Coverage of department activities and its faculty in the general media.

2024

April

Cannabis constituent key to easing THC-induced anxiety? (study) - Medscape
"People use cannabis to help reduce anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder, but since THC levels vary widely, if a person overshoots their tolerance of THC, cannabis can induce anxiety rather than relieve it," senior investigator Ryan Vandrey, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said in a news release. "Our study demonstrates that D-limonene can modulate the effects of THC in a meaningful way and make THC more tolerable to people using it for both therapeutic and non-therapeutic purposes," he added.

Suicides make up majority of gun deaths, but remain overlooked in gun violence debate - NPR
Paul Nestadt, a psychiatrist and professor at Johns Hopkins University, is one of the country's leading researchers in suicide and what leads to it. He says most people don't know how prevalent suicide is because we shy away from the topic in our personal relationships and in the media. "When there's a mass shooting or homicides, there's a lot more coverage, and of course, those are very tragic, but suicides kind of slip under the radar a little bit," Nestadt said.

Chemical found in cannabis plants can actually reduce cannabis-induced anxiety (study) - Earth
The study was conducted by Tory Spindle, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He and his team aimed to investigate the anxiety-reducing effects of d-limonene in humans when combined with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive component in cannabis.

First US adult ADHD guidelines finally on the way? - Medscape
The initiative comes under the auspices of the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD). David Goodman, MD, a member of the APSARD guidelines executive committee and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, noted that the US lags behind several other nations, including Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand, who already have guidelines in place.

What doctors want you to know about beta blockers for anxiety - New York Times
Patients are typically only prescribed a few pills for specific situations where they might experience performance anxiety, said Dr. Joseph Bienvenu, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. But some online companies dole out as many as 48 at a time. Dr. Bienvenu advises patients to initially try the medication on the weekend, or “when you don’t have anything else to do.” “I just want people to know how it’s going to affect them,” he said.

Adderall prescriptions have been filled less often amid ongoing shortage in the US - CNN
Federal agencies have been interested in understanding why prescription rates have increased recently, along with the methods for diagnosing ADHD, particularly related to misuse and diversion of medications like Adderall, said Dr. David Goodman, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine who is also on the executive board of the American Professional Society for ADHD and Related Disorders. “The question is, ‘What is now perpetuating the shortage?’ And that’s not a question that’s been adequately answered,” he said.

March

Adderall & Ritalin linked to slightly elevated risk of this heart disorder - Forbes
A 2023 JAMA Psychiatry study urged psychiatrists to consider and monitor heart health before prescribing ADHD stimulants to patients. In a CNN Health article, David Goodman, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine said: "When we get into clinical practice, these changes are relatively insignificant in ordinarily healthy adults. You need to measure the benefit of the treatment against the relatively small risks, and patients will say benefits are tremendous and I wouldn’t want to give this up."

The psychedelic evangelist - New York Times
Before he died last year, Roland Griffiths was arguably the world’s most famous psychedelics researcher.... Dr. Griffiths and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins University received widespread recognition among scientists and the popular press, helping to pull the psychedelic field from the deep backwater of the 1960s hippie movement.

1 in 5 maternal deaths are from suicide. Why is it so hard to get help? - Baltimore Sun
Research shows that less than a quarter of women who test positive for depression receive mental health treatment. Black women are even less likely to be screened and receive treatment than white women — even though they’re more likely to experience perinatal mood disorders, said Dr. Lindsay Standeven, clinical and education director of the Johns Hopkins Reproductive Mental Health Center.

The psychedelic AI found - Politico
Microsoft is joining a host of health providers — including the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Mass General Brigham and Vanderbilt University Medical Center — to improve artificial intelligence’s safety, efficiency, reliability and trustworthiness.

Sickle cell pain hospitalizations rose after CDC's opioid recs (study) - MedPage Today
"People with SCD are treated with excessive suspicion of faking pain and 'drug-seeking,' and are frequently undertreated for acute pain -- and there's good evidence that can increase the risk of hospitalization," said C. Patrick Carroll, MD, director of psychiatric services for the Johns Hopkins Sickle Cell Center for Adults in Baltimore, who was not involved in the study.

No end in sight for national ADHD drug shortage - Medscape
"Not a day goes by when I don't hear from a number of unfortunately struggling patients about this shortage," Aditya Pawar, MD, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with the Kennedy Krieger Institute and an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, told Medscape Medical News.

NOPD chief says rats are getting high after eating weed in evidence. Scientists weigh in. - Axios
A high rat looks and responds a lot like a high human, says Cassie Moore, who researches the effects of cannabis on rats at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. A high rat, she says, can do the equivalent of getting stuck on the couch. "It's similar to humans taking edibles," she tells Axios.

Rigid rules at methadone clinics are jeopardizing patients’ path to recovery from opioid addiction - Stat
When patients with severe fentanyl addiction and intertwined mental health conditions seek addiction treatment, high-quality care should entail more than just medication, said Kenneth Stoller, a Johns Hopkins addiction psychiatrist and member of AATOD’s board. To provide methadone without safeguards, he said, could spark even more backlash against a medication that society already views with suspicion. “All we need are a few front-page stories about how a drug got into the hands of a baby who died of an overdose, or how a person leaving home after taking too much of their medication got into a car accident and killed a family,” he said. “We will see a resurgence of severe stigma toward that medication.”

Nearly 9 In 10 Americans think using psilocybin for therapy or well-being is ‘morally positive,’ study finds - Marijuana Moment
Researchers — representing institutions such as the universities of Oxford, Yale, Johns Hopkins and Grenada — surveyed 795 people on the issue, asking about supervised use specifically for treatment and for well-being enhancement. Participants, the report says, “rated the individual’s decision as morally positive in both contexts.”

No end in sight for national ADHD drug shortage - Medscape
Insurers also play a role in the shortage, David Goodman, MD, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences also at Johns Hopkins University, told Medscape Medical News. Stepped therapy — in which patients must try one, two, or three medications before they are authorized to receive a more expensive or newer drug — contributes to the problem, Goodman said.

Psychedelic mushroom summit in Fresno? Here’s what organizers say about coming event - Fresno Bee (California)
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has expressed a desire to study [psilocybin's] benefits, and medical professionals like those from the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research have ongoing studies.

Zyn is the new vaping - Time
[I]n a small 2024 study of adults who use nicotine pouches, almost all of them reported some kind of unpleasant side effect, including mouth lesions, nausea, and a sore throat or mouth. “They certainly seem to be safer than tobacco cigarettes,” says study co-author Ashley Dowd, a postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins University. “But having a general sense that they’re safe would concern me” — especially, she says, if it prompts people who don't currently use nicotine to pick up a pouch thinking it's harmless.

How the U.S. is sabotaging its best tools to prevent deaths in the opioid epidemic - Stat
“We need to continue to improve access [to addiction medications], but we need to do it in a way that maintains quality and safety,” said Kenneth Stoller, an addiction psychiatrist and researcher at Johns Hopkins University. “If we’re expanding access by just flooding the streets with a medication that we know is easily misused, and when misused is dangerous, that’s a problem as well.”

Magic mushrooms - Action News (Jacksonville, Fla.)
In 2018, the FDA gave psilocybin a breakthrough therapy designation for treating depression based on clinical research pioneered at Johns Hopkins University. "Some of the psilocybin work here is really what seemed to kick off this new wave of research," says Dr. Sandeep Nyack, a medical director at Johns Hopkins and investigator on the university's clinical trials. He says while the work is showing promising results for mental health treatment, all of the research has been focused on macro doses. "I think it's very tempting to extrapolate the really impressive large effects to macro doses. but it's important to remember that until the data comes in, we actually can't really do that.”

With cannabis legal, legislators debate local control over dispensary locations - Baltimore Sun
Ryan Vandrey, a Johns Hopkins University professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, said there is no testing method for urine, saliva or blood that can reliably tell whether a cannabis user is impaired. “Recognizing that detecting impairment in the workplace is most important and that biological markers of testing are insufficient, I think we need to rethink how we approach this,” Vandrey said.

How a fungus could help you be more productive at that next work meeting - WTOP radio (D.C.)
Psilocybin is still illegal in Maryland and Virginia, but it has been decriminalized in D.C. Several universities in Maryland have been tasked with studying the possible benefits of psilocybin, including Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland.

February

Going ‘California Sober’ may be bad for your heart - Bloomberg
Conceptually, the idea that weed could increase the risk of cardiovascular events for some users shouldn’t be a surprise. Delta-9 THC “very reliably and dose dependently” increases heart rate and cardiovascular stress, says Ryan Vandrey, who helps run the Cannabis Science Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, some users can experience a significant drop in blood pressure when suddenly sitting up or standing — causing light-headedness or dizziness.

One fifth of those attempting suicide don't meet criteria for a psychiatric disorder (study) - Medscape
If suicidal behavior was classified as its own psychiatric disorder, it would be easier to document attempts and responses to treatment over time, investigators wrote. Reached for comment, Paul Nestadt, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, disagreed. "My takeaway from this study isn't that we should be screening more — it's that we should focus on universal prevention strategies such as gun control and safe storage laws," Nestadt told Medscape Medical News.

Johns Hopkins graduate’s new book delves into life with a menstrual mood disorder - Baltimore Sun
While there are other books on the market about PMDD, “The Cycle” will be among the first from a major publishing company. It features interviews with Maryland experts, including Liisa Hantsoo at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Dr. Peter Schmidt at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda

Psilocybin therapy coming for Missouri veterans if new bill passes - KSDK-TV (St. Louis)
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in the mushrooms of the same name, commonly referred to as "shrooms" or "magic mushrooms." The compound has been listed as having a high potential for abuse under the Controlled Substances Act since 1970, but researchers and medical experts have only recently begun to understand the psychedelic's therapeutic potential, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Do you fall asleep with the TV on every night? Here's what experts say about the habit - Yahoo Life
Molly Atwood, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, tells Yahoo Life that the reason most people are comforted by the TV is that it provides background noise that allows them to calm or distract their mind. “We have a system in our body that's similar to the hunger drive — the longer we're awake, the more of an appetite we have for sleep," she says. "But if we are in an anxious state, or if our ‘fight or flight system’ is activated, that can override our body's drive for sleep.”

How important is a good night’s sleep? Top docs weigh in - Northern Virginia magazine
“We see sleep as an integral component to how we function in terms of day to day,” says Dr. Erica Martin Richards, the chair and medical director for the Department of Psychiatry at Sibley Memorial Hospital. “Everything that we do is so dependent on sleep.” ... Richards points out that there are two main types of sleeping problems: getting to sleep and staying asleep.

Hope for suicide prevention - New York Times
When [a suicide] attempt fails, “these folks generally survive and go on to get past these thoughts, go on to live happy, full lives,” said Dr. Paul Nestadt, a suicide researcher at Johns Hopkins. “If you are a gun owner, that brief moment where the suicidal thoughts exceed the desire to be alive for tomorrow, that’s all it takes.”

Does beer before liquor actually make you sicker? - New York Times
There are not many proven ways to ward off hangovers. Staying hydrated can help, said Dr. Sarah Andrews, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine.... But if your only means of thwarting a hangover is to follow the instructions of a cutesy saying, it’s not going to work, Dr. Andrews said. “There’s so many myths about alcohol use that need to be debunked,” she said. “And this is definitely one of them.”

These athletes suffered life-changing injuries. Then, they turned to psychedelics - CNN
[UFC official Jeff] Novitzky told CNN the UFC is interested in any therapies that have the potential to improve brain health, and that the organization has had discussions with experts from institutions like Johns Hopkins and the University of Miami about the potential application of psychedelics, though nothing has progressed past preliminary conversations at this stage.

‘Magic mushrooms,’ or psilocybin, research gets OK from House committee - Indiana Capital Chronicle
Richard Feldman, a former state health commissioner and practicing physician, acknowledged that using a Schedule I psychedelic drug to treat mental health disorders can seem “pretty crazy” but highlighted studies with “impressive results,” including Johns Hopkins.

At 17, she found out she was autistic. It's a story that's becoming more common. Here's why. - USA Today
This misunderstanding [about adult autism] is prevalent even among the health care providers that specialize in autism in adults. “Unfortunately, there aren’t many providers who feel comfortable diagnosing adults with autism,” said Dr. Elizabeth Wise, medical director of the Adult Autism and Developmental Disabilities Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Familiar scents unlock memories in people with depression. Could 'smell therapy' help patients? (study) - NBC News
Many studies have already identified a link between odor and memory in healthy people, said Vidya Kamath, a neuropsychologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine who wasn’t involved in the new research. “What this study expanded on is the inclusion of depressive symptoms," she said.

Postpartum and seasonal depression can converge at wintertime for some new parents. Baltimore providers are working to support their mental health. - Baltimore Fishbowl
About one in five birthing parents experience postpartum depression, but many individuals go undiagnosed and untreated, said Dr. Lindsay R. Standeven, clinical and education director of the Johns Hopkins Reproductive Mental Health Center. “We used to think of pregnancy as a period where a birthing individual was protected,” she said. “The idea was somehow the hormones made them happy and glowing and they weren’t going to feel anything negative. That’s not true.”

Serotonin System Degeneration Mapped in Mild Cognitive Impairment - Psychiatric Times
“The correlation we observed between lower serotonin transporters and memory problems in MCI is important because we may have identified a brain chemical that we can safely target that may improve cognitive deficits and, potentially, depressive symptoms," stated Gwenn Smith, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, in a press release from Johns Hopkins Medicine.

What you need to know about sleeping pills - Seattle Times via New York Times
About one-third of adults worldwide say they sometimes struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep. If you’re one of them, you may have tried sleep medications to find temporary tranquillity. “We’re really in a golden age” of insomnia drugs, said Dr. David Neubauer, a sleep specialist at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

‘I’m fed up’: Frustrations grow as ADHD drug shortage continues - NBC News
“You have to consider that ADHD individuals have a low frustration tolerance, which is even lower when they are not on their medication,” said [David] Goodman, also an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Their ability to manage the situation and stick with it grows very thin.”

Curious about psychedelics? Colorado nonprofit launches hotline to answer your burning questions - Denver Post
Since its founding in 2018, Unlimited Sciences has been conducting naturalistic studies and surveys about how people use psychedelics outside of a lab setting. The organization has partnered with Johns Hopkins University, the University of California San Francisco and other institutions on its initiatives.

Rhode Island House panel weighs bill that would temporarily legalize psilocybin - Marijuana Moment
“These are not, you know, small, low-budget operations,” [Rep. Brandon Potter (D)] added of emerging scientific research indicating the therapeutic potential of psilocybin. “These are leading medical institutions like Johns Hopkins and Yale and Stanford and so on and so forth — NYU, Columbia.”

As investors pile into psychedelics, idealism gives way to pharma economics - Associated Press
The [Compass] company's efforts [to patent its technology] have drawn ridicule from some researchers, who note that as early as the 1970s, psychedelic therapists had codified the settings and techniques described in Compass patents. “It just seems like a blatant power grab,” said Frederick Barrett, a neuroscientist who directs Johns Hopkins University’s psychedelic center.

January

Should Missouri legalize 'magic mushrooms' to treat veterans? Lawmakers want to study it - KCUR radio (Kansas City, Mo.)
[Republican legislator Dave] Griffith encourages people to look at the “extensive” research coming out of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. “I’ve probably spent, I don’t know, 20 hours reading materials that came out of Johns Hopkins,” he said. “The data that comes out of these studies that they’ve done is remarkable.”

People use drugs like Xanax to halt a bad psychedelic trip — but "trip killers" also come with risks - Salon
When a bad trip occurs, it can cause feelings of panic, losing one’s sanity, or physical illness like heart palpitations that can persist for weeks or even months after the psychedelics wear off, said Matthew Johnson, a Johns Hopkins Medicine professor studying psychedelics. “There can be lasting harm where someone has a bad trip and then has lasting dissociative symptoms, lasting anxiety symptoms, or even lasting trauma,” Johnson told Salon in a phone interview.

Are edibles safer than smoking? - New York Times
“There’s tons of nuance there,” said Ryan Vandrey, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine who studies cannabis. “You can’t black and white say edibles are safer than smoking, or smoking is worse than vaping — there are different risks for the different routes.”

Arizona plan to extend psychedelic mushroom study takes step forward - Arizona Daily Star
[A] report by the National Institutes of Health cited a study that said using synthetic psilocybin showed that it improved the conditions of 57% of subjects who were suffering from severe depression. A study by Johns Hopkins University researchers showed that psilocybin could help with major depression for up to a year.

No, You Don't Have Adult ADHD. You're Probably Just Distracted. – Verywell Health
About 2.5% of U.S. adults have ADHD,3 or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and this condition is often misdiagnosed and untreated in adults.4 However, you can’t just develop ADHD as an adult if you didn’t have it as a child, according to David W. Goodman, MD, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “You don’t wake up one morning and decide to have ADHD,” Goodman told Verywell. “It’s a very specific disorder that starts in childhood or early adolescence, and then continues for most children into adulthood.”

The impact of cancer on mental health - Psychology Today
A number of studies, including two from Johns Hopkins University and New York University, have looked at psilocybin therapy for depression and anxiety in cancer patients. However, there has been little study of PAT [psychedelic-assisted therapy] with patients and loved ones.

Lifestyle changes to ease dementia symptoms - AARP
“You’re not necessarily slowing the neurodegenerative process itself,” says neuropsychiatrist Chiadi Onyike, M.D., director of the Frontotemporal Dementia and Young-Onset Dementias Clinic at Johns Hopkins Medicine. But you’re slowing the impact of that process on the ability to function, he says.

Energy drinks linked to ADHD, anxiety, and depression in kids, young adults - Healthline
Erika Chiappini, PhD, a child and adolescent psychologist with the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, said that energy drinks lead to sleep disruption, which can impact mood and cognitive functioning. “Because energy drinks have high amounts of caffeine, they can negatively impact sleep,” she said. “Youth drinking energy drinks may have greater difficulty falling asleep and experience poorer sleep quality overall, especially when taken in the afternoon [or] evening.”

Indiana Senate panel unanimously passes psilocybin research bill with minor amendments - Marijuana Moment
“I am in no way, and this bill in no way, seeks to legalize anything that isn’t legalized today,” [Sen. Ed Charbonneau (R)] told colleagues. “The breakthrough therapy designation was given because there have been a number of well recognized studies that have been done already on psilocybin, and it’s mainstream research in places such as Johns Hopkins.”

Medical marijuana is ‘similarly effective’ as opioids for treating pain but with fewer adverse events, study finds - Marijuana Moment
A forthcoming research project from Johns Hopkins University researchers, meanwhile, will track 10,000 medical marijuana patients over a year or more in an effort to better understand the efficacy and impacts of cannabis therapy.

Psychedelic therapy for PTSD: Possible breakthrough in VA mental health care - News Nation
The VA cited research at Johns Hopkins that showed psilocybin therapy, given with supportive therapy, could ease symptoms of depression for up to 12 months.

'It's saved lives': Offering guided psilocybin journeys a new mission for Washington County vet - KGW-TV (Portland, Ore.)
Medical research out of Johns Hopkins found magic mushrooms can help treat depression. More studies need to be done, but researchers also say psychedelics may help with substance abuse too.

Maybe, just maybe, psychedelics are the “master key” for unlocking everything from blindness to stroke to anorexia - Vox
For the past few years, Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Gul Dolen has been busy experimenting with psychedelics. She’s dosed octopuses with MDMA. She’s given mice LSD. And her groundbreaking research has found that all psychedelics have something special in common: They can hit a “reset” button in the brain, temporarily bringing it back to a childlike state, where the mind is super malleable and good at learning new things.

There are no US clinical guidelines for treating and diagnosing adult ADHD. That may change soon. - Baltimore Sun
[T]here are no U.S. guidelines for diagnosing and evaluating the disorder in adults, said Dr. David Goodman, an assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Instead, such guidelines only exist for treating the condition in children and adolescents. Goodman and other ADHD doctors are optimistic that will change in coming years.

VA to fund large-scale studies of magic mushrooms, ecstasy to treat PTSD - Stars and Stripes
Recent research includes work by Johns Hopkins University showing positive outcomes among study participants, the VA said. However, most of the current research has involved few or no veterans as participants.

Cannabis for psychiatric disorders? 'Not today,' experts say (video) - Medscape
Dr Christopher Hammond, an assistant professor and the director of the co-occurring disorders program at Johns Hopkins, takes part in a talk about the role of cannabis in psychiatric disorders today.

Psychedelic drug helps treat PTSD and traumatic brain injuries - New Scientist
it is unclear whether the effects are only due to the psychedelic drug. “The big problem is [that] a lack of a control group is going to make it near impossible to say for sure what is going on here,” says Albert Garcia-Romeu at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. He says that talking with a therapist, attending wellness activities or even travelling could have contributed to these improvements.

Should patients be allowed to die from anorexia? - New York Times
Angela Guarda, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, told me that palliative measures can sometimes be useful — but only alongside curative care and never instead of it. Guarda said she has treated several thousand patients with anorexia and still “cannot predict who will get better and who will not.”

2023

December

Detailed Analysis of Matthew Perry’s Cause of Death, According to Full Autopsy Report - Epoch Times
Ketamine can cause acute increases in blood pressure and may be dangerous in people with medical conditions that a sudden pressure spike would worsen, Dr. Paul Nestadt, clinical director of the Johns Hopkins Anxiety Disorders Clinic, told The Epoch Times. 
“It (ketamine) is known to exacerbate respiratory depression from other drugs,” Matthew Johnson, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, told The Epoch Times.

