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Abstract
Background and aims
Interest in psychedelic research has grown significantly in recent years and the naturally derived substance psilocybin, in combination with therapy, has shown promising results as a treatment for a range of psychiatric conditions. However, the negative effects and risks of psilocybin-assisted treatment are not well-established. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential negative effects of psilocybin-assisted psychological interventions in both the short and long term.
Method
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight psychedelic treatment providers and facilitators. Their content was thematically interpreted.
Results
Three themes of short-term negative effects were identified. They included negative reactions to psilocybin dosing sessions, undesirable processes in the therapeutic relationship, and difficult self-experiences. Four themes of long-term negative effects were identified. They included destabilization of the client, difficulties adapting to life post-treatment, complications in the treatment relationship, and undesirable outcomes.
Conclusions
These results highlight the multifaceted challenges clients may face, emphasizing the need for thorough pre-intervention assessment and post-intervention support. The findings both confirm previous research and highlight new aspects that can contribute to increased safety and be relevant for clinical implementation. Further rigorous research is needed to ensure safety, establish ethical guidelines, and optimize the positive effects of these experimental medicines. Integrating various research approaches and types of measurements will be vital to further our understanding of negative effects of psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Abstract
Background and Aims
Despite increasing public acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community and psychedelic medicines, published accounts of queer psychedelia are limited. Specifically, the queer nature of psychedelics and the parallels between narratives of being queer and of psychedelic experiences, are lacking. This report brings queer experiences of psychedelia out of the metaphorical closet and argues for the development of Queer Affirming models of Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy (QA-PAP).
Methods
This knowledge report examines the extant psychedelic literature as it relates to queerness, and positions it against reports of rising anti-2SLGBTQ+ sentiments, and legislation aimed at dismantling civil liberties.
Results
Specifically in Canada, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom, the current socio-political climate fosters increasingly positive attitudes towards psychedelic medicine, while recently won 2SLGBTQ+ civil rights are under attack. The convergence of these trends means the psychedelic community must guard against repetition of mistakes made during the first wave of psychedelic research.
Conclusions
Including queer narratives within psychedelic research is integral to the equitable, safe, effective and accessible implementation of emerging modalities of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies (PAP), and to ensure that ethical standards protect patients from sexual and gender based violence.
Abstract
Background and Aims
This study addresses the scarcity of research on Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) in non-Western cultures and women, exploring its prevalence, sociodemographic, sexual history characteristics, and sexual and psychological health factors in Iranian married women.
Methods
A cross-sectional study involving 772 heterosexual married women was conducted between 2022 and 2023, covering all 31 provinces of Iran. Participants were categorized as CSBD+ (at-risk individuals) and CSBD− (low-risk individuals) based on a pre-established cut-off point of ≥18 by the Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder Scale −7. Depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, self-esteem, sexual distress, sexual satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, and sexual dysfunction were assessed as psychological and sexual health variables by standardized scales.
Results
The prevalence of CSBD was 3.8% in women. Linear regression analysis showed that lower education, being jobless, substance use, pornography use, paraphilic behaviors, conflict on sex frequency, relationship, orgasm and sexual dissatisfaction, higher sexual arousal, depression, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms were positively associated with CSBD. The univariate analysis, at a stringent significance level of 0.005, mirrored the regression findings. Additionally, women with CSBD+ exhibited lower religiousness and higher anxiety compared to those without CSBD−.
Discussion and Conclusions
Raising awareness of CSBD is crucial for health systems and individuals for better policy-making and help-seeking behavior. Identifying risk factors like substance use presents opportunities for prevention, and the association of CSBD with sexual and mental health variables suggests addressing co-occurring issues for improved treatment outcomes. Recognizing culture and gender-specific sexual and psychological correlates enables targeted and effective treatment approaches.
Abstract
Background and aims
While the concept of recovery is receiving increasing attention in the context of gambling disorder (GD), no consensus has yet been reached regarding its definition. This scoping review aims to map the literature on GD recovery, identify gaps, and provide insights for a more holistic and patient-centred perspective.
