed significant reductions in pain intensity. The findings suggest MDMA-assisted therapy may reduce chronic pain in people with severe PTSD, but the data are preliminary and encourage further research.
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
March 11, 2022
Mark Kang, Lindsay Mackay, Devon Christie et al.
1 citation
Existing treatments for substance use disorders, including medications and psychosocial interventions, have significant shortcomings such as low retention and high relapse rates. Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies are re-emerging as promising adjunctive treatments for addiction and other mental health conditions, but there is a lack of validated metrics to evaluate recovery capital and motivation to change—a crucial factor in positive treatment outcomes. This commentary describes the current state of research and the potential of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy to enhance motivation to change in addiction treatment, and emphasizes the need for validated tools to assess whether these therapies can produce lasting improvements in substance use behaviors.