Bringing psychedelic medicine from the margins to the mainstream (opinion) - The Hill
The Controlled Substance Act subsection of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 classified LSD, heroin, marijuana and a few other drugs as Schedule I substances and effective kill[ed] research because of the hoops scientists would need to jump through, with both the FDA and the DEA. It would be nearly three decades before psychedelic medicine research re-emerged in a meaningful way, when researchers at Johns Hopkins obtained regulatory approval to reinitiate research in healthy, psychedelic-naïve volunteers.

Top psych stories of 2023: Physician burnout, ‘transformative’ psychedelics, more - Healio
Psychedelics could be ‘transformative’ for health industry. Long-term treatment with psychedelics holds the potential to transform the health care industry through millions in savings, according to an expert at a congressional briefing hosted by Johns Hopkins University in November.

Johns Hopkins researchers to follow ‘nationally representative cohort’ of 10,000 marijuana patients in federally funded study - Marijuana Moment
“Our mission with this research is to understand the health impacts of therapeutic cannabis use,” one of the study’s co-creators, Ryan Vandrey, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a statement. “We hope to provide some starting points for understanding what types of products may or may not be helpful and what types of products may be more risky for use in certain populations or for certain therapeutic purposes.”

Thyrotoxicosis linked to risk for incident cognitive disorder - HealthDay
Roy Adams, Ph.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues conducted a cohort study to examine whether thyrotoxicosis is associated with an increased risk for cognitive disorders. Patients aged 65 years and older with at least two visits to their primary care physicians 30 days apart were eligible;

The psychedelics reform movement accelerated in 2023, with new state laws and momentum at the federal level - Marijuana Moment
In September … researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Ohio State University and Unlimited Sciences published findings showing an association between psilocybin use and “persisting reductions” in depression, anxiety and alcohol misuse — as well as increases in emotional regulation, spiritual wellbeing and extraversion.

Is that hum keeping you up? Here's how to get better sleep - WebMD
David Neubauer, MD, a sleep medicine specialist and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, said he personally prefers to mask sounds with a bedroom fan or, when he travels, with a portable device that has a fan-like sound.

Considering dry January? Set yourself up for success - New York Times
There is no data suggesting that those folks won’t be able to abstain from drinking, said Dr. David Wolinsky, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences with Johns Hopkins Medicine, who specializes in addiction. But starting the month with a few strategies in your back pocket — and with a clear sense of your goals — may help you get the most out of the challenge. “Most of the benefits of Dry January are probably going to be related to the intention with which you go into Dry January,” Dr. Wolinsky said.

Weight loss, drug prices, abortion and prescribed psychedelics: Expect reckonings in 2024 - USA Today
Mental health and psychedelics: In 2023, mental health issues became among the nation's most deadly, costly and pervasive health crises.... Another psychedelic, a ketamine derivative eskatemine, sold as Spravato, was approved in 2019 to treat depression, but it is being treated like a conventional therapy that must be dosed regularly, not like a psychedelic that provides a long-lasting learning experience, said Matthew Johnson, an expert in psychedelics at Johns Hopkins University.

They lived: Remembering some of the artists, innovators and thinkers we lost in the past year. - New York Times
Donald Triplett. B. 1930. [Triplett's father] dictated a 33-page letter about his son’s medical and psychological history, his behaviors, aptitudes and challenges, to Dr. Leo Kanner, one of the world’s leading child psychiatrists, at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Kanner met with the Tripletts and spent two weeks observing Donald, whose history and constellation of behaviors didn’t fit anything from the textbooks or the patients he had treated.

You don’t have to be religious to feel the awe of Christmas - Wall Street Journal
David Yaden of Johns Hopkins University, one of the leading scientific researchers on spirituality, likes to describe the emotion of awe as the “everyperson’s” spiritual experience.

AI uses brain chemistry for precision neuroscience - Psychology Today
[A] 2019 study by researchers affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine used [a magnetic resonance spectroscopy] at 7 Tesla to discover that mild cognitive impairment was associated with decreased levels of glutamate and GABA [gamma-aminobutyric acid], and most consistently in the posterior cingulate cortex brain region.

Should you use serotonin supplements? - Discover magazine
This major neurotransmitter [serotonin] regulates mood, anxiety, cognition, and sense of well-being. The other two major neurotransmitters, norepinephrine and dopamine, are chemically similar in that they are all monoamines, says Chris Pagnani, a psychiatrist and instructor at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for the Department of Psychiatry.

Early evidence supports psilocybin for bipolar depression (study) - Medscape
In an accompanying editorial, David B. Yaden, PhD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues write that the findings are "tantalizingly suggestive," but ultimately say nothing definitive about the efficacy of psilocybin for BDII [bipolar II disorder].

With weed now legal across Ohio, are psychedelic mushrooms next? - Cleveland Scene
"[The healing power of magic mushrooms is] why you're starting to see bipartisan support [for them], because the results are coming through from places like Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and NYU and Ohio State," [medical cannabis company owner Erik] Vaughan, 46, said from ... his office [in Akron].

A poor sense of smell is linked with depression in seniors - Psychology Today
“Take the time to stop and smell the roses.” It’s our metaphor for enjoying life and living in the moment. But what if you lose your ability to smell the roses? New research from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine says you’ll be more likely to experience depression.

Could a little-known psychedelic drug treat opioid addiction? Kentucky wants to find out. - NBC News
Research published last year found that psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound found in magic mushrooms, helped alcoholics reduce their drinking. This year, the National Institutes of Health granted funding to Johns Hopkins University scientists to study whether the same drug could help smokers quit.

Brain serotonin levels may play role in Alzheimer's onset - HealthDay
“The correlation we observed between lower serotonin transporters and memory problems in MCI [mild cognitive impairment] is important because we may have identified a brain chemical that we can safely target that may improve cognitive deficits and, potentially, depressive symptoms,” said researcher Gwenn Smith, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Pre-Alzheimer's memory problems linked to loss of serotonin (study) - Newsweek
"The study shows that people with mild cognitive impairment already display loss of the serotonin transporter. This measure that reflects serotonin degeneration is associated with problems with memory, even when we take into account in our statistical model MRI measures of neurodegeneration and PET measures of the amyloid protein that are associated with Alzheimer's Disease," Gwenn Smith, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a statement published Thursday.

What you need to know about sleeping pills - New York Times
“We’re really in a golden age” of insomnia drugs, said Dr. David Neubauer, a sleep specialist at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Doctors can suggest different treatments depending on the type of sleep trouble you have — whether your mind is racing or you wake up multiple times in the middle of the night.

Deadly dose - Tampa Bay Times
Those consuming large amounts of kratom are likely at higher risk, experts say. “People see this as some random supplement,” said Albert Garcia-Romeu, a kratom researcher at Johns Hopkins University. “They don’t know how much to take, and they don’t know how it works, and they don’t know that it might mess with their medications.”

Shroom compound psilocybin shows promise for bipolar disorder in early trial - Live Science
The trial represents "an important step forward" in exploring psilocybin for bipolar disorder, as most recent studies of the drug have excluded people with personal or family histories of bipolar disorder, David Yaden and Dr. Sandeep Nayak, of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, and Dr. Natalie Gukasyan, of the Columbia University Medical Center, wrote in a commentary.

Psychedelic holiday gift guide 2023: 11 ideas for your favorite soul seekers - Psychedelic Spotlight
Offer a gift that resonates with a deeper purpose by donating to meaningful psychedelic charities in a loved one's name. The Roland Griffiths Professorship Fund at Johns Hopkins is inspired by Dr. Griffiths' personal journey and dedication to studying psychedelics’ profound impact on consciousness and prosocial behaviors. Contributing to this fund supports vital research that could be pivotal for our species' future.

Psilocybin’s ‘efficacy and safety’ for bipolar II depression demonstrated by American Medical Association study - Marijuana Moment
In September … researchers at Johns Hopkins University, Ohio State University and Unlimited Sciences published findings showing an association between psilocybin use and “persisting reductions” in depression, anxiety and alcohol misuse — as well as increases in emotional regulation, spiritual wellbeing and extraversion.

Psilocybin shows promise in treatment-resistant bipolar type II depression (study) - MedPage Today
In an accompanying editorial, David Yaden, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues pointed out that while the efficacy here is impressive, the safety is "far more compelling."

You can stop holding grudges - Psychology Today
"There is an enormous physical burden to being hurt and disappointed," says Karen Swartz, M.D., a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Chronic anger affects your heart rate, blood pressure, and immune response — and those bodily reactions feed into depression, heart disease, and diabetes, among other illnesses.... If you tend to hang on to grudges, you can train yourself out of them, Swartz says.

Psychedelics: New frontier in battle against depression and PTSD - NewsNation
Sandeep Nayak is a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University who has conducted several trials with psilocybin involving people who had depression. “Many of the people that come to these depression trials have already tried other treatments. They’ve already found other treatments to not be effective,” Nayak said.

Could a monthly treatment prevent fentanyl overdoses? Scientists are working on it - Los Angeles Times
“We’re in that crisis situation where we need all hands on deck to help prevent people from dying,” said Kelly E. Dunn, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who advised [Cessation Therapeutics] on the design for human trials of the medication [CSX-1004] but was not involved in data collection for the new study.

Are hallucinogens for you? - Next Avenue
While the connection between religion and psychedelics might seem odd, studies conducted at Johns Hopkins University have equated the profound mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin with those described in the classic religious traditions.

Persistent brain inflammation could drive brain issues in former football players - HealthDay
The repeat head injuries suffered by football players, boxers and other athletes appear to affect brain health long after players have given up their sport. New research from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore could explain why…. "The findings show that participating in repeated collision sports like football may have a direct link to long-term inflammation in the brain," study senior author Dr. Jennifer Coughlin said in a university news release.

Why psychedelics produce some of the most meaningful experiences in people’s lives - Vox
[T]hrough the 20th century, mainstream psychology moved away from nebulous ideas like noeticism and meaning, in favor of variables that were more objective and observable. Until 2006, when a landmark paper led by the late Roland Griffiths of Johns Hopkins University signaled that research on the profound sense of meaning that accompanies noetic insights was making its way back into mainstream psychology — this time by way of psychedelic drugs.

November

Wisconsin lawmakers introduce bipartisan psilocybin research bill - Forbes
Studies conducted by Johns Hopkins and other researchers have shown that psilocybin has the potential to be an effective treatment for several serious mental health conditions, including PTSD, major depressive disorder, anxiety and substance misuse disorders.

Why it’s important to monitor your blood pressure when you take meds for ADHD (study) - Everyday Health
The risks found [in the study] are informative, but shouldn’t be overblown or scare patients into not taking their ADHD medications as directed, says David Goodman, MD, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. “The message here is that patients and prescribers need to be aware of the risk so that it can be monitored and managed,” says Dr. Goodman, who was not involved in the study.

Gul Dolen wants to harness psychedelics for healing - Vox
You may have heard that psychedelics can help treat depression and PTSD. They’ve shown promise, but if neuroscientist Gul Dolen is correct, they can do a whole lot more than that. They might just be the master key that unlocks a whole array of other conditions, from stroke and autism to deafness and blindness. Together with her colleagues at Johns Hopkins University, Dolen has shown in groundbreaking research published this year that all psychedelics have something special in common: the ability to reopen the “critical period” for social reward learning.

ADHD meds linked to increased heart disease risk - Newsmax
Dr. David Goodman, a leading expert on ADHD and related disorders, says that the increased risk of cardiovascular disease is “relatively insignificant in ordinary healthy adults.” Goodman, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, adds: “You need to measure the benefit of the treatment against the relatively small risks, and patients will say the benefits are tremendous and I wouldn’t want to give them up.”

'Magic mushroom' drug eased depression in study by Fitchburg institute - Wisconsin State Journal
Promega CEO Bill Linton co-founded nonprofit Usona in 2014 after a friend with late-stage cancer found relief from depression after taking psilocybin in a study at Johns Hopkins University.

People taking ADHD medications should closely monitor their heart health, study suggests - CNN
“When we get into clinical practice, these changes are relatively insignificant in ordinarily healthy adults,” said Dr. David Goodman, an assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “You need to measure the benefit of the treatment against the relatively small risks, and patients will say benefits are tremendous and I wouldn’t want to give this up.”

Loosening restrictions on marijuana may not be boon for reform - Washington Post
“[Some federal restrictions on marijuana research are] incredibly excessive and totally unnecessary,” said Ryan Vandrey, a cannabis researcher at Johns Hopkins Medicine. “I can run an entire study with an amount of cannabis that’s less than $100 in street value and bought by an adult in the state of Maryland at any of the different dispensaries.”

The majority of US gun deaths are suicides. Here’s how to prevent them - The Guardian (U.K.)
Experts say stigma and misinformation are still getting in the way of preventing more of these deaths. Paul Nestadt, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, spoke to the Guardian about the country’s rising number of suicides, the role of guns and mental health – and what works to save lives.

As Americans accept marijuana, use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs as medicine could also grow - Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
A growing number of researchers at the Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, the University of California and beyond think psychedelic drugs could be a potential game changer for psychiatry.

For some, psilocybin may truly be ‘magic mushrooms’ - The Republic (Columbus, Ind.)
A study by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology is representative of studies demonstrating psilocybin’s durable efficacy for treatment-resistant depression.

Psychedelics have ‘potential to be transformative’ in saving health care system millions - Healio
“[Psychedelics] are illegal drugs, but they are regulated,” Sandeep Nayak, MD, assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, noted. “If you have a legitimate scientific reason to investigate, you get approvals from various governmental bodies ... then you can actually study illegal drugs, legally.”

Maryland man’s death linked to kratom; herbal substance center of heated debate (video) - WMAR-TV
“[Kratom] is absolutely not approved as a drug by the FDA, nor is it approved as a dietary supplement. In fact, the Food and Drug Administration considers kratom to be an unregulated, new dietary ingredient, and they have warned consumers not to take it,” said Kirsten Smith, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine. Smith has been studying kratom since 2017.

Are psychedelics the future of eating disorder treatment? - Smithsonian magazine
[A]s mental health concerns and opioid misuse have grown in recent years, scientists have taken a renewed interest in the drugs. In 2000, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine became the first to receive regulatory approval to restart psychedelics research in the U.S., and they’ve since found that psilocybin can help longtime smokers quit, reduce cancer-related anxiety and ease major depression.

This is the worst week for seasonal affective disorder — how to survive - New York Post
Johns Hopkins Medicine notes that the body produces more melatonin when days are shorter and darker. The sleep-related hormone has been linked to SAD.... Johns Hopkins stated that late fall is typically when most SAD symptoms emerge.... Hopkins recommends spending time in the sunlight, either outside or near a window

Bruce Willis’ wife finding new hope and joy in the ‘small things’ - CNN
According to Johns Hopkins, “Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a common cause of dementia, is a group of disorders that occur when nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain are lost. This causes the lobes to shrink. FTD can affect behavior, personality, language, and movement.”

Massachusetts governor unveils veterans psychedelics research bill - High Times
Research has shown that psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy can have a positive effect on many mental health conditions commonly experienced by the nation’s military veterans. Studies conducted by Johns Hopkins and other researchers have shown that psilocybin has the potential to be an effective treatment for several serious mental health conditions, including PTSD, major depressive disorder, anxiety and substance misuse disorders.

Quebec therapists conduct first legal psilocybin group therapy session - Forbes
Studies conducted by Johns Hopkins and other researchers have shown that psilocybin has the potential to be an effective treatment for several serious mental health conditions, including PTSD, major depressive disorder, anxiety and substance misuse disorders.

Adolescent brains exposed to THC are at higher risk of psychiatric disorders - ZME Science
“Recreational and medical marijuana use is rapidly expanding in the United States and abroad, and teens are especially vulnerable to long-term negative effects of THC,” says Atsushi Kamiya, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “We know THC is psychoactive, and its concentration in marijuana plants has increased four times in the last 20 years, posing a particular danger for adolescents who are genetically predisposed to psychoactive disorders including schizophrenia.”

Funding for research on psychedelics is on the rise, along with scientists' hopes for using them - Scientific American
As interest and support for psychedelic research grows, scientists share their hopes for the future. [Johns Hopkins neuroscientist] Gül Dölen: I remember when I first applied to the NIH, my program officer was like, “No, nobody will ever give psychedelics as a therapy. You’re barking up the wrong tree. You should be studying why these things are bad for the brain.” ... I didn’t get the grant, and I didn’t get many, many, many other ones after that.... There’s definitely been a sea change in terms of the attitudes toward funding psychedelics.

Who will care for older adults? We’ve plenty of know-how but too few specialists - KFF News
New dementia care models. This summer, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced plans to test a new model of care for people with dementia. It builds on programs developed over the past several decades by geriatricians at UCLA, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University, and UCSF.

Alaska pilot speaks from jail: I thought ‘I would wake up’ after trying to shut off engines mid-flight, he tells the NYT - CNN
Johns Hopkins professor Matt Johnson, who studies psychedelics among other drugs, told CNN last month it is unlikely psilocybin would have remained in the pilot’s system 48 hours after he took the drug sometimes referred to as “magic mushrooms.” Psilocybin’s lingering effects, sleep deprivation and existing depression could’ve created “a perfect storm,” Johnson said, in which [Joseph] Emerson was experiencing behavioral changes or derealization,

First-Ever Congressional hearing on psychedelic-assisted mental health care for veterans will be held Tuesday - Marijuana Moment
[Those] set to speak next week include three Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) officials, a veteran who participated in a clinical trial of MDMA that successfully treated his PTSD ... a psychology professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research and the co-director of the RAND Corporation’s RAND Epstein Family Veterans Policy Research Institute.

‘Diet weed’: What it is, and why experts say it can be dangerous - Fox 59 (Indianapolis) via Nexstar
Should we be wary of “diet weed”? Delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta-8-THC) is one of many cannabinoids found in the cannabis sativa plant, though it isn’t naturally produced at the same rate or potency as Delta-9-THC, the compound largely responsible for marijuana’s psychoactive effects. “Chemically, they’re almost identical. But that one little difference in that chemical structure results in a different way that it interacts with your body … with your [cannabinoid] receptors,” explains Ryan Vandrey, Ph.D., a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine who specializes in the behavior pharmacology of cannabis.

Some older adults are taking CBD oil for joint pain — but does it work? - AARP
Like with anything, “no one thing works for everybody all the time,” says Ryan Vandrey, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. In addition, with CBD products sometimes being sold using unsubstantiated claims, “it’s a little bit of a trial-and-error type of scenario in the current retail market.”

Do you need to 'trip' for psychedelics to work as medicine? (audio) - Scientific American
Gül Dölen, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University, says she hates the term psychoplastogen because of what she says it wrongly implies about how psychedelics work. Gül Dölen: It suggests that what psychedelics are doing is just inducing plasticity and ... that’s their therapeutic action. And the fact is, is that there are drugs like that—psychoactive plastogens — and all of the ones that we know that do that are addictive drugs like cocaine, heroin, amphetamine, alcohol, nicotine. These are all robust inducers of plasticity.

This psychedelics researcher approached his death with calm and curiosity – NPR
A [Johns Hopkins] scientist named Roland Griffiths … and I talked back in April as one of the first conversations in this series. Griffiths had spent the later stage of his career exploring the ways that psychedelic drugs, specifically psilocybin, could help patients with depression, addiction issues and even terminal cancer. Then two years ago, he himself was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. The doctor was now the patient, and Griffiths was facing his own mortality.

Who is using AI chatbot therapists? Here's what to know - NBC New York
[D]espite its possible ability to increase bandwidth for care, therapists acknowledge mental health care can still be unaffordable and inaccessible for many, according to Dr. Paul Nestadt, an associate professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. This reality is leading some people to invest in an oftentimes free or very inexpensive tool that is available on their phone: AI chatbot therapy apps.

Should anorexia ever be called ‘terminal’? - Washington Post
Angela S. Guarda, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, concurred [that health-care providers have not come up with a unified definition of recovery or agreed on what the criteria for recovery are]. “Anorexia is a very unusual disorder because it’s so tied up with identity,” she said. “A lot of times it’s really hard to imagine life without the disorder. When you’re in the depths of it, it’s just so difficult to imagine that things can get better.

October

Do you actually need 8 hours of sleep every night? - Today
Among adults, the distribution of sleep needs will look like a bell-shaped curve, with the vast majority of people falling somewhere between seven to nine hours, says [Dr. Molly Atwood, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine]. However, there are people on either side of the median and total outliers. “It really does depend on the person," says Atwood.

If we care about veterans, we will decriminalize psychedelics (opinion) - Gazette Journal (Reno, Nev.)
I wasn’t near cutting-edge clinical trials. I didn’t know how to connect to underground psychedelic therapy or ancestral ceremonies.... So, paired with years of experience and skills from therapy, I tried an experiment. What if I treated psychedelics as a medicine and followed similar procedures used in the psychedelic research coming out of Johns Hopkins? I enrolled in an online ketamine therapy program to get me started in the right direction.

I took part in a ketamine clinic hoping it would ease my 'treatment-resistant' depression - ABC (Australia)
Sometimes [the experience] was more abstract, planes of pitch black and vivid colour. I could ride the music — a Johns Hopkins University-created playlist for psychedelic treatment — like a rollercoaster. The chorale music especially (embarrassingly, for a devout atheist) felt like a portal to a brilliant-white divinity where I could see the face of God.

Off-duty pilot accused of trying to shut off airliner’s engines mid-flight said he took ‘magic mushrooms’ 48 hours before the incident, court documents say - CNN
It’s highly unlikely that psilocybin – sometimes called “magic mushrooms” – would still be in the pilot’s system 48 hours after use, but it’s possible he could have been feeling the lingering effects of the drug, said Matt Johnson, a Johns Hopkins professor who studies psychedelics and other drugs. Johnson likened mushroom use to drinking alcohol – while a person is no longer drunk the day after drinking, the hangover caused by alcohol could impair their behavior or ability to function.