Methods
A systematic search of three databases was conducted (PubMed, PsycINFO, and ScienceDirect). Based on the method by which the results of these studies were produced, the studies included were sorted into four categories (quantitative, instrument validation, qualitative, and mixed studies) and subsequently examined using conceptual analysis.
Results
One hundred thirteen articles were included in this research after the screening process. In the quantitative and instrument validation studies, recovery was defined or operationalized in terms of abstinence, the absence of a GD diagnosis, or mild GD severity, or by reference to treatment outcomes or controlled gambling. A meta-synthesis of the results of the qualitative studies revealed four core features of recovery (insight, empowerment and commitment, wellbeing enhancement, and reconsideration of the issue of relapse).
Discussion
Discrepancies in definitions, outcomes, and variables used were evident across studies. Additionally, the quantitative and standardized approaches employed in most studies exhibited severe limitations with regard to defining recovery from the subjective and multidimensional perspectives of people recovering from GD.
Conclusions
This lack of definitional clarity emphasizes the necessity for further qualitative research. This research should encompass multiple stakeholder perspectives to develop a working definition promoting recovery from a holistic, patient-centred, and tailored approach.
Abstract
Background
Hypotheses surrounding the etiology of depressive disorders encompass a wide range of biological changes that can occur in a depressed individual, from gene variations to epigenetic modifications and not only serotonergic mechanisms. Once again, the therapy response of the patient to antidepressants is connected to modifications in the epigenetic regulation of genes within the serotonergic system. The persistence of depressive symptoms points to the possibility that stable molecular adaptations in the brain, particularly at the epigenetic level, may be involved.
Methods
Narrative review to first, discuss the historical evidence behind how serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) signaling and its associated actors are involved in various biological processes and second, examine the role of ketamine as one of the newer treatments for depression.
Results
There is increasing evidence that responses to psychotherapy for mood disorders are correlated with epigenetic alterations. Although therapy response appears to be associated with epigenetic changes in genes regulating the serotonergic system, there are multiple lines of research that provide additional data implicating epigenetic alterations in the glutamatergic system. Also, the epigenetic regulation of target genes along the HPA axis are becoming more intriguing in linking mood disorders with environmental stressors, and warrant a closer look. Recent research suggests that ketamine's antidepressant effects may be linked to epigenetic alterations. Considering the multiple studies linking BDNF with depression, further exploration of its relation with ketamine in the context of epigenetic signaling is warranted.
Conclusion
Understanding how and to what extent epigenetic mechanisms change gene expression and how these changes are influenced by environmental stressors may eventually allow mental health professionals to better understand the biological basis of depression as well as to gauge the efficacy, onset, durability and duration of therapies to treat mood disorders. Moreover, understanding the relation between serotonergic neurotransmission and epigenetic mechanisms of how these may be modified by ketamine should lead us to a greater knowledge of their therapeutic potential.
Abstract
As reliable facilitators of characteristically unique altered states of consciousness that are notoriously difficult to comprehend, psychedelics naturally attract a multidisciplinary scope for their research, with direct relevance to neuroscience, pharmacology, psychology, as well as philosophy of mind, metaphysics, and epistemology — disciplines united by the common inquiry into the nature of conscious experience. Accordingly, the central focus of this paper concerns the metaphysical debate between internalism and externalism about whether psychedelic phenomenology — in particular, its ‘breakthrough’ level — could be said to directly ontologically depend on external factors, as well as the interpretive implications arising from each of those positions. The main contributions of the author of this paper include the provision of a coherent account of the essential phenomenal characteristics of psychedelic experiences, the integration of relatively fragmented philosophical debates on psychedelic phenomenology into the traditional internalist-externalist framework in metaphysics, as well as the exploration of the extent to which the externalist position on psychedelic phenomenology — traditionally associated with non-naturalism — is compatible with naturalistic explanatory frameworks. In Part 1, psychedelic phenomenology will be outlined first, after which the central inquiries of this paper will be contextualised and qualified. In Part 2, the internalist position on psychedelic phenomenology — both its strong and weak versions — will be discussed. In Part 3, the externalist position will be explored, which will be followed by a final evalutation between the three positions presented in this paper. The paper will conclude in favour of the weak internalist position, and that whilst the externalist position remains significantly more speculative than both the strong and the weak internalist positions, the externalist position cannot be rejected altogether until further progress in consciousness research is made.
