Psychedelic drugs as new tools in psychiatric therapeutics

Honorary lecture Development of 5-HT receptor complexity within 39 years – from drugs as tools to new therapeutics

This account is based on my own involvement and experience in serotonin (5-HT) receptor research. It began in 1971 when I worked as a postdoc at the Institute of Pharmacology of the University of Hamburg. The person who motivated me was Hans-Georg Baumgarten, a neuroanatomist at that University who introduced an important tool in Neuroscience research, namely 5,7-dehydroxytryptamine, as selecti...

Psychiatry & the psychedelic drugs. Past, present & future

The classical psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide and mescaline, were used extensively in psychiatry before they were placed in Schedule I of the UN Convention on Drugs in 1967. Experimentation and clinical trials undertaken prior to legal sanction suggest that they are not helpful for those with established psychotic disorders and should be avoided in those liab...

Pharmacology: policy implications of new psychiatric drugs.

Omega-Conotoxins as Experimental Tools and Therapeutics in Pain Management

Neuropathic pain afflicts a large percentage of the global population. This form of chronic, intractable pain arises when the peripheral or central nervous systems are damaged, either directly by lesion or indirectly through disease. The comorbidity of neuropathic pain with other diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and AIDS, contributes to a complex pathogenesis and symptom profile. Because m...

Psychedelic and entactogenic drugs in the treatment of depression.

CNS deficiency of 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) has been implicated as a biochemical basis in some forms of depression. Existing drug modalities for treating depression include some with serotonergic effects. Studies suggest that psychedelic drugs are also serotonergic. This may indicate a role for psychedelics in the treatment of depression. Such treatment has already been attempted using ps...