What do magic mushrooms do to your brain? A midflight crisis raises questions. - Washington Post
“Even two of the same type of mushrooms grown next to each other can have wildly different amounts of psilocybin,” said Fred Barrett, center director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. “Nobody should be seeking out mushrooms to treat themselves.”

Teen girls lead the way in ER psych visits, CDC report finds - Washington Times
“Girls are more likely to disclose suicidal thinking than boys, and more likely to attempt suicide in adolescence, even though boys are more likely to die by suicide because they choose more violent methods,” Dr. John V. Campo, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, told The Times. While anxiety and depression are “equally prevalent” in boys and girls before puberty, they become more common in girls during adolescence, he added.

Eureka, CA decriminalizes psychedelic plant medicines - High Times
[O]ne of recently deceased Johns Hopkins professor Roland Griffiths’ first studies on psilocybin in 2006 was on psilocybin’s ability to induce mystical and spiritual experiences in the user. Much of Griffiths’ later work at Johns Hopkins has been referenced in similar legislative discussions surrounding the legality of psychedelics.

Pilot who disrupted flight said he had taken psychedelic mushrooms, complaint says - New York Times
An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to shut off the engines during a flight on Sunday told investigators that he had been sleepless and dehydrated since he consumed psychedelic mushrooms about 48 hours before boarding.... Bob Jesse, an adviser to the U.C. Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics and the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research, said that psilocybin would be long gone from the body [48 hours after consumption].

Why serious players are dosing psychedelics like mushrooms and ayahuasca - Golf Digest
[R]esearchers at universities such as Johns Hopkins, UCLA, Stanford and Harvard are working on expanding the available scientific literature for psilocybin and psychedelics at large.... [Golf Digest Professional Adviser Dr. Ara] Suppiah says he can’t recommend any amateur golfer use it. “I do think a psychedelic like psilocybin can be used as a therapeutic drug to treat severe depression,” he says. “There’s very strong evidence from Stanford, Harvard and Johns Hopkins to support this. They all show that this is actually better than antidepressants, long-term.”

Does cannabis actually help with sleep? Experts say it isn’t risk-free - Inverse
Ryan Vandrey, a behavioral pharmacologist at Johns Hopkins University, adds that forgoing weed after building a tolerance might also lead to unusually intense, vivid dreams.... What ends up happening is as you develop tolerance to it and use it on a daily basis for an extended period of time,” Vandrey says, “then stopping use can result in withdrawal effects.”

Roland Griffiths, pioneer of Johns Hopkins psilocybin studies dead at 77 - High Times
A Johns Hopkins professor who championed groundbreaking new research into psychedelic substances passed away Monday from colon cancer at the age of 77. Dr. Roland Redmond Griffiths, according to a New York Times obituary, helped usher in a new era of psychedelic research during his time at Johns Hopkins by leading several studies regarding the ways in which psychedelic substances may help combat a myriad of mental health disorders.

‘Olfactory training’ during sleep could help your memory (study) - Scientific American
Previous successful attempts to boost memory with odors typically relied on complicated interventions with multiple exposures a day. If the nighttime treatment proves successful in larger trials, it promises to be a less intrusive way to achieve similar effects, says Vidya Kamath, a neuropsychologist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the recent study.

Congress postpones first-ever hearing on psychedelics and veterans mental health care - Marijuana Moment
Among those set to testify from outside the government was Frederick Barrett, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. In written comments, Barrett said that studies from his institution and others “are building a growing record of information demonstrating both the relative safety and potential efficacy of psychedelic therapies in a wide range of psychiatric indications.”

Roland Griffiths is dead at 77; led a renaissance in psychedelics research - New York Times
Roland Griffiths, a professor of behavioral science and psychiatry whose pioneering work in the study of psychedelics helped usher in a new era of research into those once banned substances — and reintroduced the mystical into scientific discourse about them — died on Monday at his home in Baltimore. He was 77.... Dr. Griffiths, a distinguished psychopharmacologist and professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, spent decades studying the mechanisms of dependence on mood-altering drugs.
Also reported by: Baltimore Banner

Can you survive on 4 hours of sleep? What to know about getting enough nighttime rest - Today
The minimum amount of sleep recommended for adults by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine is seven hours. These recommendations are based on large-scale population studies looking at how much sleep people need, Molly Atwood, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, tells Today.com. "Somewhere between seven to nine hours seems to be the sweet spot, but it really does depend on the person," says Atwood.

After veto by Newsom, psychedelics advocates in San Mateo are staying engaged - San Mateo Daily Journal (California)
[Ketamine is] not the only psychedelic shown to alleviate symptoms for certain conditions. Johns Hopkins School of Medicine has conducted research confirming the potential benefits of substances such as MDMA and psilocybin for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, respectively. 

Bipolar disorder is little researched, but doctors at Johns Hopkins aim to change that - Baltimore Sun
Researchers and clinicians at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, however, hope that [the misdiagnosis of the disease] will soon change. They’re recruiting people with the diagnosis for a longitudinal study, in which researchers will follow participants for at least five years with the aim of better understanding the disease and how to treat it. Hopkins is one of six research institutions around the country that were recruited for the project by BD², a Washington, D.C.-based organization launched last year to bring more resources to studying bipolar disorder.

Can we prevent Alzheimer's? Scientists say new tests and treatments are "a game changer" - Newsweek
Not everybody shares their optimism. Some worry that the field is moving too fast. Madhav Thambisetty, a senior investigator in the NIH's Intramural Research on Aging and a practicing neurologist who treats dementia patients at the Johns Hopkins Memory and Alzheimer's treatment center, says he has urged caution when referring interested patients in the early stages of the disease for trials. He calls the clinical benefits "small to modest," and "marginal at best," but said they are "very exciting" for researchers because it's the first time the field has drugs that can precisely target one of the pathological features of the disease.

God, magic mushrooms, and me - Esquire
In January 2016, Hunt Priest flew to Baltimore, where he met Bill Richards, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins with a small frame, a white beard, and a warm smile.... For three decades, Richards could not pursue his life’s calling until, in 2000, he and his Hopkins colleague Roland Griffiths helped persuade the FDA to allow research on psychedelics to resume. As Priest positioned himself on a sofa, Richards asked, “How do you feel?” 

New study examines management of agitation with Alzheimer's disease - Spectrum News
[Dr. Anton] Porsteinsson and University of Rochester researchers are working with Johns Hopkins to study the potential benefits of Escitalopram, a medication commonly used to treat mood disorders and anxiety, in helping Alzheimer’s patients overcome the agitation that often accompanies the disease.

Raising awareness and reducing stigma about ADHD - Afro
Dr. Aditya Pawar, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, Md., told the AFRO that ADHD doesn’t present suddenly. Its onset is in early childhood, as early as age 4 but is usually diagnosed sometime between ages 6 and 12…. “In children it presents with a lot of hyperactivity where a kid is doing a lot of jumping and climbing or constantly running as if driven by a motor, often putting them at risk for injury,” said Pawar.

Magic mushroom retreat centers can offer healing — but their lack of regulation can carry risks - Salon
In 2019, the Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Unit was created to conduct pivotal research testing in the field, and revitalizing a body of research stretching back to the 1950s showing psychedelics can improve depression, PTSD and heavy drinking.

September

Mushroom Drug May Prove Magical in Treating Depression - Psychology Today
The JAMA study findings, derived from a collaboration among 34 researchers representing 18 institutions, are especially remarkable because they confirm the results of prior investigations of psilocybin, including a year-long study published in early 2022 in the Journal of Psychopharmacology by Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists. The discoveries also are likely to open what an accompanying JAMA editorial suggests is a “novel way of approaching mental health treatment that may benefit many people…Inquiries into the mechanisms of action of psychedelics will open new windows of understanding regarding neuronal plasticity and brain functioning.”

Psychedelics reform is on the agenda in St. Louis this October - Riverfront Times (St. Louis)
A bill that would authorize psilocybin therapy was endorsed by two committees in the House of Representatives and was approved in an initial perfection vote in the House. Another bill sought to clear the way for studies on the efficacy of psilocybin, ketamine and MDMA as alternative therapies. Studies from Johns Hopkins University have shown that consuming psychedelics such as psilocybin, the psychoactive compound in “magic mushrooms,” has relieved depression in adults.

‘Magic’ mushrooms are powerful aids in therapeutic settings. Pa. is part of the fight to decriminalize them. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“These drugs can produce psychological dependence, and people can and do abuse them,” said Albert Garcia-Romeu, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a guest researcher at the National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Neuroimaging Research Branch, studying psilocybin, in an August webinar on psychedelic drug therapies. That’s why academics stress the crucial role of “set and setting.”

Gisele Bundchen says she hasn't drunk alcohol in 2 years. What are the health benefits of cutting back on drinking? - Yahoo Life
Dr. Sarah Andrews, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, previously told Yahoo Life that abstaining from alcohol for even a month can highlight the benefits of sobriety, which can include "weight loss, more energy and improvement in mood and anxiety."

Possible new treatment for agitation in Alzheimer's patients (video) - WMAR-TV
Dr. Paul Rosenberg and Dr. Constantine Lyketsos say the most important part of [their] study is giving people hope. The Johns Hopkins professors are looking into a possible new treatment for an Alzheimer's symptom that affects 25 to 50 percent of patients.

The firms hoping to take psychedelic drugs mainstream - BBC
Gül Dölen, an associate professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University, studies how psychedelics work. Her research shows they open a window of time - a so called "critical period" - in the brain where it is more sensitive to the environment, and has an enhanced ability to learn and form lasting memories (psilocybin's critical period, for example, lasts two weeks). And the longer the trip, the longer the critical period. The companies trying to shorten trip duration or remove the hallucinogenic component "are probably going to interfere with the therapeutic effect" says Prof Dölen.

MDMA therapy inches closer to approval - New York Times
The diversity of participants [in one new study] is “certainly an improvement over prior studies,” said Albert Garcia-Romeu, a psychopharmacologist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who was not involved in the research. But he added that “it will be critical to see more Black and Indigenous folks enrolled, considering the substantial health disparities these groups face.”

Atypical antipsychotics no safer than haloperidol for post-op delirium: study - Medscape
Esther Oh, MD, PhD, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore, said that caring for patients who experience acute changes in mental status or behaviors during hospitalization can be difficult.... Second-generation antipsychotic medications often are thought to be safer than haloperidol in terms of side effects, Oh said, but the new findings challenge that assumption."

Fewer Howard students are being restrained, but most are Black and in elementary school, official says - Howard County Times via Baltimore Sun
Jeannie-Marie Leoutsakos, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University affiliated with the Department of Mental Health, said restraint is likely to cause injury to students, and although it may be acceptable in rare cases, more than 100 annual restraint incidents is not acceptable. She urged stakeholders to talk to adults who were restrained as kids. “You can have this happen to you one time in your life,” Leoutsakos said with emotion. “It will stay with you forever.”

Depressed by the war on drugs? Magic mushrooms may help. - Reason magazine
A recently published study reports that, among other uses, psilocybin is a very effective treatment for depression.... By no means is this the first study to explore potential benefits from psychedelic drugs. Johns Hopkins Medicine is looking at psilocybin mushrooms for treating tobacco addiction.

'A lit match': Medical experts worry about domestic-violence, firearms case - National Journal
The threat of suicide is also a concern if a firearm is present in a house with intimate-partner violence, said Paul Nestadt, associate professor and core faculty member of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. His research was referenced in the AMA’s amicus brief to the Court.
The gun is “a lit match,” Nestadt said. “If it’s in a house that’s basically a powder keg of stress and distress and violence, that gun could be used in any direction, none of which are good.”
Firearms were used in most suicide deaths in 2021. They were involved in 26,328 suicide deaths out of a total of 48,183.

California lawmakers approve psychedelics decriminalization bill - The Hill
Backers of the push to decriminalize psychedelic drugs have drawn attention to the promising mental health benefits offered by certain entheogenic plants and fungi. Preliminary data from The Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research has shown psilocybin therapy can reduce major depressive disorder symptoms for up to a year.

I cured my ARFID with psilocybin. I shouldn’t have needed to self-treat it - Stat
I learned researchers at universities like Johns Hopkins and Yale administer psilocybin-containing mushrooms to help patients cure their anxiety, depression, and eating disorders like anorexia. My eyes widened. My husband and I sat up, looked at each other, and simultaneously said: “ARFID [avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder]?”

A single dose of psilocybin leads to significant improvements in people with major depressive disorder - Everyday Health
There have been recent small studies that suggest that psilocybin improves depression symptoms quickly, and the response continues long after the drug continues to be present in the body. A Johns Hopkins study published in February 2022 in the Journal of Psychopharmacology found that two doses of psilocybin may ease depression symptoms for up to 12 months.

Is California ready to bring psychedelic therapies into the mainstream? - San Francisco Standard
[P]silocybin, found in hallucinogenic mushrooms, is being studied for treating depression. For example, early data from The Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research has shown that psilocybin therapy can reduce major depressive disorder symptoms for up to a year.

What does it mean to awaken? (commentary) - Psychology Today
I scrambled to get more information about the “landscape of awakening” and eventually interviewed the prominent researcher of psychedelics, Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., who talked with me about his ongoing work at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelics and Consciousness Research.

Nevada needs to join the psychedelic renaissance - Nevada Independent
Even beyond political circles, the legitimacy of psychedelic research is at a level that would have been unimaginable in decades past. Even Johns Hopkins Medicine has an entire center dedicated to looking at the way psilocybin can be used to help treat everything from addiction to severe depression. The center even goes beyond mere treatment research and looks at ways to “expand research in healthy volunteers with the ultimate aspiration of opening new ways to support human thriving.”

I used to run a police narcotics unit. Here’s why California should decriminalize psychedelics (opinion) - San Francisco Chronicle
In recent years, after decades of stagnation, researchers at leading universities like Johns Hopkins, New York University and UCLA have been reopening research into psychedelics as a way to help people experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction, severe depression and anxiety. These recent studies are finding remarkable results. 

August

Psychedelics have 3 paths to going mainstream in California. Here’s what you need to know - CalMatters

[P]silocybin, found in hallucinogenic mushrooms, is being studied for treating depression. For example, early data from The Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, has shown that psilocybin therapy can reduce major depressive disorder symptoms for up to a year.

Psychedelic therapies could be transformative for California’s ailing first responders (commentary) - CalMatters (California)
Renowned institutions like Johns Hopkins University, NYU and UCLA are producing high quality, peer-reviewed research demonstrating that these medicines [psychedelics like psilocybin] hold potential to effectively treat major depression, addiction, severe anxiety and other conditions.

Poor sleep and chronic pain prove pesky bedfellows - Medscape
Michael Smith, PhD, is examining the sleep-pain connection from a different angle. Smith, the director of the Behavioral Medicine Research Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, [and his team are] conducting a study known as Sleep-MOR that aims to reveal how different types of sleep disturbances influence pain and a person's response to opioids.

Ex-NHL player Kyle Quincey is building a psychedelic retreat center in Colorado for athletes, military - Denver Post
Dr. Albert Garcia-Romeu, a researcher and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said psilocybin is being studied in neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s Disease, but that those studies aim to measure its impact on depression and quality of life associated with the disease.... The substance’s effect on TBI [traumatic brain injury] has not yet systematically been studied, Garcia-Romeu added.

Psychedelics are hot on the Hill - Politico
“The data look really promising in terms of treating depression, treating PTSD, treating addictions, and also for palliative care settings,” Albert Garcia-Romeu, a psychopharmacology researcher at Johns Hopkins University, said.

MDMA is one of the safer illegal drugs. But there are risks. - New York Times
Deaths related to MDMA do happen, although they are far rarer than those caused by a number of other legal and illegal drugs, such as alcohol or cocaine, said Matthew Johnson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

6 reasons why a psilocybin wellness retreat may be right for you - Black Enterprise
As mentioned before, if you’re going to do a psilocybin therapy session, you should do it right. Get with the right professionals, shamans, and teams who work together to guide you on a safe and healthy magic mushroom trip. Johns Hopkins Medicine has conducted research about the importance of consuming psilocybin in regulated spaces facilitated by a medical team over a series of guided sessions.

How to ease kids “back to school” anxiety - KISS radio (Charlotte, N.C.)
“Parents or caregivers may notice their children exhibiting some nervousness about new routines, schoolwork or social interactions,” explains Johns Hopkins Children’s Center psychologist Erika Chiappini, who specializes in childhood anxiety. “Some of this is a normal part of back-to-school jitters that gradually diminish over a few weeks.”

'Magic Mushroom' drug psilocybin shows early promise in easing migraines - HealthDay
[R]ecent years have seen a new interest in the drug as medical therapy. Researchers at institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, New York University and the University of California are studying psilocybin as a treatment for conditions like depression, addiction and eating disorders. While most of the research is focused on psychiatric conditions, psilocybin has also shown hints of promise against cluster headaches and migraines.

Can the military sleep method really help you fall asleep in two minutes?- Health Digest
It's the relaxation factor that's critical to an improved night's sleep. Dr. Luis F. Buenaver, a sleep expert at Johns Hopkins University, explains that performing a calming activity is key because it helps "... by reducing the release of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline and by slowing your heart rate and breathing."

The light and dark side of melatonin - Next Avenue
"Unfortunately, there has been insufficient research to confirm the long-term safety of melatonin," says David Neubauer, MD, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Melatonin supplementation has increased since the beginning of the pandemic when insomnia cases exploded. "While there had been a steady rise in melatonin use from about 2010 to 2019, in 2020, there was a huge sales increase of 42% over the previous year," reports Neubauer.

We’re on the cusp of another psychedelic era. But this time Washington is along for the ride - Politico
“The data look really promising in terms of treating depression, treating PTSD, treating addictions, and also for palliative care settings,” Albert Garcia-Romeu, a psychopharmacology researcher at Johns Hopkins University … said of the psychedelic research landscape. There’s already a large body of smaller studies with encouraging results, he explained, and now bigger studies are building on them.

Antipsychotic drugs can help with Alzheimer’s. But are they worth the risks? -Baltimore Banner
Geriatric doctors such as Frederick Nucifora, who is also an associate professor of adult psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, say the risks of the drugs are serious, as is the risk of overuse, but they are still needed in many cases. “It varies, but up to 50% or more of patients with Alzheimer’s disease will also have psychosis,” Nucifora said.

Psychedelic therapy for stressed workers reportedly gains traction at firms - New York Post
A series of studies from Johns Hopkins University’s psychedelics research unit found that magic mushroom-assisted therapy can reduce depression symptoms for up to a year and be effective for individuals for whom other treatments haven’t worked.

What role can psychedelics play in mental health? (audio) - Minnesota Public Radio
MPR News host Angela Davis talks with guests who have studied the use of psychedelics. [Guests include Nayak Sandeep, an assistant professor and a medical doctor. He works at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelics & Consciousness Research.]

The ‘silent’ symptom of depression you might notice while making dinner (study) - The U.S. Sun
Hyposmia, or a reduced sense of smell, has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia in the past. Researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine, US, have now discovered that poor olfaction is a sign of depression in older adults. They found the worse a person’s sense of smell gets, the worse their mental health is. Lead author and psychiatry professor Vidya Kamath said: "Smell is an important way to engage with the world around us, and this study shows it may be a warning sign for late-life depression."

Why do our minds race when we’re trying to sleep? - Los Angeles Times
“Poor sleep may create difficulties regulating emotions that, in turn, may leave you more vulnerable to depression in the future — months or even years from now,” according to Johns Hopkins sleep researcher Patrick H. Finan. “And depression itself is associated with sleep difficulties such as shortening the amount of restorative slow-wave sleep a person gets each night.”

Health care providers learn to guide dying patients through a psychedelic trip - CBC (Canada)
A Johns Hopkins University study published last year found two treatments of psilocybin, when paired with psychotherapy, can produce "substantial antidepressant effects" in patients with major depressive disorder for more than a year.

Take two shrooms and call me in the morning - Investing Daily
Research on magic mushrooms is accelerating. Notably, Johns Hopkins Psychedelic Research Center is studying the possible beneficial effects of psilocybin on Alzheimer’s patients.

Psilocybin may help some who battle anorexia - HealthDay
[R]ecent years have seen a growing interest in psilocybin as therapy. In the United States, researchers at institutions like New York University, the University of California and Johns Hopkins University are studying psilocybin-assisted therapy for psychiatric conditions like major depression and addiction.

July

Can psychedelic therapy fulfill its big promise? - Washingtonian
In 2000, after 30 years of prohibition, the federal government changed course, allowing scientists at Johns Hopkins to study the psychological effects of psilocybin in healthy volunteers. Two-thirds of participants who received the full dose rated the experience among the most spiritually significant of their lives. In the months after, subjects reported deep and enduring changes in their mood, attitude, and behavior.

iPhones have a built-in white noise feature, and I can't believe I'm just now learning about it - Buzzfeed
What do these white noise devices actually do? “The key feature of the sound devices is the constant sound in contrast to changing sounds like with music, radio, and television,” said Dr. David Neubauer, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Our brains pay attention to changing sound, but a comfortable constant sound can help lull us to sleep.”

This is why you randomly wake up at 4 a.m. (and how to fall back asleep fast) https://fortune.com/well/2023/07/30/how-to-fall-back-asleep/- Fortune
Leave the room. If all fails after 20 minutes, go to another room to read or listen to soft music. Whatever you do, just make sure it’s in another room. “[Staying awake in your bed] will lead your brain and body to associate your bed with wakefulness instead of with sleep,” Johns Hopkins sleep expert Luis F. Buenaver, Ph.D. said in a blog post. “It can be difficult leaving a warm, comfortable bed after waking up in the middle of the night. But think of this step as an investment in better sleep — if not tonight then tomorrow night and in the future.”