Abstract
Workplace learning is a necessity for the organizational growth of all types of organizations, including higher education institutions. There are different directions proposed on how to make the implementation of workplace learning realistic, however, the best practices in one context may not apply well in another. This paper investigated the conditions required for the implementation of workplace learning in the case study of Laotian higher education. Firstly, 12 faculty members were invited to a semi-structured interview. The study employed a deductive category assignment of QCA in analyzing the data. The findings revealed that three conditions, namely, individual-related, organizational-related, and environmental-related conditions, appear to be key and are taken into account in developing favorable workplace learning. A further quantitative study in this area is strongly recommended.
A szociálisprobléma-megoldás és a szorongás jellemzői perfekcionista és nem perfekcionista serdülők körében – egy longitudinális vizsgálat eredményei
Characteristics of social problem-solving and anxiety among perfectionist and non-perfectionist adolescents – First results of a longitudinal study
Háttér és célkitűzések
A maladaptív perfekcionizmussal jellemzett serdülők szociálisprobléma-megoldásának egyik igen fontos jellemzője a problémához való negatív viszonyulás, illetve a problémahelyzetből való minél gyorsabb kilépés, ha úgy érzékelik, megoldásuk nem felel meg maximálisan az általuk vagy a környezetük által megfogalmazott elvárásoknak. A kétéves (2021–2022) követéses vizsgálat első mérési pontján 11–12 éves és 16–17 éves diákok (N2021 = 305, N2022 = 290) körében vizsgáltuk, milyen arányban fordul elő körükben adaptív és maladaptív perfekcionista, milyen különbség azonosítható kortársakkal kapcsolatos problémáik megoldásában, bevonva az elemzésbe a szorongást is, mivel ennek szerepe az elkerülő viselkedésben és főként a maladaptív perfekcionizmusban jelentős.
Módszer
A szociálisprobléma-megoldás jellemzőit a Social Problem-Solving Inventory–Revised (D’Zurilla és mtsai, 2002), az állapot- és a vonásszorongást a State–Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (Sipos és mtsai, 1978) kérdőívvel vizsgáltuk. A perfekcionizmust az Almost Perfect Scale Revised (Slaney és mtsai, 2001) és az Frost Multidimensiol Perfectionism Scale (Frost és mtsai, 1990) eszközzel tártuk fel, melyekkel együttesen a személyes, a környezettől származó és külön a szülői elvárások, a kételkedés, a hibázástól való félelem, a megfelelés hiányának érzése és a rendezettség, rendszeretet jellemzői azonosíthatók.
Eredmények
Mindkét évben közel hasonló a nem perfekcionisták, az adaptív és a maladaptív perfekcionisták aránya, mely arányok egy év elteltével nem változtak, és mindkét életkorban a perfekcionisták harmada a maladaptív perfekcionizmus jeleit mutatja. A maladaptív perfekcionistákra jellemző legnagyobb mértékben a negatív problémaorientáció és az elkerülő viselkedés, utóbbi – főként az idősebbeknél – a vonás- és állapotszorongással és a szülői kritikával együtt markáns hatással bír a maladaptív perfekcionista diákok személyes elvárásaira és a megfelelés hiányának érzésére.
Következtetések
Ezek az eredmények többnyire alátámasztják a külföldi kutatási adatokat, és arra hívják fel a figyelmet, hogy az iskolai nevelés során mindenképpen szükséges a jelenleginél mélyrehatóbban foglalkozni a perfekcionizmus serdülőkori megjelenésével, felismerésével, okaival, alakulásával és következményeivel, megfelelő pedagógiai eszközökkel segíteni az adaptivitás erősödését, illetve kezelése során figyelembe kell venni más területekkel való kapcsolatát. E longitudinális felmérésből is úgy látszik, a maladaptív perfekcionizmusnak a társas problémák nem hatékony megoldásával és a szorongással is egyre szorosabb a kapcsolata serdülőkorban, mely kapcsolatrendszer kevésbé hatékony életvezetést eredményezhet mind társas, mind teljesítményhelyzetekben.
