Psilocybin, Depression and Cancer

COMPASS Pathways, a mental health care company dedicated to accelerating patient access to evidence-based innovation in mental health, welcomed the topline data shared today from an open-label study of psilocybin therapy for depression in cancer patients.

Within one week of a single administration of COMP360 psilocybin therapy, 50% of participants achieved remission in depression symptoms, which was sustained for the eight week follow-up period.

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Podcast on Psychedelics

Podcast on psychedelics: the science, research, and medical implications with Dr. Fred Barrett.

Dr. Frederick Barrett is a cognitive neuroscientist with training in behavioral pharmacology. He has been conducting psychedelic research at Johns Hopkins University since 2013. He has explored the effects of psilocybin on the brain, the effects of LSD on the brain’s response to music, and is currently leading a number of ongoing studies aimed at better understanding the psychological, biological, and neural mechanisms underlying the therapeutic efficacy of psychedelic drugs.

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Psychedelics: Highs and Lows

There needs to be a bigger conversation on this:

Psychedelics are rapidly achieving the status of breakthrough therapies based on their potential for human development (Nutt, Erritzoe, & Carhart-Harris, 2020; Schenberg, 2018). At the same time, psychedelics may facilitate experiences of distressing or troubling revelations with unexpected or negative consequences to mental health.

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Making MDMA Legal

Amy Emerson is the Chief Executive Officer at the MAPS Public Benefit Corporation (MAPS PBC), a fully owned subsidiary of the non-profit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).

Working for almost two decades to make MDMA a legal, FDA-approved medicine, Amy began as a pro bono consultant for MAPS in 2003, helping to create MAPS’ clinical department and managing the MDMA Clinical Development Program.

Her painstaking time and efforts have played a key role in seeing MDMA-assisted psychotherapy as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through clinical trials, driving it ever-closer to being a legal, accessible therapeutic treatment in the US and abroad.

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