Growing share of teen girls visited ER for mental crises during pandemic (study) - Washington Times
According to some mental health providers not involved in the study, the findings confirm what they’ve seen in their hospitals and offices over the past three years. “The kids are very, very sick, and they’re not getting better as quickly as they used to,” said Dr. John V. Campo, director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. “I can’t tell you why. I don’t know why.” The nation’s emergency rooms were not equipped to deal with emotional breakdowns and are now overwhelmed by the surge in children on suicide watch, he added.

Psychedelic therapy may be coming to a VR headset near you - Inverse
“We don’t really know how the brain and the mind work … and then people want to ask how psychedelics do what they do,” Albert Garcia-Romeu, a research psychologist who also works at Johns Hopkins, tells Inverse. Frederick Barrett, a cognitive neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University, points to limitations in brain imaging studies; for example, researchers don’t always carefully control [study] participants’ behavior for consistency.

Most older adults don't know you can test for Alzheimer's disease (poll) - Health
The fact that so many [in the poll] had even heard about the test was surprising, said Esther Oh, MD, PhD, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Memory and Alzheimer’s Treatment Center, who was not involved in the research.... “I was shocked to see that 20% of people even knew about any kind of blood test because it’s fairly new,” said Oh.

Psychedelics might revolutionize therapy. What happens if you remove the trip? - Vox
“I just find it very implausible that you’ll see full and enduring benefits from psychedelics without the acute subjective effects [or: the trip],” David Yaden, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins who works in the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, told me earlier this year. In a 2021 paper, Yaden and his colleague Roland Griffiths contend that to get the full beneficial effects of psychedelics, the trip is necessary.

Psychedelic toads invade Arizona after monsoon season kicks in - High Times
Toad venom is scraped from the glands on the animals and dried into a paste, which is later smoked. “The experience is going to start within 10 to 30 seconds and then you’re going to be physically incapacitated for 20 to 30 minutes,” Alan Davis, a Johns Hopkins psychedelics researcher, previously explained in Johns Hopkins Magazine.

The new promise of psychedelics - Wall Street Journal
A new study in the journal Nature by the neuroscientist Gul Dolen at Johns Hopkins and colleagues tackles this question [just how do psychedelics achieve therapeutic effects?]. What psychedelics have in common, the study finds, is that they return the relatively rigid, developed adult brain to a more flexible, open state, more like the childhood brain. This may be key to their positive effects.

With new therapies that promise to slow Alzheimer’s disease, researchers race to reform how patients are diagnosed - CNN
While some of these blood tests are available to doctors now through specialized labs that analyze them, none of them has yet received FDA approval, though Dr. Constantine Lyketsos, director of the Memory and Alzheimer’s Treatment Center at Johns Hopkins, expects some will clear that hurdle within the next year.

Drug dealers openly sell mushrooms in Washington Square Park - New York Post
Albert Garcia-Romeu, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine studying the effects of psilocybin, warned that taking shrooms randomly bought on the street is much different from ingesting the measured doses given out in research trials’ controlled settings — and could lead to serious health and safety issues. “When you’re taking the drugs in an uncontrolled setting, it’s like drinking too much and being out in a foreign city,” he said. “People can take advantage of you, you can get in an accident.”

How Psychedelics Can Heal a Broken Mind - WebMD
Scientists at Johns Hopkins University were investigating the drugs’ effects on “critical periods” for social learning, times when the brain is more open to new information that diminish as we age. Success in mice suggests that psychedelics can start a fresh period of learning.

Here’s what psychedelics are, how they work, and why you need to know about them - The Denver Post
Studies by Johns Hopkins University found psilocybin, specifically, can decrease end-of-life anxiety among cancer patients, help longtime smoker kick a nicotine addiction, and reduce depression symptoms.

I’m giving $100 million to psychedelics research (editorial) - Newsweek
Such private philanthropy has been crucial to enabling the clinical studies that have finally convinced the federal government to respond, albeit slowly. In 2021, the National Institutes of Health granted the first federal funding for psychedelics research in 50 years, when it awarded $4 million to Johns Hopkins to study how psilocybin affects tobacco addiction.

Newly approved Alzheimer’s drug may not work as well on women - Axios
Since patient gender were not a primary consideration and it’s possible that the patients were not comparable enough, “you really can’t draw conclusions from that difference,” said Constantine Lyketsos, an Alzheimer’s researcher at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Shortage of drugs to treat ADHD continues as studies indicate increase in prescriptions - Maryland Matters
By the fall of 2022, people started noticing a shortage in Adderall, one of the most-known medications to treat ADHD symptoms, according to Dr. David W. Goodman, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

As psychiatrists, do we offer hope or do we offer death? (editorial) - Medscape
This commentary and opinion piece was written for Medscape by Dinah Miller, MD, who is an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Psychedelic research: experts react to FDA draft guidance - MedPage Today
Sandeep Nayak, MD, a psychiatrist and an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, told MedPage Today that he also found the credential and monitoring recommendation to be too broad and needlessly cumbersome."I think that's completely appropriate for psychedelic trials for psychiatric indications," Nayak said. "However, that's not the only use case of psychedelics. ... So I think it kind of takes what is very appropriate for psychiatric research, but sort of overextends the model for every possible research case of psychedelics."

FDA grants Eisai’s Leqembi full approval, opening door to wider use of Alzheimer’s drug - Healthcare Dive
Some [doctor] see [Leqembia] as the most effective option yet for slowing a devastating disease, while others believe it offers marginal benefits at best. According to Constantine Lyketsos, director of the Memory and Alzheimer’s Treatment Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Leqembi is “doing better than the placebo, but not much better.”

Hopkins child psychiatrist talks mental health following mass shootings (video) - WMAR-TV
"Those adverse childhood experiences can have an impact in the long-term," said Dr. Carol Vidal, a child psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins. Vidal tells WMAR children who go through trauma early in life can develop physical problems, too. "People who tend to have more adverse childhood experiences have more trouble with cardiovascular disorders, cancer diagnoses and even a shorter lifespan," said Vidal.

Depression after a brain injury is a distinct condition, study finds. That could change how it's treated. - NBC News
The findings are a step forward in understanding how depression can be treated differently in people with traumatic brain injury, or TBI, who often do not respond to psychotherapy and medication.... “This depression is being driven by something different in the brain,” said Dr. Matthew Peters, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, who was not involved with the new research.

You may have adult ADHD, but not because TikTok says so - Wall Street Journal
“This is not a disorder that develops at age 25, 37 or 42,” says Dr. David Goodman, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “It’s a neurodevelopmental disorder that starts in childhood and symptoms continue into adulthood.”

As psychedelics near approval, there’s no consensus on how they work - Stat
“There’s an awful lot of uncertainty,” said Fred Barrett, cognitive neuroscientist and director of Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. “Part of that uncertainty comes from the very small amount of data that exists.” The research to tease out the mechanisms of psychedelics is based on animals or studies of humans with small sample sizes, meaning there’s no definitive evidence yet.

As seniors' sense of smell declines, their risk for depression rises (study) - HealthDay
“We’ve seen repeatedly that a poor sense of smell can be an early warning sign of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, as well as a mortality risk. This study underscores its association with depressive symptoms,” said Vidya Kamath, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

June

What is bipolar anger? - Psycom
According to Dean Frederick MacKinnon, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, “People who are actively in the mixed state of bipolar illness have the propensity to develop a rapid response to elevated levels of frustration. Their reaction and range of emotion is incongruous [out of proportion] with the actual level of the stressor...."

Study: ADHD Treatment Less Likely for College Students Using Campus Clinics - ADDitude
“Our work cannot differentiate between these possibilities,” [James] Aluri [from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine] told ADDitude. “However, I am concerned — based on talking to other clinicians and reviewing college ADHD policies across the country — that many campus-based clinics are overly strict with access to assessment and treatment for ADHD. Our study’s findings are consistent with this hypothesis but do not confirm it. The strictness is understandable; resources are limited, and colleges want to avoid contributing to stimulant misuse. But it also means that students with ADHD have limited access to treatment.”

“If college students are not receiving ADHD treatment, their academic and social performance is compromised. We know that students with ADHD who are not treated tend to drop out of college or take longer to complete their coursework — and this compromises their ability to move forward in life at the same pace as their peers,” [David] Goodman of [Johns Hopkins School of Medicine] told ADDitude.

ADHD Drug Shortages Spread to Adderall Alternative Vyvanse - Bloomberg News
David W. Goodman, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a psychiatrist in the Baltimore area, said that he has been prescribing Vyvanse for patients who can’t fill their Adderall prescriptions. It’s relatively easy to switch from Adderall to Vyvanse, he said, because both are amphetamine-based drugs. “That was a common clinical practice for me and my colleagues,” he said. Goodman wasn’t aware of any supply issues. “If that’s something that’s developed recently, we’ve got a new challenge,” he said.

Suicide among some youths higher in states with legalized marijuana - Healio
Using data from the 2000-2019 National Vital Statistics System Multiple Cause of Death files for those aged 12 to 13 years, 14 to 16 years, 17 to 19 years, 20 to 22 years, and 23 to 25 years, Christopher J. Hammond, MD, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, and colleagues analyzed suicide deaths in relation to cannabis law status to determine associations between medical marijuana legalization, recreational marijuana legalization and suicide rates.

Postpartum: The perfect storm - Baltimore's Child
“Postpartum depression is the most common complication of childbirth, and it has long-lasting repercussions for the mother and children,” [Jennifer L.] Payne says. At Johns Hopkins, Payne helped establish the Women’s Mood Disorder Center to study hormone-triggered mood disorders and their impact. Her expertise includes women’s mood disorders, PPD, premenstrual dysphoric disorders and perimenopausal depression.

A growing list of states are opening up to psychedelics - Westword (Denver)
In 2022, researchers at Johns Hopkins University determined that psilocybin could serve as a "substantial antidepressant" for up to a year for some patients when paired with supportive therapy.

Why are care delivery models for people with dementia developing so slowly? - Forbes
Johns Hopkins University created its version [of a care-delivery model], called Maximizing Independence at Home (MIND at Home), where a care team conducts in-home assessments and helps participants build care plans. Using a team including a non-clinical navigator, a nurse, an occupational therapist and a geriatric psychiatrist, it provides education and counseling, referrals to community resources, and training in behavior management skills

N.J. lawmakers mull legalizing hallucinogenic mushrooms to treat mental illness - New Jersey Monitor
The committee heard from five invited experts: three researchers from Harvard, Johns Hopkins, and Rutgers universities, and [two patients] whose psilocybin use cured their ailments. The researchers touted its efficacy in treating everything from Alzheimer’s to post-traumatic stress disorder to nicotine addiction.

Jaden Smith says psychedelics made him more empathetic. Here’s what the experts say. - USA Today
Dr. Matthew W. Johnson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins, encourages the public to be both "skeptical and open" [about psychedelics]. "Follow the follow the data and (don't) get ahead of it, but at the same time, recognize it is an exciting development," Johnson previously told USA Today.

Is long COVID linked to mental illness? - Slate
As long as the idea that mental illness is somehow less “real” than physical illness persists, however, investigating that link remains a risky proposition.... “Being ‘real’ or not is a very false dichotomy,” says Tracy Vannorsdall, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins. “And it doesn’t do our patients, or our scientific thinking, any good.”

Psychedelic drugs can unlock brain’s ability to learn new skills, scientists say - The Independent (U.K.)
A study published recently in the journal Nature, found that psychedelic drugs are linked by their common ability to reopen … critical periods. “There is a window of time when the mammalian brain is far more susceptible and open to learning from the environment. This window will close at some point, and then, the brain becomes much less open to new learning,” study co-author Gül Dölen [of Johns Hopkins University] said.

Feeling claustrophobic? The missing submersible has been triggering. - Washington Post
The fear becomes a “phobia” when someone’s concern of enclosed spaces doesn’t match the actual risk presented by the situation. A person’s concern starts to affect their daily life at home, work or school. “The fear gets in the way such that people can’t do the things that they want to do,” said Joe Bienvenu, professor of psychiatry and anxiety disorders at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “It’s an irrational fear that interferes with a person’s life.”

‘Magic’ mushroom use by young adults has nearly doubled in three years - The Hill
Berkeley, Yale and Johns Hopkins universities all now operate centers for the scholarly study of psychedelics. Advocates hope that research will ultimately clear the way for the federal decriminalization of psilocybin, MDMA (also known as ecstasy or molly), ketamine and other mind-altering drugs for both therapeutic and recreational use.

The ADHD drug shortage is spreading as supplies of a popular alternative to Adderall run worryingly low - Fortune
David W. Goodman, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a psychiatrist in the Baltimore area, said that he has been prescribing Vyvanse for patients who can’t fill their Adderall prescriptions. It’s relatively easy to switch from Adderall to Vyvanse, he said, because both are amphetamine-based drugs.

Can antidepressants stop working if you take them for a long period? - Yahoo! via HuffPost U.K.
Psychiatrist and co-director of the Jack and Mary McGlasson Anxiety Disorders Clinic at Johns Hopkins, Paul Nestadt explained: “Usually an antidepressant that’s worked for a patient will keep working. “But sometimes, a new episode of depression might come up that’s not as responsive to that medication, or the medication might just stop working altogether.”

MDMA changes the brain — but scientists still don’t know its full potential - Inverse
Gül Dölen’s [an associate professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University] findings are that it’s not just MDMA that can do this — it’s pretty much all the classic psychedelics she’s tested so far. It appears that, at their base root, all of these drugs are pretty much doing the same thing to the brain. They are reopening that critical period.

Study: Psychedelics show promise in reopening ‘critical periods’ in brain - High Times
A new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins University suggests that psychedelics could reopen “critical periods” in the brains of mammals, offering potential for the drugs as a treatment option for those suffering from a wide range of debilitating conditions “There is a window of time when the mammalian brain is far more susceptible and open to learning from the environment,” said Gül Dölen, associate professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Draconian laws deter pregnant women from treating drug abuse - Scientific American
Substance use disorder treatment programs such as Firefly in Nashville and other facilities such as the Comprehensive Addiction and Pregnancy (CAP) program at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, are helping to meet [the needs of pregnant women with substance use disorders].

How a dose of MDMA transformed a white supremacist – BBC
According to research published this week in Nature by Johns Hopkins University neuroscientist Gül Dölen, MDMA and other psychedelics – including psilocybin, LSD, ketamine and ibogaine – work therapeutically by reopening a critical period in the brain.

America’s Love Affair with Adderall – The Free Press
Dr. David Goodman is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, with a clinical focus on treating adults with ADHD. He says the shortage of Adderall has created havoc for many of his patients. “If they go a few weeks without medication, there are huge changes in their lives.” He says he’s had patients who have lost jobs, whose marriages are in distress, who are so distracted they are running red lights. “People get embarrassed by their own behavior,” he said. “It’s humiliating.”
Dr. James Aluri, a fellow at the Johns Hopkins Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, takes issue with the idea proposed by some that “ADHD is a purely contemporary cultural product.” He says in eighteenth-century medical literature there are descriptions of a clinical syndrome that sound just like the criteria for today’s ADHD diagnosis. “That’s a helpful reminder that ADHD has a biological grounding, even if diagnosis can be influenced by social factors,” he said. “There’s more to the story than the criticism that ADHD pathologizes normal childhood behavior.”

Oprah talks to scientist Roland Griffiths about the power of psychedelics and the gratitude of mortality - Oprah Daily
When one of the foremost pioneers of psychedelics research in the treatment for terminally ill cancer patients was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, the irony wasn’t lost on him. Because what some might see as Shakespearean tragedy, Roland Griffiths, PhD, a soft-spoken man of science with a seemingly irrepressible smile, sees only as the greatest of life affirmations. Griffiths has spent decades studying how the human brain responds to mood-altering drugs. He founded the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Is giving someone a second chance smart? How to determine if it's worth it – Glam
[Forgiveness] is an active process in which you make a conscious decision to let go of negative feelings whether the person deserves it or not," Karen Swartz, M.D., director of the Mood Disorders Adult Consultation Clinic at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, told Johns Hopkins Medicine. Thus, sometimes giving someone a second chance is a good choice, and other times, it isn't worth it, but when a second chance isn't on the table, don't rule out forgiveness.

Rhode Island lawmakers approve psilocybin legalization bill – Forbes
Studies conducted by Johns Hopkins and other researchers have shown that psilocybin has the potential to be an effective treatment for several serious mental health conditions, including PTSD, major depressive disorder, anxiety and substance misuse disorders.

Study: Ecstasy made octopuses hug each other - High Times
Anyone who has taken MDMA probably experienced a euphoric burst of touchy-feeliness. Turns out that octopuses do, too. A 2018 study from researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the findings of which were highlighted in a story this month in Psychedelic Spotlight, tested the “behavioral reaction to the popular mood-altering drug MDMA, or ecstasy” on the otherworldly sea creatures. The experiment turned the animals’ habitat into something resembling an underwater rave.

May

5 potential health benefits of psychedelic therapy - Everyday Health
Other than ketamine, psychedelic substances “have not met the very rigorous standards of passing multiple phase 3 trials, which is what’s needed for FDA approval,” says Matthew Johnson, PhD, the Susan Hill Ward Professor in Psychedelics and Consciousness, and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore.

How a blend of science and art is improving neurological health (audio) - PBS NewsHour
The blend of science and art is called neuroarts or neuro-aesthetics. The new book, “Your Brain On Art: How The Arts Transform Us,” shows both the growth and importance of the field that connects the arts and our health. Jeffrey Brown visited the Johns Hopkins medical school [Dr. Meg Chisolm] in Baltimore to see the progress for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.

Once taboo, psychedelic drugs offer vets new PTSD treatment option - Washington Times
In 2019, Johns Hopkins University launched a major new initiative to “study the mind and identify therapies for diseases such as addiction, PTSD and Alzheimer’s,” with a focus on how psilocybin could offer new treatment breakthroughs. When it was unveiled, the university billed it as “the largest research center of its kind in the world.”

Why does day drinking feel different? - New York Times
It’s hot. Drinking while the sun is out — particularly in the summer — makes you more likely to become dehydrated, and dehydration can intensify the effects of intoxication: You may feel fatigued, lightheaded, woozy or just generally out of it, said Dr. Sarah Andrews, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Is psychedelic therapy the next-gen treatment we think? - Women's Health
[I]n a pilot study, researchers at Imperial College London’s Centre for Psychedelic Research] are investigating the role psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) could play in treating anorexia nervosa. Meanwhile, at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US, a similar pilot study has been conducted. While analysis is pending, one researcher told WH they’re ‘cautiously optimistic’ that the therapy could be helpful for some sufferers.

I tried progressive muscle relaxation, a simple exercise to help you ‘flex’ your way to sleep - Well and Good
Essentially, progressive muscle relaxation engages both your body and mind to help address the full-body experience of stress. "If I meditate on all the things that make me stressed, that's going to increase the stress," says Luis Fernando Buevaner, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "But if I focus on something else, like fatiguing the muscles and deep-breathing to occupy those brain centers, that is going to have a different effect."

Time for a fungi fest? Convention marks psychedelic movement taking root in Maine - Portland Phoenix
The growing acceptance of psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in what are commonly called “magic mushrooms,” is reaching the state level in Maine. National scientists and researchers, too, like those from the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, backed by $17 million in funding, are working to understand the effects of the compound on the brain and studying its potential for alternative medical treatment.

Can the drug in magic mushrooms ‘essentially fix a broken brain’ in people with depression? CO clinical trial aims to find out - Colorado Times Recorder
A handful of other academic medical centers around the U.S. are conducting clinical trials related to psilocybin and other psychedelics. These centers include Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Yale and New York University, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, the University of Texas, Austin and the University of California, San Francisco.

Psilocybin offers a path to improved mental health for Nevadans and Nevada's veterans - Gazette Journal (Reno, Nev.)
Academic studies out of John Hopkins show that natural psilocybin-containing mushrooms can improve an individual's mental health. One study conducted at Johns Hopkins University found that a single dose of psilocybin can lead to long-lasting reductions in depression and anxiety in patients with cancer.

Your 5-minute read on fighting brain fog - Healthline
“ ‘Brain fog’ isn’t a scientific term itself, but rather a mild cognitive dysfunction that may be caused by many different conditions,” says Dean MacKinnon, MD, associate professor of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins. “We all have periods of not thinking as sharply as we’d like. But most of the time, the sensation is temporary,” MacKinnon adds.

Why psilocybin is becoming a prime mental health treatment option in Oregon - WKTVL-TV (Medford, Ore.)
When Johns Hopkins University was permitted by the FDA in 2000 to start studying psilocybin, people began opening their minds to the possibility of therapeutic use of mushrooms.

Exploring the rise in mental health disorders during Children's Mental Health Awareness Month (video) - Fox 5 (D.C.)
Mental health concerns are on the rise in the U.S., especially among children. Each year, 1 in 5 children experience a mental health disorder. For Children's Mental Health Awareness [Month], we want to know how family members can help and what started the surge of mental illness. Dr. Joseph McGuire from Johns Hopkins Children's Center joins Fox 5 to discuss the root causes and what parents can do to help their kids.

