Frontier mental health research: psychedelics & drug studies

Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.

2 papers

Legal highs: staying on top of the flood of novel psychoactive substances

David Baumeister, Luis M. Tojo, Derek K. Tracy

This review explains the fast-growing problem of so-called "legal highs", which are better called novel psychoactive substances or NPS. Unknown labs keep making slightly different chemicals to avoid bans, and this led to about 80 new substances being spotted in one year. The paper groups these drugs into five main…

Forensic Toxicology and Drug Analysis Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior Psychedelics and Drug Studies Cannabis Ketamine

A Multi-Level Analysis of Biological, Social, and Psychological Determinants of Substance Use Disorder and Co-Occurring Mental Health Outcomes

Cecilia Ilaria Belfiore, Valeria Galofaro, Deborah Cotroneo, Alessia Lopis, Isabella Tringali, Valeria Denaro, et al.
Psychoactives Summary & key facts 2024 40 citations

Researchers looked at sixty studies to see how biology, social life, and psychology mix together to affect substance use problems and mental health. They found that brain systems, genes, childhood experiences, parenting, personality, and existing mood or anxiety problems all interact. This makes addiction and related psychiatric symptoms complicated, especially…

Bipolar Disorder and Treatment Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development Cannabis Other
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