Journal of Psychopharmacology最新文献

Background: In recent years, both meditation and psychedelics have attracted rapidly increasing scientific interest. While the current state of evidence suggests the promising potential of psychedelics, such as psilocybin, to enhance meditative training, it remains equivocal whether these effects are specifically bound to psilocybin or if other classical psychedelics might show synergistic effects with meditation practice. One particularly promising candidate is N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), an active ingredient of ayahuasca.

Aim: This study aims to investigate the effect of the psychedelic substance DMT, combined with the monoamine oxidase inhibitor harmine (DMT-harmine), on meditative states, compared to meditation with a placebo.

Method: Forty experienced meditators (18 females and 22 males) participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study over a 3-day meditation retreat, receiving either placebo or DMT-harmine. Participants' levels of mindfulness, compassion, insight, and transcendence were assessed before, during, and after the meditation group retreat, using psychometric questionnaires.

Results: Compared to meditation with a placebo, meditators who received DMT and harmine self-attributed greater levels of mystical-type experiences, non-dual awareness, and emotional breakthrough during the acute substance effects and, when corrected for baseline differences, greater psychological insight 1 day later. Mindfulness and compassion were not significantly different in the DMT-harmine group compared to placebo. At 1-month follow-up, the meditators who received DMT and harmine rated their experience as significantly more personally meaningful, spiritually significant, and well-being-enhancing than the meditators who received placebo.

Conclusion: Investigating the impact of DMT-harmine on meditators in a naturalistic mindfulness group retreat, this placebo-controlled study highlights the specific effects of psychedelics during meditation.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT05780216.

Introduction: This review addresses the prevalence of hypersexual behavior in Parkinson's patients and the underlying neurobiological mechanisms, identifying risk and protective factors, comparing incidence among different treatments, and proposing recommendations for management and prevention.

Objective: To conduct a review on the relationship between Parkinson's disease and hypersexual behavior as a result of pharmacological treatment.

Methodology: The search strategy, guided by PRISMA and PICOS criteria, focuses on the correlation between Parkinson's disease and hypersexual behavior due to pharmacological treatment. Utilizing databases like PubMed and Proquest, studies from the last 10 years in English or Spanish were selected, emphasizing clinical trials with Parkinson's patients under treatment. Inaccessible, irrelevant, or mixed-sample studies were excluded. The Cochrane Scale assessed the risk of bias.

Results: Out of 122 records, 103 remained after eliminating duplicates; 48 were reviewed, and ultimately, 6 studies met the inclusion criteria for analysis.

Conclusions: Synthesizing the risk and protective factors linked to hypersexual behavior in Parkinson's patients receiving pharmacological treatment underscores the critical need for early detection and incorporation of these factors into clinical care. The suggested guidelines for managing and preventing hypersexual behavior in these patients carry substantial practical implications.

The letter about the article "Ketamine for treatment-resistant major depressive disorder: Double-blind active-controlled crossover study" that discusses some points about methodology, outcome measures, and results.

Observational studies suggest a potential correlation between antidepressants and increased lung cancer risks. However, existing studies are limited to small sample sizes, unadjusted covariates especially smoking status, and unclear exposure duration. We performed a large-scale retrospective cohort study to re-examine the association. We analyzed non-smokers and smokers separately to eliminate the confounding effect of smoking status. We found patients with long-term antidepressant use were at a lower risk of lung cancer in both smokers and non-smokers (odds ratio (OR), 0.61; 95% CI: 0.46-0.80, OR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.65-0.86). None of the antidepressants was associated with an increased lung cancer risk.