Psychedelic medicine is coming — but who’s going to guide your trip? - National Geographic
Administering psychedelic-assisted therapy is vastly different for professionals used to conventional mental-health treatments, says [Mary] Yaden, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, who is working on a pilot curriculum for Hopkins, Yale, and New York University psychiatry students. “When I prescribe Lexapro, my patient picks up the prescription and I hear in a month how it’s going,” she says. But with psychedelics, the actual dispensing of the medicine along with subsequent talk therapy are required, she says.

This is the way? 'JEDI Center' uses magic mushrooms for guided 'journeys' - Fox Business
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University have found that psilocybin could aid in treating afflictions such depression and smoking addiction, though [the funders of the JEDI Center] noted that psilocybin, which is a Schedule I drug in the U.S. and Schedule III in Canada, should not be treated lightly.

Does weed help with anxiety or cause it? Here’s what experts say. - Washington Post
The effects of weed can even vary with each experience and may be influenced by how anxious you are when you ingest the drug. A person could smoke or ingest the same amount of cannabis on two different occasions and have two completely different experiences, said Ryan Vandrey, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine. “A lot of it could be the baggage you’re carrying into the situation,” Vandrey said. “It’s really hard to predict.”

April

New pediatric guidelines aim to treat obesity without stigma. Critics say they’ll make bias worse. - Baltimore Sun
Colleen Schreyer, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine who serves as the director of clinical research for the Johns Hopkins Eating Disorders program, has complicated feelings about the guidelines. “I see the need for treatment of obesity,” Schreyer said. “I also think we need to be thoughtful about how we implement those treatment interventions to prevent the onset of disordered eating.”

Most melatonin gummies aren’t labeled accurately (study) - Everyday Health
While the study found that in most cases the labeled doses were not exactly the same, generally the measured amounts were within a few milligrams, says David Neubauer, MD, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and sleep expert at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, who was not involved in the study. “Fortunately, these small differences between the measured amounts and label doses are not likely to have any clinical significance,” says Dr. Neubauer.

Your connections predict your longevity better than your cholesterol levels, says study — here’s why - Woman's World
Study after study has shown the health benefits of accessing social support. “For humans, social connections are as essential as food and water,” says Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Margaret Chisolm, MD. “They are needed to sustain our lives and to perpetuate the species.”

Psychedelics may become lowest enforcement priority in Jefferson County - Peninsula Daily News (Port Angeles, Wash.)
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has been studying the use of entheogens for psychological treatment since 2000, and in 2022 the Department of Veterans Affairs announced it had conducted studies in psychedelic treatments for PTSD and depression.

Melatonin gummies may have a higher dose than what’s on the label - Washington Post
How much melatonin should someone take? David N. Neubauer, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, said for people interested in trying melatonin, he recommends starting with 1 to 3 milligrams. “Take it prior to your bedtime because once you’re getting into bed it’s too late,” Neubauer said.

Helping veterans, battling opioid addiction driving magic mushroom legislation progress - CBS 6 (Albany, N.Y.)
Johns Hopkins University has conducted several studies on psilocybin, saying it has substantial antidepressant effects, but needs to be administered under carefully controlled conditions through trained clinicians and therapists.

It’s not just the ‘shy kids’ who get nervous in front a crowd, study shows - CNN
If your child is avoiding situations that are important or could be enjoyable for them because they are feeling nervous, it might be time to intervene, said Dr. Erika Chiappini, a child and adolescent psychologist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore.

Pain, hope, science collide as athletes turn to magic mushrooms - ESPN
"If you don't [host mushroom therapy sessions safely], people are going to get hurt," said Matthew Johnson, a psychiatry professor and psychedelics researcher at Johns Hopkins University.... "At a high dose, about a third of people in our studies, even under these ideal conditions, can have what would be called a bad trip, some degree of substantial anxiety or fear," said Johnson.

Mental fatigue can impair physical performance - Bicycling magazine
[A] study in Frontiers in Psychology, suggests that the effects of mental fatigue can persist for at least 20 minutes…. That research helps explain a good strategy for those looking to support their performance even after mentally demanding tasks, according to Paul Nestadt, M.D., assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “Sometimes, simply waiting for a short time, like half an hour, between mentally demanding tasks and a workout might be beneficial,” he told Bicycling.

America has no rules for treating adults with ADHD - The Atlantic
A “perfect storm” of factors — manufacturing delays, labor shortages, tight regulations — is to blame for the [Adderall] shortage, David Goodman, an ADHD expert and a psychiatry professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told me.

Fort Bragg psychologist proposes decriminalizing psychedelics: a Q&A on 'how do we want to live?' - Mendocino Voice (California)
The foremost research on psychedelics right now is going on at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School; University of California, Los Angeles; New York University; and Johns Hopkins. Those are the four major centers, although many other schools are now researching.

Psychedelics reconsidered: Reflections on drugs and culture - Psychology Today
This commentary, written by Albert Garcia-Romeu, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, asks the question: How have we gone from the prohibitionist “just say no” mentality of the late 20th century to the current landscape of shifting public perception and growing research (including government-funded studies) on psychedelics?

70% of cannabis products have less THC than they claim (study) - Healthline
Tory Spindle, PhD, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, was not surprised by the results of the new study. In a study published last year, he and his colleagues found that only about one-quarter of CBD products they tested were accurately labeled for CBD content…. “There is a sense that products that you purchase from a dispensary would have better oversight,” said Spindle. “Clearly, this [current] study would suggest that’s not necessarily the case.”

Shrooms are the new Cali sober - Elle
"Treatment has been in a crisis for decades,” says Matthew Wayne Johnson, Ph.D., a professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins. “Lifespan is decreasing and the two big reasons for that are suicide and addiction — and when you step back and ask what areas psychedelic therapy, like psilocybin, has promising effects for early on, it’s things like depression, PTSD, alcohol, and tobacco.”

Review: 'God on Psychedelics' a deeply researched trip - San Francisco Chronicle
An Episcopalian reverend who took psilocybin during a clinical study run by Maryland’s Johns Hopkins University tells [author Don] Lattin that he “felt a force of energy blow into my body,” showing him “that spiritual healing is real.” Another reverend in the same study says that he “visited other worlds” and “had an experience of theological unity” thanks to psilocybin.

Magic mushroom pastor is willing to go to jail for his new San Francisco church - San Francisco Chronicle
People can also hurt themselves during trips, particularly on extremely large doses like the ones [Pastor Dave] Hodges recommends. Roland Griffiths, a psychopharmacologist at Johns Hopkins University, put this risk in frank terms during a panel discussion at SXSW last year. “We are going to see deaths and suicides and homicides attributed to psychedelics. That is a real thing that’s going to happen,” he said.

Roland Griffith's magical profession - Chronicle of Higher Education
Over his half-century career at the Johns Hopkins University, Roland R. Griffiths has published hundreds of papers, most of them having to do with the downsides of drugs... But he’s best known for one paper. ... The title — “Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance” — is a clue that you’re in for something different.

Doctor: Maryland needs assisted outpatient treatment so I can save my patients - Maryland Matters
This commentary, which was written by Cynthia Lewis, director of Adult Psychiatric Emergency Services at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, states, in part, "No physician believes that hopping from crisis to crisis does no harm to patients. But currently doctors have no ability to intervene in these situations outside of the hospital, and we are helpless to stop the cycle."

The Adderall Shortage Is Putting People at Risk of Serious Health Issues - Self
The bottom line, experts say, is that Adderall is crucial in helping people with ADHD excel in their day-to-day lives....Not having access to them is impactful in all aspects of a person’s life, Dr. Goodman [David Goodman, MD, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine] adds. “It’s almost like having blurred vision,” he explains. “You have to function without your glasses for the next few weeks. And your blurred vision will compromise how you function.”

Organization leaders criticize California bill seeking to legalize certain psychedelic drugs - Epoch Times
[Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), author of SB 58] has referred to research by John Hopkins University that found psilocybin to be effective when used in depression treatment. However, in a press release, Natalie Gukasyan, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, stated that the promising medical effect was “under carefully controlled conditions.”

Magic mushrooms, MDMA would be legalized under Republican’s plan - Boston Herald
The state rep’s plan may seem outlandish, but a study by Johns Hopkins Medicine in 2022 showed that even a single use of the drugs, especially when coupled with therapy, can have long-term, positive impacts on the mental health of those suffering from a variety of diseases.

Citing bias and stress, more colleges eliminate letter grades - Washington Times
[Some] experts note that ending grades won’t stop young people from comparing themselves to each other on social media. Stress can “optimize performance” and is not harmful mentally or physically at tolerable levels, said Dr. John V. Campo, a pediatric psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. “There is a risk of setting the bar too low and selling young people short,” Dr. Campo said.

Creating a suicide prevention plan to distract, cope and reach out for support can save lives (audio) - WBUR radio (NPR Boston)
Among those who have implemented [suicide-prevention] plans with their patients is Dr. Paul Nestadt, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He joins host Robin Young to discuss the Stanley-Brown Safety Planning intervention and why it works.

Magic mushrooms, MDMA would be legalized under Republican’s plan - Boston Herald
The state rep’s plan may seem outlandish, but a study by Johns Hopkins Medicine in 2022 showed that even a single use of the drugs, especially when coupled with therapy, can have long-term, positive impacts on the mental health of those suffering from a variety of diseases.

Does weed help you sleep? - Washington Post
Ryan Vandrey, a professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said people who use cannabis products for sleep should view them as they would any other sleep medication. Typically in sleep medicine, patients are rarely prescribed a medicine for longer than a few weeks at a time, he said.

What’s the difference between bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder? - U.S. News & World Report
“When relationships go bad, the person tends to employ psychological defenses that are the most immature and often the most destructive or self-defeating," explains Dr. Dean MacKinnon, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. "Their emotional responsiveness is significantly stronger and more rapid than the average person.”

How the billions of creatures inside your gut can boost mental health - Inverse
“Many studies support gut-brain axis impacting brain function,” says Atsushi Kamiya, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Thus, [a] healthy gut may positively affect our brain function and potentially keep our mental condition healthy.”

A psychedelics pioneer takes the ultimate trip - New York Times
As the founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, Dr. Roland Griffiths has been a pioneer in investigating the ways in which psychedelics can help treat depression, addiction and, in patients with a life-threatening cancer diagnosis, psychological distress.... Now he is learning to die.

March

Eye changes may reveal early signs of Alzheimer’s disease (study) - Everyday Health
“The idea that there’s a link between the eye and Alzheimer’s disease has been around for a while,” says Constantine Lyketsos, MD, a professor of psychiatry who specializes in dementia at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore and was not involved in this study. The connection found in this study — between Alzheimer’s disease progression (also called pathology) in the brain and biomarkers in the retinas — is interesting, but Dr. Lyketsos is skeptical that it will change how AD is diagnosed.

Underutilized antipsychotic may curb schizophrenia's 'most dreaded outcome' (study) - Medscape
"Clozapine is an important and effective antisuicide medicine and should be strongly considered for treatment-resistant psychotic disorders, especially when the patient may be at risk for suicide," study investigator Paul Nestadt, MD, associate professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, told Medscape Medical News.

Missouri House backs bill requiring state research on psychedelics to treat depression, PTSD - Fox 2 (St. Louis)
On Wednesday, [House Veterans Committee Chairman Dave Griffith, R-Jefferson City] again encouraged people to look at the “extensive” research coming out of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. “I’ve done hours and hours of research from Johns Hopkins,” he said. “The data that comes out of these studies that they’ve done is remarkable.”

Could doctors prescribe patients drugs like LSD? Minnesota bill could soon make it legal - WCCO radio (Minneapolis)
One study published by Johns Hopkins Medicine found that psychedelic drugs can help fight “major depression” in most patients for up to a year. The medical institution, like others, has been researching the effects of using psychedelic drugs for medical purposes.

When I suddenly stopped taking antidepressants, I was panicked and ashamed - Slate
“Running out of meds is really quite common, and people should try not to blame themselves,” Zachary Cordner, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, tells me. “There are really complicated situations that involve a lot of different factors.” ... To help with the cost of the prescription, Cordner tells me to look for discount coupons on Amazon RxPass and GoodRx, and to check if your medication is available on the Walmart $4 list.

Can a nap make up for a bad night of sleep? - New York Times
It’s normal to have a poor night of sleep every now and then, said Molly Atwood, a clinical psychologist and behavioral sleep medicine researcher at Johns Hopkins Medicine. But if you don’t consistently pass through [the four stages of sleep] every night, she said, that can lead to a range of health conditions.

How antidepressants can help you manage depression and find relief from persistent sadness - Fortune
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the ability to know which patients will respond best to which specific [antidepressant] treatment,” says Dr. Zachary Cordner, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine. “With persistence and sometimes trial and error, depression is almost always treatable.”

Psilocybin helps reinvent identity to overcome addiction, data suggests - Forbes
“Cognitive behavioral therapy asks us to tune into the thoughts and feelings that we experience in our day-to-day lives and how those relate to our behaviors,” stated Albert Garcia-Romeu, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University. “In turn, people often tend to build a narrative or sense of self around those cognitions and behaviors.

Marijuana has special risks for older people - Wall Street Journal
[A]dvise [your] parents to “start low and go slow,” or take a low dose at first and increase as needed, says Tory R. Spindle, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and cannabis researcher. Be aware of potential cognitive impairment and motor skills, and warn parents not to drive while impaired.

Can you measure anxiety with a blood test? (study) - Verywell Health
Zachary A. Cordner, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine who’s not affiliated with the study, said the findings are “very compelling,” but the technology needs to be further tested. “I do think that it will be important to see whether this technology produces similar results in different clinical settings. And that is just yet to be determined,” Cordner told Verywell.

Dr. Robert K. Brooner, an internationally recognized expert in addiction treatment and research, dies - Baltimore Sun
Dr. Robert K. Brooner, an internationally recognized expert in addiction treatment and research who had been head of Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center’s Addiction Treatment Services and Center for Addiction and Pregnancy, died of metastatic cancer Feb. 26 [at age 71]. “He was known internationally because of a program he built and led at Hopkins that took existing evidence and designed care that was assigned to patients in order [that] they would achieve a positive outcome,” said Dr. Kenneth Stoller, professor of clinical psychiatry and behavioral science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who is also the director of the Johns Hopkins Broadway Center for Addiction.

US clinic offers psychedelic drug therapy to treat alcoholism - Financial Times (U.K.)
Ketamine is one of several psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin ... mescaline and ecstasy that are being studied or used “off label” to treat depression, anxiety and a range of other illnesses.... In 2021 the US National Institutes for Research awarded its first grant in half a century to directly investigate the therapeutic effects of a psychedelic: a $4mn award to Johns Hopkins Medicine to study the impact of psilocybin on tobacco addiction.

Psychedelics could revolutionize couples therapy - Time
“There’s a lot of neurobiological reasons to think that [MDMA] would be helpful for couples therapy,” says Albert Garcia-Romeu, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine who studies psychedelics. MDMA stokes the activity of feel-good neurotransmitters in the brain, while simultaneously quieting parts of the brain that respond to threats, he explains.

What on Earth is a BORG? - New York Times
“I think it really can do a lot of harm,” Dr. Sarah Andrews, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said of the trend. “It’s promoting false ideas about drinking.” She acknowledged the importance of college students’ being aware of what is in their drinks, but she said she did not believe BORGs were the answer to the problem.
"Just because you know what is in it doesn't mean that you truly understand the negative effects it would have," said Dr. Andrews, whose areas of expertise include alcohol abuse. "Even if it's mixed with electrolytes, it doesn't offset the alcohol content. It doesn't offset the dangerousness of the alcohol."

For Canadian patients, therapeutic psychedelics beset by red tape - Undark magazine
[T]here is currently no consensus on what biological mechanisms might explain [psychedelic drugs’] anxiety-relieving or mood-boosting effects. “The really quick answer,” said Albert Garcia-Romeu, an assistant professor and researcher in the psychedelics research center at Johns Hopkins: “We don’t know.”

How you can help your child amid worsening teen mental health (video) - WMAR-TV
Dr. Carol Vidal, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, tells WMAR-2 News worsening mental health is a trend experts have seen over the last two decades. "One of the potential causes could be social media and the use of smartphones," said Vidal, "and the differences in which younger people are having social interactions now."

Understanding frontotemporal dementia, the leading cause of dementia in people under age 60 - Scientific American
Postmortem examinations of the brains of people with FTD have revealed that the condition is primarily linked to abnormal accumulation of two proteins: tau and TDP-43, both of which are also believed to be involved with Alzheimer’s. Scientists have found other proteins that could be responsible for FTD, but alterations in tau and TDP-43 account for more than 90 percent of cases altogether, says Chiadi Onyike, a neuropsychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University.

‘Not my problem’: Regulators and drug makers deflect blame in ADHD medication shortage - Baltimore Banner
Though ADHD diagnoses have multiplied in recent years and public awareness about the disorder has improved, it still carries a stigma, said Dr. David Goodman, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine who specializes in ADHD. This is due to a persistent misperception that the disorder is not real or that symptoms can be overcome with individual effort, he said.

What if every business owner in America did psychedelic therapy? - Inc.
Johns Hopkins University managed to mete out its remaining supply of psychedelics and continue its research, subsisting on crumbs, until the mid-1970s, when all those ideas about leadership and creative problem-solving -- all that potential -- moved underground, plodding along beneath the topsoil, not unlike a network of fungi. Then in 2020, the university launched the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research....

To treat severe mental illness, Illinois should allow supervised use of ‘magic mushrooms’ - Chicago Sun-Times
Research from respected institutions like John Hopkins Medicine and UCLA has demonstrated that psilocybin can be effective in treating mental disorders such as depression, end-of-life anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and addictions.

Should employers and insurers cover psychedelic-assisted therapy? - MedCityNews
MDMA, also known as ecstasy, and psilocybin mushrooms are currently in the process for [FDA] approval.... With psilocybin-assisted therapy, 80% of cancer patients reported significant decreases in depressed mood and anxiety, researchers at Johns Hopkins found.

February

Psychedelics could transform cigarette addiction treatment: ‘Metamorphosis’ - New York Post
[P]sychedelics have been found to help people change their responses to certain stressors or other triggers. “This sets the stage for actually having the psilocybin experience, which can both provide novel insights and perspectives as well as serve as a marker of that identity shift like a rite of passage, signifying the change for instance from smoker to nonsmoker,” said Albert Garcia-Romeu, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University.

CBD could reduce craving for nicotine and help tobacco smokers quit, study finds - Marijuana Moment
In 2021, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) approved a grant for researchers at Johns Hopkins University, New York University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham to explore exactly how psilocybin can help people curb their addiction to cigarettes.

How to talk to children about eating disorders and get honest answers - WJLA-TV (D.C.)
Not all who suffer from an eating disorder are motivated by looking a certain way. The illness could be triggered by stressful events, relationship difficulties, physical illness or a significant life change, according to the Johns Hopkins Medicine Eating Disorders Program. It could also develop with another psychiatric illness.

Sexless marriage? How to talk with your partner about it - HealthDay
Common reasons can begin with having children, Chris Kraft, director of clinical services at the Sex and Gender Clinic at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, said about marital intimacy. “It’s natural for a couple’s sex life to decline after having a baby because of the exhaustion and lack of private time,” Kraft said. “But many couples’ sex lives don’t recover after they get out of the baby zone. Priorities shift to raising kids and juggling careers and household responsibilities.”

Proposal calls for VA to study effects of medical cannabis on vets with PTSD, chronic pain - WPXI-TV (Pittsburgh) via Cox Media Group
“I get contacted routinely by veterans from the VA who are trying to navigate this,” said Dr. Ryan Vandrey with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “They’ve tried existing treatments and they find that things that are available to them don’t work and then through the VA, there’s no mechanism for them to try medical cannabis.”

'Breakthrough therapy'? The strange trip of psychedelic research lands in Ohio - WKYC-TV (Cleveland)
A study at Johns Hopkins University looked at psilocybin for depression. It included a preparation phase of therapy where depression patients received about eight hours of therapy, then received between one and three doses of psilocybin spread over several weeks.... Results showed 58% were in remission at 12 months. While promising, it didn't work for everyone, and researchers can't say yet if the remission continued, but the results were promising enough to get federal notice.

Bruce Willis has frontotemporal dementia. These are the disease's symptoms. - NBC News
Generally, there are two subdiagnoses, according to Dr. Paul Barton Rosenberg, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. "One is a behavioral variant, where people can have a change in their personality and lose their inhibitions and social graces," Rosenberg said. "Another is primary progressive aphasia, where people have trouble finding words or expressing themselves."

Whatever happened to mescaline? - Slate
One problem is that, despite its longstanding use by humans, there’s very little existing clinical research on mescaline, said Albert Garcia-Romeu, a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who studies the effects of psychedelics on the human body.

CBD may magnify effects of THC in edibles, Johns Hopkins study suggests - High Times
We have demonstrated that with a relatively high oral dose of CBD [640 mg] there can be significant metabolic interactions between THC and CBD, such that the THC effects are stronger, longer-lasting, and tend to reflect an increase in unwanted adverse effects,” says Ryan Vandrey, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the study’s senior author.

Parents turning to microdosing mushrooms (video) - FOX 5 (D.C.)
More parents are speaking out about taking mushrooms for their mental health. Johns Hopkins professor of psychedelics and consciousness Dr. Matthew Johnson joins Good Day DC to share the benefits and concerns.

Bruce Willis diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia – what is it? - WGN-TV (Chicago, Ill.)
FTD symptoms often arise in younger patients, between the ages of 40 and 65 according to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “It’s not unusual that we see people in the prime of their life who are working, raising kids…and they come down with this condition that changes their personality, changes their ability to communicate and worsens relentlessly to where they become completely disabled,” Dr. Constantine Lyketsos, an Alzheimer’s researcher at Johns Hopkins, told Nexstar.

