Depression can be an almost intolerable burden to live with. While antidepressants help many to soothe their symptoms, many others find no relief in these substances. A decades-old drug, ketamine, is now offering hope to many of these people. Ketamine was first discovered in 1962.
"We're particularly interested in training students to enter the growth pharmaceutical industry surrounding the use of these substances, providing them with the tools to understand the data and also to work in an ethical manner and adhere to all the regulatory pieces surrounding the use of these compounds," he said.
Canada-based Algernon announced its clinical program in January based in part on a preclinical study published last year in Experimental Neurology by researchers from Semmelweis University, which showed DMT can promote neurogenesis and neuroplasticity in a rat model of brain ischemia.
The most common supervisor was a friend or partner, followed by a shamen (a spiritual practitioner), a therapist or counsellor and a family member. The most commonly used substances taken under supervision were LSD, magic mushrooms and ayahuasca.
Psychedelic drugs essentially work opposite of an SSRI. While an SSRI inhibits serotonin processing in the brain to keep a more steady supply, psychedelics flood the brain’s neurotransmitters with chemical compounds present in the drugs that are similar to serotonin.
