OPEN Foundation

Day: 2 November 2016

Rehabilitating LSD history in postwar America: Dilworth Wayne Woolley and the serotonin hypothesis of mental illness

November 2, 2016 / LSD, Other subjects, Papers, Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychopharmacology, Psychotherapy, Publications / By /

Abstract

Revisiting the history of postwar LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) research illuminates how the work of a chemist at the Rockefeller Institute contributed to the development of a biochemical paradigm for mental functioning. Dilworth Wayne Woolley proposed one of the first theories of the biochemistry of mental illness based on empirical evidence. His research with LSD and serotonin had wide-ranging repercussions for pharmacology and fit neatly into the emerging medicalization of mental illness. Reevaluating Woolley’s ideas and the fruits of psychopharmacology leads to possible new approaches toward mental health and illness when considered alongside lessons learned from past research with psychedelic substances, and exemplifies a broader paradigm shift in cultural studies toward a biopsychosocial model that acknowledges the intersections between biology and culture.

Hewitt, K. (2016). Rehabilitating LSD history in postwar America: Dilworth Wayne Woolley and the serotonin hypothesis of mental illness. History of Science, 0073275316674724.
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Ketamine: NMDA Receptors and Beyond

November 2, 2016 / Depression, Ketamine, Neuroscience, Papers, Psychiatry, Psychology, Psychopharmacology, Psychosis, Psychotherapy / By / , ,

Abstract

Human studies examining the effects of the dissociative anesthetic ketamine as a model for psychosis and as a rapidly acting antidepressant have spurred great interest in understanding ketamine’s actions at molecular, cellular, and network levels. Although ketamine has unequivocal uncompetitive inhibitory effects on N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) and may preferentially alter the function of NMDARs on interneurons, recent work has questioned whether block of NMDARs is critical for its mood enhancing actions. In this viewpoint, we examine the evolving literature on ketamine supporting NMDARs as important triggers for certain psychiatric effects and the possibility that the antidepressant trigger is unrelated to NMDARs. The rapidly evolving story of ketamine offers great hope for untangling and treating the biology of both depressive and psychotic illnesses.
Zorumski, C. F., Izumi, Y., & Mennerick, S. (2016). Ketamine: NMDA receptors and beyond. Journal of Neuroscience, 36(44), 11158-11164. 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1547-16.2016
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30 April - Q&A with Rick Strassman

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