Red states join push throughout US to legalize magic mushrooms for therapy - Associated Press
A series of studies from Johns Hopkins University’s psychedelics research unit found that magic mushroom-assisted therapy can reduce depression symptoms for up to a year and be effective for individuals for whom other treatments haven’t worked.

A bill creating a psilocybin advisory board has failed - WVTF (Virginia Public Radio)
"I myself was not fully on board. I was a skeptic," [Senator Ghazala] Hashmi said. "But it's the research that is overwhelmingly compelling, and especially research that's coming out of such venerable institutions such as Johns Hopkins and the efficacy has been proven, most especially with our veterans who have very limited options for treatment."

The ‘gnarly and painful’ therapeutic potential of ‘magic mushrooms’ - Los Angeles Times
I spoke with Fred Barrett, a neuroscientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research, about the revolutionary healing potential of psilocybin, what is not yet known about the compound’s role in treating various psychiatric disorders, the importance of the “therapy” aspect of psychedelic-assisted therapy, and the hurdles that remain to this treatment being accessible to the general public.

Study: CBD may increase THC adverse effects  - Hemp Gazette
“Our new study suggests that it’s important for folks to be aware that if they’re going to take a high-dose CBD extract, they also need to be mindful about interactions with other medications,” said Ryan Vandrey, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; who is also the study’s senior author. “Individuals should discuss with their doctor whether they should consider dose adjustments of THC and other medications if they’re also taking CBD.”

Veterans’ testimony on magic mushrooms’ health benefits not enough to sway Virginia lawmakers - Virginian Pilot via Capital News Service
State lawmakers in Iowa, Missouri, New Hampshire and Utah introduced psilocybin bills this year that would decriminalize, approve for study, or change the drug scheduling. These trends are due to new research on the effectiveness of natural medicine, including research from Johns Hopkins, according to [Sen. Ghazala] Hashmi,

Will Utah legalize medical ‘magic mushrooms’ this year? - Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
[Senate Minority Leader Luz] Escamilla noted Utah is a top-ranking state for rates of mental health illness, and she said psilocybin is a “great alternative” to opioids. She pointed to promising results from studies by Johns Hopkins University into the use of psilocybin.

New bill would legalize medical psilocybin in Utah for select groups - ABC 4 (Salt Lake City)
In a study by Johns Hopkins involving 27 patients, who had a long-term history of depression, participants showed a 75% response rate with 58% remission at 12 months of treatment and follow-up.

Lindsay Clancy left ‘flat as a board’ emotionally from drugs, depression - New York Post
Dr. Jeffrey S Janofsky, director of the Psychiatry and Law Program at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said “planning can happen along with delusions. The mere fact that they planned [killings] does not exclude an insanity plea.” Janofsky added that command hallucinations are merely a symptom and not a legal defense. “You have to figure out what the illness is,” he told the [Boston] Globe.

Pandemic compounded challenges for people struggling with eating disorders - Baltimore Sun
The eating disorders program at Johns Hopkins Hospital also saw a significant increase in patients seeking treatment during the pandemic. The waiting list for the program’s seven-bed inpatient service grew significantly longer than before the pandemic, and doctors were swamped with patients requesting outpatient consultations, said Colleen Schreyer, the program’s clinical research director.

Psychedelics may be part of U.S. medicine sooner than you think - Time
Research increasingly suggests that psychedelics can be powerful tools for treating a variety of mental-health conditions, from PTSD and depression to addiction and eating disorders. “I’ve been doing this for 11 years,” says Albert Perez Garcia-Romeu, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who studies psychedelics. “The overwhelming majority of people that I’ve worked with in this process have been helped by their experiences, and the data are remarkably consistent.”

Doctors often prescribe antidepressants for pain, but do they really work? (study) - HealthDay
There are many different means by which an antidepressant could work to help someone in chronic pain, said Dr. Glenn Treisman, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Some might directly affect the pathways that report pain to the brain, while others might reduce a person's perception of their pain or ease an emotional condition like anxiety or depression that makes someone more sensitive to pain, said Treisman, who wasn't part of the study.

Research on psychedelics and how mushrooms can help combat depression - Discover magazine
These trials build on previous research suggesting that psilocybin may have antidepressant effects, so the results weren’t particularly surprising, says Manoj Doss, postdoctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins University. “The COMPASS trial, however, did move the needle a bit more than most trials because it's the largest study to date across multiple sites, so it's unlikely that all of those sites have the same types of biases and hype as those at places like [Johns] Hopkins,” says Doss.

How to navigate the ongoing Adderall shortage - PGN
Although Adderall shortages aren’t new, the current situation stands out for how widespread it’s been and how long it’s lasted. Dr. David Goodman, a psychiatrist who specializes in ADHD treatment for adults, says the issue likely began around August 2022 and has become worse since. He blames the shortage on several factors coming together to form a “perfect storm”: an increase in ADHD diagnoses, easier access to prescriptions through new telehealth services, a jump in Adderall demand in the fall as students returned to school, and labor and manufacturing delays.

January

Many adults rely on sleeping pills and other sleep aids, CDC says (study) - Everyday Health
It’s likely that many people in the CDC study who reported regular use of sleep medicines were taking melatonin, says David Neubauer, MD, a sleep researcher and an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore who wasn’t involved in the CDC report. “Melatonin is a very popular choice, perhaps because it is assumed to be ‘natural’ and safe,” says Dr. Neubauer.

Studies on magic mushrooms and expert opinions - Montreal Times
Several studies have investigated the therapeutic potential of magic mushrooms with pretty impressive results. For example, a study by Imperial College London found that two doses of psilocybin were more effective than a commonly prescribed medicine for treatment-resistant depression. A study by the John Hopkins University School of Medicine found that a single dose of psilocybin led to a significant reduction in symptoms of anxiety and depression in cancer patients.

Psilocybin mushrooms in Utah: Can psychedelics improve our mental health? - ABC 4 (Salt Lake City)
In [a] study by Johns Hopkins involving 27 patients with a long-term history of depression, the results were substantial as the participants showed a 75% response rate with 58% remission at 12 months of treatment and follow-up.

Moving lessons on forgiveness out of religious spaces and into schools - Washington Post
Karen Swartz, the director of the Adolescent Depression Awareness Program, a project of Johns Hopkins Medicine, says that people who forgive are less anxious and angry and have lower blood pressure, improved cholesterol levels and a better quality of sleep.

Barbara Stanley, influential suicide researcher, dies at 73 - New York Times
Dr. Stanley’s work helped shift the focus of suicide research toward practical, concrete and timely interventions, said Paul Nestadt, an associate professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine who studies suicide and access to lethal weapons. “Whether someone dies of suicide comes down to [whether there is an intervention plan],” he said.

Our psychological armor helps us cope with mass shootings, but numbs us to the destruction - Los Angeles Times
“A numbing is happening,” said Dr. Paul Nestadt, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “The normalization of tragedy is human nature. It’s called adaptive psychology: If we allowed these deaths to live in our head, we wouldn’t be able to live ourselves.”

FDA official says there is need to regulate CBD over 'safety concerns' - United Press International
Researchers at Johns Hopkins last year found that customers buying creams, patches or lotions containing CBD to reduce pain or inflammation may get much more or much less cannabidiol than expected.... Johns Hopkins looked at 105 topical CBD products and found only about a quarter of them were labelled accurately, and some actually contained THC.

6 things you need to know about psychedelics - Oprah Daily
There are ongoing trials testing [psilocybin's] efficacy for depression treatment, including a phase III trial that is set to begin soon. The Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research is invested in this discovery and potential breakthrough, committing $17 million of funding to expand research on psychedelics for illness and wellness.

ADHD in older adults: diagnosis and treatment - AARP
Three-quarters of adults ages 18 to 44 who are found to have ADHD were never diagnosed as children; among adults 60 and older, that number is 100 percent, says David Goodman, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. That’s primarily because, half a century ago, clinicians simply didn’t know to screen for it in children. “It’s a neuropsychiatric disorder that starts in childhood and continues your whole life,” he says.

Lawmakers file legislation to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms, other plants - Boston Herald
A 2017 Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine study of 44,000 Americans found that psychedelic use was associated with a 40% reduced risk of opioid abuse. That finding was backed by a more recent study that suggested an even stronger effect of 55%.

New Alzheimer's drug slightly slows cognitive decline. Experts say it's not a silver bullet. - Live Science
The FDA approved lecanemab on the basis of a mid-stage trial, which showed the drug cleared amyloid but didn't evaluate whether it slowed cognitive decline. However, the results of a larger, late-stage trial were released in November 2022 and offer evidence that the treatment slows cognitive decline "but debatable evidence that it is clinically impactful," said Dr. Constantine Lyketsos, the Elizabeth Plank Althouse professor for Alzheimer's research at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Managing stress, anxiety, and screen time for children (video) - WBFF-TV
Child psychologist Dr. Joseph McGuire with the Johns Hopkins Children Center, joined Fox 45 News with tips for parents to help their children navigate stress and anxiety while also managing screen time.

Psilocybin use grows in popularity, increasingly seen as legitimate therapeutic tool - WJZ-TV
Researchers, including those at Johns Hopkins Medicine, have been studying psilocybin therapy for a range of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety and addictions.

What is a 'soberthday'? Here's how people celebrate their alcohol-free anniversaries - Yahoo!
Dr. Kenneth Stoller, director of the Johns Hopkins Broadway Center for Addiction, says celebrating one’s “soberthday” can be important for recovery. "Recovery is hard work, and does not always provide tangible rewards in the short term,” he explains. “[I]t is important to incorporate alternative means of enjoyment and diversional activities — including recognizing one’s accomplishments in memorable, joyful and positive ways....”

Intake of psychedelics increased range of beliefs of consciousness, meaning, purpose - Healio
A single psychedelic experience increased a range of non-physicalist beliefs, such as consciousness, meaning and purpose, researchers reported in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. “Guardrails against certain belief changes in clinical use are important, but the extent to which such non-naturalistic beliefs may be therapeutic is unclear. There's much more to learn here,” Sandeep M. Nayak, MD, professor of psychology and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said in a press release from the school.

FDA approves Alzheimer’s drug from Eisai, Biogen in closely watched decision - Healthcare Dive
Reporting from Stat News and Science has detailed how there have been at least three patient deaths that appear linked to Leqembi and the brain bleeding it causes. “Blood on the brain is not good,” Constantine Lyketsos, director of the Memory and Alzheimer’s Treatment Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said in an interview late last year.

OTC Hearing aids and psilocybin: Who should use them? (audio) - WYPR radio
[C]an magic mushrooms lift severe depression? We speak with Dr. Sandeep Nayak, psychiatrist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, about psilocybin and its potential for treating mood disorders.

iPhones have a built-in white noise feature that no one knows about - HuffPost
“The key feature of the sound devices is the constant sound in contrast to changing sounds like with music, radio and television,” said Dr. David Neubauer, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Our brains pay attention to changing sound, but a comfortable constant sound can help lull us to sleep.”

Scientists explore using psychedelics to treat alcohol, drug disorders - Los Angeles Times
The striking thing about psychedelics is that they have shown promise in treating addiction to a range of substances, said Matthew Johnson, a psychiatry professor at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s not simply quelling the cravings. ... It’s really allowing the person to wrestle with much deeper psychological questions at the heart of addiction.”

What are the benefits of being sober curious? Here's what experts say. - Yahoo! Life
Dr. Sarah Andrews, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, points out that the sober-curious movement works best for people who want to “better understand the ways that alcohol affects them and their relationship with alcohol.”

How to manage the post-holiday blues — and when to seek help - Health
The triggers for the post-holiday blues can vary from person to person, according to Paul Nestadt, MD, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Anxiety Disorders Clinic and assistant professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, told Health.... "There is exhaustion from hosting, travel, or any of the aspects of disrupted normalcy that the holidays bring,” said Dr. Nestadt. “These can all be hard to cope with.”

Thinking of trying Dry January? Here's what to know. - WUSA-TV (D.C.)
"It has been shown that if people are having physical effects from alcohol use, whether it's high blood pressure or liver effects, the monthlong abstinence can help decrease some of those risks," said Dr. Sarah Andrews, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

2022

December

Psychedelics weighed as treatment for medical problems (video) - News Nation
There have been new medical breakthroughs in the treatment of depression, addiction and PTSD, and this time, it is through the use of psychedelics. This week, Colorado officially decriminalized psychedelics and other states are likely to follow. Dr. Matthew Johnson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Johns Hopkins University, discusses the research being conducted into psychedelics as a medicine.

Have a safe trip: Oregon trains magic mushroom facilitators - Associated Press
Music is an important part of the experience and should be available, from speakers or on headphones. (Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research in Baltimore have developed a playlist that “ seeks to express the sweeping arc of the typical medium- or high-dose psilocybin session.”)

It’s not just the psychedelics, therapy matters - Psychology Today
In 1977, I was the last person in the U.S. involved in a clinical trial using psychedelics to accelerate psychotherapy — a research trajectory the federal government shut down as part of the “war on drugs.” Thankfully, in 1999, Johns Hopkins University gave psychologist Roland Griffiths and me [psychologist William Richards] a green light to resume investigations into the medical promise of psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in many mushroom species.

Holiday triggers and how to cope - WYPR radio
JHU professor and clinical psychologist Dr. Joseph McGuire talks about misophonia -- a condition in which irritating sounds, like people chewing or slurping, can trigger a strong emotional response.

The “heroic dose” of psychedelics, according to Johns Hopkins - Big Think
What makes [psychedelic drugs] so unique and powerful? That’s one of the driving questions behind the research of Matthew W. Johnson [professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins], who has conducted numerous studies on the nature of addiction, psychedelics, and other psychoactive substances.

We all need 'me time' during the holidays. Here's how to optimize it - Verywell
Joseph McGuire, PhD, MA, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told Verywell that it’s important to be selective about how you spend time alone, especially if you’re feeling overwhelmed by work, finances, relationships, or other life circumstances. “During the holidays and really throughout the year, it’s important to take care of your mental health and physical health,” said McGuire.

What happens to your body if you don't work out over the holidays - HuffPost
Despite the fact that we’re constantly told that we should exercise to make up for what we eat to stay healthy, the very opposite is true. “It’s this very commonplace idea that we need to burn off everything we eat, and it’s just not accurate,” Colleen Schreyer, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told HuffPost.

ADHD in women: Symptoms develop in childhood, but the signs are often missed - NBC News
“There’s been an increase in women diagnosed with ADHD over the last several years because of an increasing recognition that it’s not just the disruptive, impulsive behavior of boys that leads to a diagnosis,” said Dr. David Goodman, a psychiatrist and an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Daylight Savings Time means shorter days and, for some, seasonal depression - Afro
[Seasonal affective disorder is] thought to be related to shorter days with less exposure to sunlight triggering a chemical change in the brain, according to information released by Johns Hopkins Medicine.... “We all tend to feel a little down when there is less sunshine, but ‘winter blues’ and SAD are different in that SAD is actually a disorder and has its own pathology,” said Dr. Paul Nestadt, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Cancer patients struggle to access psilocybin before they die - Medscape
In recent months, some researchers and journalists have pushed back against the frenzy over the promise of psychedelics. In September, David Yaden, PhD, a psychedelics researcher at Johns Hopkins, spoke at the Interdisciplinary Conference on Psychedelic Research in the Netherlands. He encouraged people to pay more attention to potential adverse effects of psychedelics, which could include anything from headaches to lingering dysphoria.

ER visits due to alcohol use raise the risk of death within a year (study) - Everyday Health
“These findings are particularly concerning because we know alcohol misuse has increased in the past few years, especially since the pandemic,” says Sarah Andrews, MD, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Dr. Andrews, a specialist in alcohol dependency, was not involved in the new study.

Giving your child a screen may hinder emotional regulation, study says. Here’s what to do instead (study) - CNN
The study lines up with the current recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the World Health Organization that children ages 2 to 5 should have very limited screen time, said Dr. Joyce Harrison, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. Harrison, who was not involved in the study, said that although there were limitations to the diversity of the participants, it was well designed and is supported by the existing research.

Maryland Peace of Mind: Reasons behind and tips on curing the 'holiday blues' (video) - WBAL-TV
For some people the holidays can trigger difficult feelings like sadness, loss and anxiety. Basically, the holiday blues. But it can turn into something more. In this Maryland Peace of Mind report on the holiday blues, we ask Dr. Paul Nestadt, the co-director of the Johns Hopkins Anxiety Disorders Clinic, about the causes and treatments for this kind of disorder.

How to fend off holiday stress, from people who should know - New York Times
When you’re in the thick of the stilted party small talk or the family bickering, pause to briefly scan your body from head to toe for incipient tension, advised Neda Gould, clinical psychologist and director of the Johns Hopkins Mindfulness Program in Baltimore. As soon as you notice signs of stress, whether it’s a rapid heart rate or tense shoulders, take a few minutes to practice mindful breathing, Dr. Gould advised.

11 simple ways to spice up a stale marriage - The List
According to Chris Kraft, Ph.D., director of clinical services at the Sex and Gender Clinic at Johns Hopkins Medicine, it's normal for couples to experience a lull in their sex lives (via Johns Hopkins Medicine). "[Over time], couples aren't as intentional about connecting with each other as they were earlier in the relationship," said Kraft.

How to get your brain to shut up: 8 tips to focus your mind - Fatherly
Noise levels affect concentration, and that actually doesn’t just mean loud noise, because some people have a hard time focusing when it’s too quiet or when the noise level fluctuates, says Dr. Joe Bienvenu, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. A space where you can control the noise and ideally close a door is what you’re looking for, and white noise makers that drown out noise from your environment can also help, he says.

7 melatonin mistakes sleep doctors want you to avoid - Everyday Health
Melatonin can lead to potentially dangerous interactions with a wide variety of medications, including drugs to manage blood pressure and diabetes.... Those side effects are based on short-term usage at low doses, says David Neubauer, MD, an associate professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. And many people today are taking higher doses over longer periods of time, he explains.

What psychedelics can’t explain - Big Think
As a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Matthew W. Johnson is one of the world’s most published scientists on the effects of psychedelics on the human brain. In this Big Think interview, Dr. Johnson explains why we should be both open and careful about the prospect of psychedelics helping us crack the hard problem of consciousness, which remains one of the world’s most puzzling questions.

The key to managing holiday anxiety, according to a neuropsychologist - The List
Dr. Neda Gould from Johns Hopkins recommends being kind to ourselves and rethinking our New Year's resolutions. She suggests starting by setting small milestones and not punishing ourselves for not achieving all of our wishes.... [Clinical psychologist] Gould also recommends accepting imperfection and not feeling guilty for not having our dream holiday celebrations.

Are edibles better for you — or at least less bad — than alcohol? - Wall Street Journal
The effects of THC edibles peak 1.5 to three hours after ingestion and last five to eight hours, depending on the dose and the person, according to studies by Tory R. Spindle, assistant professor in the behavioral-pharmacology research unit at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Psychedelic therapy is moving to the next frontier: Workplace perk - Stat
Natalie Gukasyan, a psychiatrist and post-doctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins University who’s researching the feasibility and efficacy of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, agreed that [insurance coverage for psychedelic therapy] seems unlikely to be widely used. “Who’s going to sign up for a super specialized insurance company, apart from people who think they need a lot of psychedelic therapy?” she said.

November

What to make of Eisai and Biogen’s latest Alzheimer’s drug data - Healthcare Dive
Constantine Lyketsos, director of the Memory and Alzheimer’s Treatment Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine, notes that many Alzheimer’s experts believe a drug would need to offer at least a 1- to 2-point effect on [the rating scale known as the Clinical Dementia Rating] to be considered clinically meaningful. “I think the field has spoken,” said Lyketsos.

Take a trip during your trip: Jamaican resorts promoting magic mushroom vacations - St. Kitts Nevis Observer
Dr. Matthew Johnson, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in an interview that he believes psilocybin may work by allowing the flow of different thoughts and emotions, which can help people get out of negative mental ruts that are linked to problems including depression and addiction.

Mindfulness as effective as a commonly prescribed antidepressant in reducing anxiety - Everyday Health
These are exciting findings, says Neda Gould, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine and associate director of the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center Anxiety Disorders Clinic, both in Baltimore. Dr. Gould was not involved in this research. “Studies like this help strengthen the role of mindfulness as an evidence-based strategy that can be used independently or in conjunction with medication in the treatment of anxiety disorders,” she says.

Shock value - Baltimore magazine
Despite its widespread use, and effectiveness at reducing symptoms for many patients, the most commonly heard refrain [about electroconvulsive therapy], says Irving Reti, director of the Brain Stimulation program at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences is, “‘You still do that?’ ” “It is a highly effective treatment and an extremely safe treatment,” says Reti, who cites an 80-to-85-percent positive response rate.
[Note: Also quoted, Dr Karen Swartz.]

While psilocybin back on ballot, Benton County moves forward - Corvallis Advocate (Oregon)
Researchers in Maryland at Johns Hopkins University, which has led psilocybin research in the U.S., have found the drug to be effective against PTSD, depression and anxiety.

Regional reactions to Colorado legalizing mushrooms - News Channel Nebraska
The Colorado initiative decriminalizes the use of certain mushrooms for people age 21 and older. It will also legalize the creation of “healing centers” where the drug can be administered under supervision. Johns Hopkins University released a report on November 4, 2022, that psilocybin can be used to treat severe depression. The small study by of adults with severe depression showed improvements after two doses of psilocybin with supportive therapy.

