Session Details

CME: Magic Mushrooms and the Psychedelic Trip: Potential Role in Psychiatry?

Feb 20 2025

10:45 AM - 11:45 AM EDT

Grand Ballroom West

Psychedelics are old compounds that for many years were excluded from clinical trial research due to their classification as Schedule I compounds with high risk of abuse. Due to their ability to produce changes in mood, perception and cognition, they are now being tested more and more for a variety of psychiatric disorders. Increased “psychological flexibility” or the ability to make the brain open to change seems central to their effect. While their exact mechanism of action is not fully understood, it may involve serotonin receptor agonism, actions on the default mode network and increased neuronal plasticity.    

Active research programs in this area have focused primarily on psilocybin with some early promising results in major depression. MDMA recently did not receive FDA approval for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.  Studies have also focused on other compounds including lysergic acid and other conditions such as bipolar disorder and substance use disorders.  Controversies remain and include how to best measure the psychological effects of psychedelics, what should be the role of psychotherapy in drug delivery and how to best manage access to these drugs while preventing inadvertent abuse.

Session Learning Objectives:

1.) Review proposed putative therapeutic mechanisms for psychedelics.

2.) Evaluate the clinical trial database for psychedelics in mood, anxiety and substance use disorders.

3.) Recall controversies in the use of psychedelics as a mental health treatment.

Speakers

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

- Associate Profressor

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