Stephen Bright
Edith Cowan University, Australia
Title: What does the international psychedelic science renaissance mean for dual diagnosis
Biography
Biography: Stephen Bright
Abstract
Over the last decade there has been an international psychedelic science renaissance. Investigators at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, UCLA, New York University and Imperial College London have embarked on studies that could be paradigm-changing for psychiatry. These developments overturn a 30-year embargo on psychedelic research that followed political reactions to the 1960s counter-culture movement in the USA and elsewhere. 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is showing promise for the treatment of refractory post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For people who are unable to discuss their trauma, a key component of most psychotherapies, MDMA reduces trauma-associated anxiety while allowing reprocessing of the trauma and subsequent healing. This is significant, as while most medical treatments for PTSD provide symptomatic relief, they do not cure the disease. Meanwhile, an open-label trial of 15 people examining psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of tobacco addiction found 66% of participants remained abstinent at 12 month follow-up. Consequently, the team at Johns Hopkins University is initiating an RCT of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for smoking cessation involving 40 participant. Meanwhile, a proof-of-concept study has found that treatment of alcohol dependence with psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy yielded similarly impressive effects. This team at NYU is now undertaking an RCT of 180 people that includes fMRI scanning. A study by Sessa is investigating the efficacy of MDMA-assisted psychotheraoy with peope experiencing substance use disorders that have co-mobid trauma. Such a treatments have the potential to significantly increase the efficacy of treatments for epoepl with dual diagnosis.