Why having friends of all ages is good for your health - Verywell
“As we age, we may feel a greater sense of loneliness if we don’t make an effort to stay engaged in activities and connected with people,” Neda Gould, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told Verywell via email. When older adults, in particular, befriend someone from a younger generation, they’re more likely to learn new skills and to be more open-minded, Gould said.

Who are over-the-counter hearing aids right for? Plus, the potential of magic mushrooms to lift depression (audio) - WYPR radio
[C]an magic mushrooms to lift severe depression? We speak with Dr. Sandeep Nayak of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research about psilocybin and its potential for treating mood disorders.

Adderall users struggle amid ongoing medication shortage - CNN
Dr. David Goodman, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said that for the past several months, his patients have had to wait several days to fill their prescriptions. Lately, they’re having to wait up to a week or two. Some were told that pharmacies might not see new supplies for months. A lack of access to Adderall, which must be taken daily, can have implications for careers, home lives and even safety, Goodman said.

Mushroom extract supplements 101: Potential benefits, known risks, and more - Everyday Health
People have been using mushrooms medicinally as far back as 450 B.C., according to the authors of a June 2020 article in Alternative and Complementary Therapies. In recent years, there has been renewed interest in psilocybin mushrooms to treat mental health disorders including depression, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Jim Harris was paralyzed. Then he ate magic mushrooms. - Outside magazine
Richard Nixon’s war on drugs brought psychedelic research to a standstill in 1970 with the Controlled Substances Act, but the field entered something of a renaissance in the early 2000s. One seminal study was led by Roland Griffiths, a psychopharmacologist and professor in the departments of psychiatry and neurosciences at Johns Hopkins University.

Thousands of Oregonians vote against psilocybin centers - Oregon Capital Chronicle
A survey earlier this year by the Oregon Health Authority found that nearly 4,200 people among about 4,400 who responded were interested in seeking [psilocybin] treatment for their well-being. Researchers in Maryland at Johns Hopkins University, which has led psilocybin research in the U.S., have found the drug to be effective against PTSD, depression and anxiety.

Experimental therapy gantenerumab fails to slow or improve Alzheimer’s memory loss in clinical trials - CNN
Dr. Constantine Lyketsos, a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said that if gantenerumab had removed as much beta amyloid as the company predicted it would, it might have shown a degree of benefit in line with lecanemab and Aduhelm. “In other words, a very modest but not clinically significant effect,” said Lyketsos, who was not involved in the research.

Wearables company, Johns Hopkins to study physiological reasons for addiction relapse - Becker's Hospital Review
"This research leveraging Whoop Unite insights lays the groundwork for incorporating biometric assessments into routine care and, ultimately, creating a precision medicine model for addiction treatment," said Andrew Huhn, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine who is overseeing the study with Ashley Addiction Treatment patients, in a Nov. 10 news release from Whoop and Ashley.

Mental health professionals suggest more effective approach to stemming suicide - Afro
Mental health professionals say it’s time to screen more effectively to identify those at risk of committing suicide.... While declining in 2019 and 2020, the rates have soared [among] African Americans locally. “In Maryland, suicide rates during the first COVID lockdown went down among Whites, but doubled among Blacks,” said Dr. Paul Nestadt, a Johns Hopkins medical school psychiatry professor.

Be nice: Acts of rudeness are on the rise in medicine. Can a civility push lead to a healthier workplace? - Proto magazine (Massachusetts General Hospital)
Daniel Buccino, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, describes civility as an essential part of the social contract, a “benevolent awareness, a sense of respect for oneself and others.” ... “We encourage people to report incidents of rudeness and bullying, but even today there exists a power gradient that often prevents reporting,” says Diane Colgan, a physician at Johns Hopkins Medicine-Suburban Hospital in Bethesda.

Colorado voters approve psychedelics decriminalization measure - High Times
Prior research from the nation’s top medical research universities including Johns Hopkins University, the University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine, and New York University have shown positive patient outcomes for depression and anxiety.

'Concerning' study finds Black, Hispanic patients get shorter treatment for opioid addiction - USA Today
Health experts say it's recommended those with opioid use disorders take [buprenorphine] for at least 180 days. The study, however, showed up to about a quarter of patients made it that long. “It is very concerning," said Dr. Denis Antoine, director of the addiction treatment services clinic at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. "There's a lot of literature showing that duration of treatment leads to better outcomes.”

Proposition 122, decriminalizing psilocybin mushrooms, is leading but still too close to call - Colorado Public Radio
A study from Johns Hopkins earlier this summer found “substantial antidepressant effects of psilocybin-assisted therapy may be durable” for at least a year after treatment.

The highs and lows of psychedelics - Psychology Today
[T]wo commentaries recently published in JAMA Psychiatry express important concerns regarding psychedelic therapeutics. David Yaden, James Potash, and Roland Griffiths warn that there is a “bubble” of enthusiasm about psychedelics — a bubble that could soon burst. These authors are members of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, where important studies regarding potential therapeutic uses of psychedelics are taking place.

Psychedelic mushroom chemical may help treat depression - Smithsonian magazine
[T]he AP notes that studies of standard antidepressants have shown stronger results. And psilocybin's benefits didn’t always last in the long-term.... Still, to show such an improvement in people “who have not done well with existing treatments, and therefore are going to be much harder to treat,” is a benefit, Sandeep Nayak, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who was not involved with the study, [told] NBC News.

Why use of stimulant drugs for ADHD rapidly increased after COVID-19 - Epoch Times
Among the adults who have ADHD, 75 percent have never had any treatment for ADHD, according to Dr. David W. Goodman, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. These untreated adults may have been driven to use online providers as their symptoms worsened during the pandemic. These companies are popular with patients, says Goodman, because they are easier to use than trying to see a provider in-person, and can be more cost-effective.

Researchers look to psychedelics to transform mental healthcare - Newsweek
Last spring, The Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins Medicine published the results of their research, highlighting that "two doses of the psychedelic substance psilocybin, given with supportive psychotherapy, produced rapid and large reductions in depressive symptoms, with most participants showing improvement and half of study participants achieving remission through the four-week follow-up."

What promise do psychedelics hold as therapeutics? (audio) - CNN
Albert Garcia-Romeu, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University, joins Dr. Sanjay Gupta to talk about how psychedelics can alleviate mental suffering and what the path forward might look like.

A very trippy trip inside the great shroom boom - GQ
A 2019 research paper by Johns Hopkins University in the US found that after a psychedelic experience with LSD or psilocybin, alcohol consumption dropped so significantly that 83 per cent of trial participants no longer met the criteria for alcohol use disorder.

What to know about perimenopause - Glam
Aside from somatic effects, sudden hormonal changes brought on by perimenopause can also put women at a higher risk for depression, says psychiatrist Jennifer Payne of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

National Park Service advises to 'refrain from licking' toxic psychedelic toads - Fox News
The psychedelic liquid is often extracted from the toad's glands and then dried into a paste that can be smoked. "The experience is going to start within 10 to 30 seconds, and then you're going to be physically incapacitated for 20 to 30 minutes," said Alan Davis, a Johns Hopkins psychedelics researcher.

Opinion: All veterans should have access to the psilocybin treatments that saved me - Denver Post
Research from the nation’s top medical universities, such as Johns Hopkins University, University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine, and New York University, have shown positive patient outcomes for depression and anxiety, and the FDA has labeled psilocybin a “breakthrough” therapy.

Psilocybin studies risk being warped by hype - Bloomberg
None of this is to say that the impact of psilocybin on depression (or in any of the other areas it is being studied, like smoking cessation or alcohol use disorder) is an illusion. Even with study limitations, “it’s remarkable that a single dose of a drug can have that treatment response,” says Natalie Gukasyan, a psychiatrist and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University, who is part of a group studying psilocybin in another type of depression.

It’s legal to use psilocybin, or ‘magic mushrooms,’ in Oregon. But that could soon change - CNN
“One of the most interesting things we’ve learned about the classic psychedelics is that they have a dramatic effect on the way brain systems synchronize, or move and groove together,” Matthew Johnson, a professor in psychedelics and consciousness at Johns Hopkins Medicine, told CNN earlier this year.

The harms of psychedelics need to be put into context - Wired
12 patients [in a recently reported clinical trial] experienced serious adverse events.... “Is this expected in a trial like this? To some degree, yes,” says Natalie Gukasyan, assistant professor and medical director for the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research. When you’re working with a patient group as vulnerable as those with treatment-resistant depression, higher rates of suicidal ideation are to be expected.

Fitness trackers: Useful in sleep medicine? - Medscape
David Neubauer, MD, is a psychiatrist at the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Center. "Sleep tracking devices are more than just toys but less than medical devices. They do have clinical utility and might show findings that warrant further medical workup," Neubauer said.

Severe depression eased by single dose of synthetic ‘magic mushroom’ (study) - CNN
Experts in the field found the study findings promising. “They clearly found a dose effect and clinically meaningful improvement in just three weeks,” said Dr. Matthew Johnson, a professor in psychedelics and consciousness at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. He was not involved in the new study.

‘Intriguing and sobering’: Enthusiasm over psilocybin’s effect on depression tempered by questions about durability (study) - Stat
The Phase 2 trial found that the drug was effective — it reduced or eliminated symptoms in the short term in more than one-third of patients who took the highest dose — but not as dazzlingly powerful as earlier smaller studies had suggested.... “It’s a big step forward for the field of psychedelic research and depression treatment,” said Jimmy Potash, the director of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins who oversees psychedelics research at the university but was not involved in the study. The durability of the response, he added, is “not as good as you’d like, but it’s still quite good.”

Could 'magic mushrooms' treat severe depression? A major study aims to find out. - NBC News
Dr. Sandeep Nayak, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, noted that while most of the people in [COMPASS Pathways’ Phase 2 trial on moderate to severe treatment-resistant depression] didn't improve from the psilocybin, the trial did show a benefit in a group of people "who have not done well with existing treatments, and therefore are going to be much harder to treat."

Getting off Adderall and reducing antidepressants (audio) - The 1A/NPR
Dr. David Goodman, assistant professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; director, the Adult Attention Deficit Disorder Center of Maryland, explains several factors that have led to the Adderall shortage and what the shortage means to patients who can't get the drug now.

Osteoporosis and mental health: What you need to know - CreakyJoints
“Evidence exists that mental health disorders (i.e., depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, and PTSD) and osteoporosis have a bidirectional relationship, meaning that depressive and anxiety disorders are associated with osteoporosis and osteoporosis is associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms,” says Traci Speed, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Traffic-related pollutant tied to increased dementia risk - Medscape
Commenting for Medscape Medical News, Paul Rosenberg, MD, co-director of the Memory and Alzheimer's Treatment Center Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, said that air pollution "is the most prominent environmental risk we've found" for dementia.

Opioid-related deaths may be dropping in Maryland, but experts say larger epidemic persists - Baltimore Sun
... Dr. Ken Stoller, director of the Johns Hopkins Broadway Center for Addiction and an associate professor in the Hopkins School of Medicine’s department of psychiatry, [said] there needs to be greater access to federally approved medications, specifically buprenorphine, a type of drug to treat addiction that can be prescribed by a doctor and picked up in a pharmacy.

How to support your sober friends when everyone is drinking - Washington Post
Recognize that your sober friend isn’t cured. AUD [alcohol use disorder] is not different from other chronic medical conditions, says Jeffrey Hsu, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Graduating from a program does not mean that a person is cured,” he says. “This is no different from other people with chronic medical conditions who have to make certain behavioral/lifestyle modifications to keep their disease under control.”

October

Canadian university granted license to study psilocybin mushrooms - High Times
Psilocybin mushrooms are continuing to grow with interest among the medical community.... In mid-September, the University of Copenhagen began examining the effects of psilocybin to treat obesity. Just last week, Johns Hopkins University announced a study to analyze how psilocybin can help patients quit smoking.

Maryland Peace of Mind: The connection between overeating and mental health (video) - WBAL-TV
In our Maryland Peace of Mind segment, the connection between mental health and overeating. Joining us is Dr. Colleen Schreyer, an assistant professor with the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She has more on the struggle of over-eating and how mental health plays an issue.

Mental health headlines and trends (video) - NBC Now ("Weekly Check-in”)
Dr. Erica Richards, chair of psychiatry at Sibley Memorial Hospital and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medicine, discusses the Adderall shortage, a new study that says smiling can make you feel happier, and how to respond if you believe you're being subjected to "quiet firing."

Can ‘magic’ mushrooms help smokers quit? (video) - NewsNation
The National Institutes of Health awarded a $4 million grant to scientists at Johns Hopkins University to study if psilocybin can help people quit smoking. It’s the first time in 50 years that a federal grant has been given to the study of a psychedelic drug for treatment. Matthew Johnson is a psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor at the university’s School of Medicine who is helping lead the trial, which will be done in collaboration with researchers at New York University and the University of Alabama.

Can magic mushrooms help smokers quit? Johns Hopkins is looking into it - WTOP
“There’s a number of forms of addiction, including alcoholism and tobacco addiction, that appear to be sensitive to this intervention with the psychedelic drug psilocybin,” said Matthew Johnson, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. Johnson, who will lead the study, said similar previous research has been promising, showing ‘high quit rates’ for smokers.

NIH to trial whether magic mushrooms can help smokers quit — in first federal study of psychedelics in 50 years - Daily Mail (U.K.)
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University, University of Alabama Birmingham, and New York University will launch the project in December and recruit 66 smokers.... The team, led by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine psychedelics researcher Dr Matthew Johnson, will enroll smokers across their three cities [Baltimore, Birmingham and New York] to diversify the pool of subjects and increase confidence in the results.
Also reported by: HealthDay

With promise of legalization, psychedelic companies joust over future profits - New York Times
[L]ike many longtime researchers, Robert Jesse, who helped start the psilocybin research division at Johns Hopkins University over two decades ago, sees potential pitfalls. To him, psychedelics are spiritual tools that belong to all of humanity, not just those wealthy enough to afford a $5,000 psychedelic retreat.

NIH-funded psychedelic trial will study whether hallucinogen can help smokers quit - NBC News
Matthew Johnson, a psychedelic researcher at Johns Hopkins Medicine who is leading the randomized controlled trial, chose to look at the effects on cigarette smoking cessation because of the lack of effective treatments available for people who want to quit…. “There’s several existing treatments, both medications and other therapies, but they all have lots of room for improvement,” Johnson said.

Benefits of magic mushrooms in Proposition 122 likely outweigh the risks (opinion) - Colorado Sun
There are … more than 50 recruiting or active [psilocybin] studies with participants according to ClinicalTrial.gov, with another 40 trials set to recruit participants and millions of dollars in research funding at prominent institutions including Johns Hopkins and the University of California Los Angeles.

Adderall shortage leaves people with ADHD scrambling (video) - CBS 42 via Nexstar (Birmingham, Ala.)
Dr. David W. Goodman, an assistant professor in psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, says there has also been an increase in awareness about ADHD among both patients and physicians. He says that’s driving up demand. “So they seek an evaluation, and more and more prescribers are comfortable enough to make a diagnosis and prescribe a medication,” Goodman said.

Genes link bipolar, schizophrenia, once thought unrelated - Associated Press
“When you look at a family, if you have one person with schizophrenia, you’re more likely to have schizophrenia yourself, but you’re also more likely to have bipolar,” said Dr. Fernando Goes, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University.

How do psychedelics work? This brain region may explain their effects - PBS (NOVA)
[W]hat actually happens in the brain during a psychedelic experience? Fred Barrett, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University, is one of the scientists trying to figure that out. His work suggests that “a brain region called the claustrum may be at the center of all of this,” he told NOVA.

How the Adderall shortage is affecting people who need the drug (audio) - KCUR/NPR radio (Kansas City, Kan.)
[A]s the country grapples with a national shortage, how is that affecting the growing number of people who are prescribed this medication? KCUR's Up To Date was joined by a reporter and a professor [David W. Goodman, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine] to discuss why the shortage is happening and how soon things could get back on track.

Marjorie Taylor Greene says you can get fentanyl poisoning from car doors - Newsweek
[T]he majority of evidence suggests that fentanyl cannot be absorbed into the body via unbroken skin. The only case in which fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin is with a fentanyl skin patch, which takes hours of exposure even then. "There is no empirical or clinical evidence that merely touching fentanyl would lead to an overdose or poisoning," Kelly E. Dunn, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, told Newsweek.

Can psilocybin challenge our pharmaceutical dependence? - Vogue
[A] study from February out of Johns Hopkins found that psilocybin treatment was effective for up to a year for major depression.

F.D.A. confirms widespread shortage of Adderall - New York Times
The Food and Drug Administration has declared a nationwide shortage of Adderall, a medication used to treat A.D.H.D. that has had surging demand in recent years.... “I can understand why there are shortages, because there’s an increased demand of people who are seeking these medications,” said Dr. [David] Goodman, who is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

World Mental Health Day: If you're feeling depressed or anxious, you're not alone - 94.9 WSJM radio (St. Joseph, Mich.)
“I’ve heard the pandemic described as a disaster of uncertainty because it seems like the finish line keeps moving,” said Dr. Erica Martin Richards, chair and medical director of the department of psychiatry and behavioral health at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. “And that makes it harder to come up with a plan [to cope].”

Health panel recommends screening all kids 8 and up for anxiety - New York Times
“There are a variety of screening options, and I think it depends on the population, it depends on the setting, and I think it depends on the amount of time clinicians have,” said Joseph McGuire, a child psychologist with the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Maryland, who is not on the task force. “We want these tools to be usable, and what’s going to work will vary across settings.”

Is it safe to drink alcohol while taking S.S.R.I.s? - New York Times
For many health care providers who treat anxiety and depression, the concern about whether it’s safe — or even advised — to drink alcohol while taking an antidepressant is a common one. “Patients tell me all the time, ‘I’m going to be drinking with friends tonight, so I skipped a dose,’” said Dr. Sarah Ramsay Andrews, a psychiatrist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Prioritize sex and don’t ‘schlep around in sweatpants every day’: Relationship therapist reveals five things ALL couples should do to make their romance last - Daily Mail (U.K.)
Chris Kraft, Ph.D., director of clinical services at the Sex and Gender Clinic in the department of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medicine, also spoke to the significance of intimacy, calling it a 'priority.' 'People often think sex has to be a big production with intercourse and orgasms,' he said. 'When in reality, what's most important to couples, especially to many women, is to connect and be intimate.

World Mental Health Day: If you're feeling depressed or anxious, you're not alone - Good Morning America
"I've heard the pandemic described as a disaster of uncertainty because it seems like the finish line keeps moving," said Dr. Erica Martin Richards, chair and medical director of the department of psychiatry and behavioral health at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, D.C. "And that makes it harder to come up with a plan [to cope]."

The Adderall shortage is causing mass chaos for patients, doctors and pharmacies - Vice
One misconception fueling Adderall stigma is the belief that the medication is a performance enhancing drug taken for the sole purpose of increasing focus. Dr. David W. Goodman, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, dispels this notion, saying that stimulant medication is not for the purpose of diminishing ADHD symptoms for productivity, but is much more encompassing.

Why the FDA wants to stop companies from putting CBD in everything - Slate
“As far as I know, there have not been an influx of cases of healthy adults taking retail products and having acute liver toxicity,” says Ryan Vandrey, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins who researches the behavioral effect of cannabis. By and large, CBD as a chemical entity is relatively safe, Vandrey says. But there are some important caveats, including when it comes to liver function.

Antidepressant use during pregnancy not linked to ADHD, autism: study - Fox 13 (Tampa, Fla.)
Dr. Lauren Osborne, a women’s mood disorder specialist at Johns Hopkins Medicine who’s not affiliated with the most recent study, said untreated mental illness in pregnant women is more dangerous for a developing fetus than the medications used to treat it. "A woman who is depressed is less likely to get good prenatal care and more likely to engage in unhealthy or dangerous behaviors, like smoking and substance abuse," she said in a post on Johns Hopkins Medicine’s website.

5 common signs of ADHD in women, according to experts - Yahoo!
“Women with ADHD may be misdiagnosed with a mood or anxiety disorder,” says David Goodman, MD, LFAPA, associate professor of clinical and behavioral psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.... ADHD can lead to different kinds of struggles in a woman’s life. “Women with undiagnosed ADHD are consistently inconsistent at completing tasks,” says Dr. Goodman.

Three years after clinical trial, ketamine provides hope for severely depressed - Los Angeles Times
Dr. Paul Nestadt, a psychiatrist with Johns Hopkins University, helped run the clinical trial that in 2019 resulted in FDA approval [of ketamine]. He had initially been skeptical about ketamine as a viable treatment for depression, but the trials, which helped determine the best application of the drug, changed his mind.

After promising data, experts say many questions remain over an experimental Alzheimer’s drug - CNN
Some independent experts have doubts that [lecanemab is] a big breakthrough, however. “I don’t think we’re seeing a clinical benefit that’s that different from aducanumab,” said Dr. Constantine Lyketsos, a psychiatrist and professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

An L.A. journalist’s suicide still confounds years later. “Can we ever understand that?” - Los Angeles Times
“Is suicide a biological or social issue?” asked Dr. Paul Nestadt, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. “That’s a false dichotomy. It is both.” ... “If you make an assumption that suicide is a mistake and recognize that it is impulsive, then you have an opportunity to help,” said Nestadt.... “The absolute agony of what leads up to the decision to kill yourself is incomprehensible for most people,” said [Johns Hopkins] psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison, whose suicide attempt informed her 1999 book “Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide.”

September

Can smartphones predict suicide? - New York Times
For psychiatrists, few tasks are more nerve-racking than caring for patients they know to be at risk for suicide while they are at home and unsupervised. Dr. Karen L. Swartz, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University, calls it “the gray zone.”

We care about depression and anxiety. Where's the empathy when it comes to manic episodes? - USA Today
A manic episode typically lasts from a few weeks to a few months, according to Kay Redfield Jamison, a professor of psychiatry at the John Hopkins School of Medicine. Common signs can include "extreme irritability and paranoia, grandiosity and euphoria, changing in thinking (and) speaking a lot, very rapidly."

Alzheimer's drug slowed cognitive decline in clinical trial - The Hill
There are two ways to think about these results: how much of this benefit is due to chance and how good of an advantage does it give to a patient, says Constantine G. Lyketsos at the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Johns Hopkins University. These results tell us that the difference in outcomes from the drug or placebo is not due to chance, but the potential benefit of the drug to the patient is very small.... says Lyketsos.

What happens to your brain on psychedelics? Experts explain the benefits and risks - Fortune
“[The use of psychedelics has] become a big fad among certain demographics like the intelligentsia who have been reading books [like This is Your Mind on Plants] by Michael Pollan,” says Albert Garcia-Romeu PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Meghan Trainor says nurses implied her antidepressants may have caused her son’s NICU stay - Motherly
“We can say with strong confidence that antidepressants don’t cause birth defects,” says Lauren Osborne, M.D., assistant director of the Johns Hopkins Women’s Mood Disorders Center. Osborne says studies finding a physical effect on babies from antidepressants taken during pregnancy fail to account for the effects of the mother’s psychiatric illness.

Psychedelics and mental health: the potential, risks and hype (audio) - WHYY radio/NPR (Philadelphia)
Today, a conversation about psychedelics in mental health treatment, their potential, and risks. We’ll talk about how these drugs affect the brain, altered states of consciousness and the stigma still associated with them. [Our first guest is] David Yaden, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine working in the Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness research.

Majority of teens and preteens self-conscious about appearance, poll suggests - Today
The numbers of kids with body image issues is likely higher than the study reported, said Joseph McGuire, a child psychologist and an associate professor of psychology and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine. “Adolescents may not want to go to their parents,” he added. “They are going through a lot of bodily changes at that time in life and it may be hard for them to say they’re not comfortable about their bodies.”

What moves us ‘closer to the unfortunate finish line of getting long Covid’ (study) - CNN
Having a chronic illness is strongly associated with the development of depression and other psychological disorders. With common noninfectious disorders such as heart disease, “depression/anxiety/emotional distress do appear to play a role,” said Dr. Joseph Bienvenu, a professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, in an email. He was not involved in the study.

What does the latest science tell us about our brain, our gut and our mental health? - Los Angeles Times
One tidbit from Dr. Glenn Treisman, a professor of psychiatry and medicine at Johns Hopkins University, really stuck with me: “A happy microbiome is a diverse microbiome.”

'Magic' of psychedelics: Easing the trauma of terminal illness - Medscape
Psychologist Bill Richards, PhD, the lead therapist in [oncologist Manish] Agrawal's study and a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, has witnessed this type of realization [psilocybin-assisted therapy helping people regain a sense of agency] many times. "Psychedelics open up this inner door, and you discover there are resources in you that you never expected to find...." explains Richards.

Premenstrual mood changes impact women of all ages globally - HealthDay
Premenstrual mood changes are a persistent issue among women of reproductive age, according to a study published online Aug. 26 in the Archives of Women's Mental Health. Liisa Hantsoo, Ph.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues used a large international dataset to explore patterns in premenstrual symptom frequency with age.

Who should try ketamine therapy? What does it feel like? - Washington Post
Albert Garcia-Romeu, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who studies psilocybin and other psychedelic drugs for mental health, describes the ketamine therapy landscape as “kind of the Wild West.” “You pay out of pocket, there’s no real standard protocol, different providers do it differently,” he said.

Psychedelics are making big strides in the academic and business world - Green Entrepreneur
A groundbreaking study performed by John Hopkins Medicine found that those ingesting psilocybin mushrooms in small quantities reported better moods and mental health.

Psilocybin as mental health therapy? Here’s what I found. - Washington Post
Matthew Johnson, a psychiatry professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research who has conducted numerous studies on psychedelics, [speaks] to the issue of safety. Johnson reiterated that despite public testimonials about the positive therapeutic effects of psychedelic usage, “there are dangers, and it is illegal.” Was he trying to discourage me? “I’m don’t encourage anyone to do this on their own,” he said.

What does CBD in beauty products really do? Derms weigh the benefits - Refinery 29
In a July 2022 study published by Johns Hopkins Medicine, researchers tested more than 100 topical CBD products and found significant evidence of mislabeling. Tory Spindle, Ph.D., the study’s lead author and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, says most [of the beauty products he and his team tested] were inaccurately labeled for CBD....

New drugs on horizon for opioid overdose, withdrawal - Everyday Health
Another treatment on the horizon aims to use Belsomra (suvorexant), a sleeping pill already approved by the FDA as a tool to help ease opioid withdrawal symptoms. ...Belsomra works by blocking signals to wake up, and it isn’t sedating or addictive, says Kelly Dunn, PhD, an opioid researcher at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore....

August

Psychedelic drug helped people with alcohol use disorder reduce drinking, study shows - NBC News
“It’s really in line with accumulating evidence that psilocybin and other psychedelics that work in a very similar way in the brain can be effective in treating different types of addiction,” said Matthew Johnson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, who wasn’t involved in the trial.

Aspen considers the value of psychedelics for mental wellness - Aspen Times
In 2006, Roland Griffiths, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University, published the first modern psilocybin research, ending a nearly 40-year-long drought of research on the subject. In recent years, the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research, New York University Langone Health and other institutions have poured more resources into conducting extensive research on the effects of psychedelics.

Does CBD help with insomnia? - New York Times
CBD may indirectly help you sleep by alleviating other conditions, said Ryan Vandrey, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and principal investigator at the university’s Cannabis Science Laboratory. For example, he said, if pain is keeping you awake at night and CBD helps lessen your discomfort, you may be able to sleep better.

Meet the derivatives mastermind now funding ’shrooms science - Bloomberg
Casey Turnbull: As a child of the ’60s I learned psychedelics are an incredible probe of mood and cognition that has no parallel. But like the rest of the world, I dropped them for decades. Then I saw Johns Hopkins University’s Roland Griffiths’s 2006 study on psilocybin and mystical experiences. I thought, “Whoa, a psychiatrist at an elite university did that.”

Here's how to boost your melatonin production for a better night's sleep - Glam
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, melatonin is responsible for promoting sleep. Produced naturally in your body, "melatonin levels rise about two hours before bedtime," according to Johns Hopkins sleep expert Luis F. Buenaver. When your body isn't producing the right amount of melatonin or it isn't producing it at the right time, you can have trouble falling asleep and/or staying asleep.

Taking psychedelics could make people less afraid of dying - Time
[S]cientists have identified striking parallels between [near-death experiences and the effects of psychedelic drugs]. According to a new survey conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine ... people's attitudes about death change after both a psychedelic experience and a non-drug-related out-of-body experience.

Seattle’s jail has an ‘astronomical’ suicide rate. Little is changing. - Seattle Times
“If [inmates are] going to be housed alone, [make] sure there’s nothing they can do in that setting to take their life,” said Lanny Berman, former executive director of the American Association of Suicidology and current adjunct professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Adderall is hard to find at some pharmacies following a labor shortage at the largest U.S. supplier - NBC News
There have been shortages of ADHD stimulants before: The FDA reported a shortage from September 2019 through May 2022. [Dr. David W. Goodman, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine] advised patients who take Adderall to anticipate potential difficulty with their prescription refills and to work with their doctors and pharmacies to get alternatives if they run into issues. “It’s unpredictable. We can be sailing along fine and then we run into a shortage,” he said.

Psychedelic drugs take on depression - Nature
Despite its efficacy, ketamine is still approved for use only as an anaesthetic. People with depression can get ketamine therapy, but only “through a weird back door”, says Albert Garcia-Romeu, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Each clinic that offers the drug off-label has its own protocol. “Some people will give it with talk therapy, others will not. Some people will give it to you intravenously,” he says.

Dealing with back to school anxiety (video) - WBFF-TV/Fox Baltimore
There can be a lot of emotion as kids head back to school in the coming weeks, from excitement to anxiety. Doctor Joseph McGuire, a child psychologist with Johns Hopkins Children's Center, joined us live with the tips to fight those first day jitters.

Psilocybin therapy sharply reduces excessive drinking, small study shows - The New York Times
Dr. Matthew W. Johnson, a psychedelic researcher at Johns Hopkins Medicine who was not involved with the JAMA study, said he was encouraged by the results, in part because of the study’s comparatively large size and double-blind design. A previous, promising trial on psilocybin and alcoholic use disorder, he noted, had just 10 participants.

Taking psychedelics helps people face mortality like a near-death experience, study finds - Vice
“I was expecting [the groups: those taking psychedelics and those who had a near-death experience] to have some overlap, but to be much more different than they ended up being in this survey,” said Roland Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and neurosciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the senior author of the study. “There was a huge overlap with respect to the phenomenology — that is, the qualities of the experience — as well as the enduring attributions made to that experience….” he added.
Also reported by: Inverse

Most people who have near-death experiences report the same thing after - Newsweek
Near-death experiences and psychedelic trips have a "remarkably" similar impact on people's attitudes to death, a study has found. For a paper in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, researchers from the Center for Psychedelics and Consciousness Research and Department of Neurosciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine compared how attitudes changed after the two types of experience.
Also reported by: Discover magazine

Psychedelic drug helped people with alcohol use disorder reduce drinking, study shows - NBC News
“It’s really in line with accumulating evidence that psilocybin and other psychedelics that work in a very similar way in the brain can be effective in treating different types of addiction,” said Matthew Johnson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, who wasn’t involved in the trial.

‘Magic mushroom’ psychedelic may help heavy drinkers quit (study) - Associated Press
The new research, published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, is “the first modern, rigorous, controlled trial" of whether [psilocybin] can also help people struggling with alcohol, said Fred Barrett, a Johns Hopkins University neuroscientist who wasn't involved in the study.

How do experiences of wonder and awe affect us? (audio) - WYPR radio
[On the Record producer Melissa Gerr] talked with an astrophysicist, a naturalist, a spirituality researcher and also with David B. Yaden, Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine working in The Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. One of his experiences of awe, he said, came from thinking about vastness.

A church in N.H. offering a hallucinogenic tea has gained a following. But the pastor says his time in town is running out - WBUR radio (Boston)
While often described by its practitioners as a medicine, formal clinical study of [ayahuasca’s] potential to treat conditions, including depression, anxiety, substance misuse disorder and PTSD, remain in a “very early stage,” according to Fred Barrett, associate director for the Center of Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins University. “We don’t know yet if these drugs and therapeutic approaches can really be approved as medicines yet,” he said.

How the psychedelics industry is taking on the future - Newsweek
In a 2020 study of adults with depression, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers found that small doses of the psychedelic substance, combined with supportive psychotherapy, produced significant reductions in depressive symptoms, with most patients showing improvement, with half achieving remission through the four-week follow-up.

Baltimore company aims to develop prescription drug alternative to medical cannabis - Baltimore Business Journal
Along with anxiety and pain treatment, [Adam] Kaplin, a Johns Hopkins University adjunct professor, said the drug [MIRA1a] has a unique cognitive enhancement effect that is not seen in traditional medical cannabis. The cognitive effect could lead to MIRA1a being used as a treatment for conditions such as ADHD or Alzheimer's. Kaplin said much of the research is based on work done at Johns Hopkins University.

The psychedelic ayahuasca is easier to find even though its legality is questionable (audio) – NPR
Fred Barrett, of the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins, expresses concern about claims of ayahuasca as medicine, a treatment for depression or PTSD. "The degree to which this is happening in uncontrolled settings without any oversight or accountability could be a risk," he says.

Weed drinks are a buzzy alcohol substitute. But are they safe? - New York Times
“With hard seltzer, you go to a party and drink two, three, maybe four of those things,” said Ryan Vandrey, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine who studies cannabis. “With cannabinoids, you can go from a pleasant experience to a really unpleasant, dysphoric experience really quickly as you start to double or triple or quadruple your dose.”

Harlan Band’s Descent Started with an Easy Online Adderall Prescription – WSJ
“It would be impossible to do a full work-up in 30 minutes and feel comfortable about the risk factors related to substance abuse,” said David Goodman, a psychiatrist specializing in ADHD at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Drug addicts properly diagnosed with ADHD can benefit from treatment with the stimulants, he said, but they must be closely managed.”

Psilocybin ban: Voters to decide - St. Helen's Chronicle (Oregon)
Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research is leading the way in exploring innovative treatments using psilocybin, according to the center's website. "The molecular structure of psilocybin, a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in 'magic mushrooms,' allows it to penetrate the central nervous system," the website states. Studies by John Hopkins University researchers and others have shown that psilocybin can help with depression.

Here’s what alcohol poisoning can do to your body - Self
At [a blood-alcohol level above 0.31%], someone’s vital functions can slow so significantly that they could slip into a coma. The main concern here is aspiration, Sarah Andrews, MD, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, tells Self. That means you run the risk of choking on your vomit and damaging your lungs or even dying.

10 positive affirmations every black woman should recite before leaving the house - News One
“There’s a feeling in a lot of Black communities that women have to be strong and stoic. Women are so busy taking care of everyone else — their partners, their elderly parents, and their children — they don’t take care of themselves,” Erica Richards, chair and medical director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Sibley Memorial Hospital told John Hopkins Medicine. “However, women should be reminded that attending to their own needs, whether physical or emotional, doesn’t make you weak. It makes you better able to care for your loved ones in the long run.”

Do psychedelics have a future in sports? - Sports Illustrated
“Every drug has risks,” says psychologist Matthew W. Johnson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “But for the vast majority of people [who use classic psychedelics], lethal overdose is not one of them. Someone could take dozens or hundreds of times the intended dose, and it wouldn’t make you stop breathing. It wouldn’t kill your liver. It wouldn’t give you a heart attack — the ways that drugs typically kill people.”

Could psychedelic medicine help people living with memory loss? - Psychology Today
Albert Garcia-Romeu of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine studies the effects of psychedelics in humans with a focus on psilocybin (a natural psychedelic found in some species of mushrooms) in the treatment of addiction. He is currently leading a study using psilocybin-based therapy with people living with mild memory loss, and their carers. [Psychology Today] spoke to Dr. Garcia-Romeu about the psychedelic medicine movement and his dementia-related study.

I tripped on mushrooms (legally) at a therapy retreat in Jamaica. It may have changed my life. - Robb Report
For the two-hour journey to the trip’s culmination, wearing dark eyeshades and listening to a five-hour playlist compiled by the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research for its psilocybin patients, I cycled through a montage of my worst childhood traumas.

What not to say to someone who is struggling with anxiety - The List
Pediatric psychologist Joseph McGuire, Ph.D., says that anxiety often gets overlooked (via Johns Hopkins Medicine). "With other medical illnesses, you may be able to see physical symptoms. But with anxiety, you don't necessarily see what the person is dealing with," McGuire explains. "So it's important to be sensitive to what the person with anxiety is going through, even if it doesn't make sense to you."

CBD products often mislabeled, some containing THC: What to know (study) - Healthline
“Misleading labels can result in people using poorly regulated and expensive CBD products instead of FDA-approved products that are established as safe and effective for a given health condition,” Tory Spindle, PhD, co-author of the new study and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a press release.

July

Beyond the hype: A sober look at psychedelics - Flatland (Kansas City, Mo.)
[While] psychedelics, when used with respect and intention, can be transformative, they don’t produce the desired results for everyone. And there are risks to be considered. While significant progress has been made in recent years, as Roland Griffiths, a veteran psychedelics researcher from Johns Hopkins, recently observed during a 2022 SXSW panel, we are still “astonishingly ignorant” about how these drugs work.

New study looks at 'magic' mushrooms as treatment for depression, without the psychedelic high - CTV (Canada)
On the subject of access to psilocybin therapy, while Johns Hopkins University scientist David Yaden agrees being able to offer the therapy without a psychedelic experience would make it accessible to more people, he worries about patients who may want or need the full experience. Yaden is an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research who has published multiple articles about the use of psilocybin as a potential treatment.

Experts: How a history of animal cruelty and school shootings are often linked - WUSA-TV (D.C.)
Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer ... cut apart animals as a child. Johns Hopkins University psychiatrist Fred Berlin interviewed Dahmer before his death. "I remember I shook his hand, and this is a guy who took a number of lives by strangling them to death," Berlin said. But Berlin cautions against drawing a straight line between what he calls Dahmer’s fascination with anatomy and dissecting animals, and his compulsion to murder humans, which he says was driven by something very different: necrophilia.

Hospital programs tackle mental health effects of long COVID - WebMD
Many long COVID care centers aim to tackle both physical and mental health symptoms, says Tracy Vannorsdall, PhD, a neuropsychologist with the Johns Hopkins Post-Acute COVID-19 Team program. One goal at Hopkins is to identify patients with psychological issues that might otherwise get overlooked, she says.

What's in your CBD product? Labels often mislead - HealthDay
Topical CBD products are gaining popularity in the United States, and the authors of a new study say the science hasn't kept up. "Overall, this study and other studies before it just kind of speak to the need for improved regulatory oversight of cannabis products generally," said researcher Tory Spindle, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore.

Good trip? How psychiatrists got serious about using psychedelics to treat mental health - Robb Report
Any skeptics [of psilocybin and similar psychedelics] need only consider the spate of respected academic institutions that have recently founded research centers to study their efficacy, including Johns Hopkins University, New York University and Harvard University’s Massachusetts General Hospital.
 

Some CBD creams, patches don't match labels: Study - WebMD
[H]ow much can you trust what the label says, compared to what really is in CBD patches, creams, and lotions? ... People should "be wary of cannabinoid products available in retail stores. The products may not contain the amounts of CBD or THC that are advertised," says lead study author Tory R. Spindle, PhD [a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Cannabis Science Laboratory].

Cannabis gummies, Delta-8, sold in Maryland completely unregulated (video) - WBAL-TV
Dr. Ryan Vandrey is a cannabis researcher who studies the effects of cannabinoids in a lab at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore. He's currently conducting a study on Delta-8.... "The biggest problem right now in my mind is that Delta-8 is largely unregulated and it's widely available. It's a substance that has abuse potential. It can cause psychoactive drug effects, impairment of functioning and the products that are available right now, you don't really know what's in them," [Vandrey said].

Postsurgical opioid refills risky for entire household (study) - Medscape
Commenting on the findings for Medscape, Traci Speed, MD, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and director of psychiatric services, Personalized Pain Program, Johns Hopkins University, said the well-designed study provides evidence of household risks of opioid use at the population level. However, she noted that capturing opioid-related risks from data using diagnostic codes may underestimate the rates of opioid misuse and chronic opioid use.

The darkest hour is just before dawn - Psychology Today
It’s ... the time of year — spring and summer — when suicide rates are highest, according to Adam Kaplin, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins and an expert on depression and suicide. He knows that, contrary to popular belief, suicide rates spike in the light of spring, not the darkness of winter.

Fruit fly study shows psilocybin produces long-lasting antidepressant-like effect - High Times
A study published in 2020 showed that psilocybin can be an effective and quick-acting treatment for major depressive disorder.... “The magnitude of the effect we saw was about four times larger than what clinical trials have shown for traditional antidepressants on the market,” said study co-author Alan Davis of Johns Hopkins University.

Recent Johns Hopkins Medicine study analyzes mislabeled CBD products (study) - High Times
The study’s lead author, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Tory Spindle, Ph.D., explained the objective behind this analysis. “Misleading labels can result in people using poorly regulated and expensive CBD products instead of FDA approved products that are established as safe and effective for a given health condition,” said Spindle.

Restrictions on psilocybin ‘magic mushrooms’ are easing as research ramps up - Scientific American
[Oregon's psilocybin service] centers, which can apply for licenses starting next January, will not claim to treat depression but will aim to improve general well-being. “My worry is that people won't necessarily get that distinction ... and turn up with horrible, treatment-resistant depression, expecting an expert in treating that condition,” says Johns Hopkins University psychiatrist Natalie Gukasyan, who led a recent psilocybin trial.

Pennsylvania lawmaker pushes for research on psychedelic drug as treatment for depression, other disorders (video) - WGAL-TV (Lancaster, Pa.)
"A lot of these vets come back [from a psychedelic retreat] and report profound healing," Dr. Matt Johnson said. Johnson is trying to unravel that mystery. He's a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who's researching psychedelics. "So, it really is more like psychotherapy than it is like another medication," he said.

The long, strange relationship between psychedelics and telepathy - Vice
Sandeep Nayak, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, and David Yaden, an assistant professor at the center who studies the phenomenology of psychedelic experiences, are quoted in this article.

Taking the magic out of magic mushrooms (op-ed, guest essay) - The New York Times
“To get the kinds of persisting benefits that we’re seeing, which are weeks, months, even over a year later, that would seem to suggest that there’s some kind of cognitive shift or changes to one’s meaning-making that are going on,” said David Yaden, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.

Suvorexant may ease symptoms during opioid withdrawal therapy - HealthDay
Andrew S. Huhn, Ph.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues recruited 38 participants with opioid use disorder who received buprenorphine/naloxone treatment for three days before being randomly assigned to 20 mg suvorexant, 40 mg suvorexant, or placebo (14, 12, and 12 patients, respectively).

Thailand considering chemical castration in exchange for shorter prison term: reports - FOX 5 (D.C.)
[Dr. Frederick Berlin] has concerns about a blanket criminal justice approach without evaluating the appropriateness in each case. "Speaking now as a physician, I think it’s absolutely inappropriate to use a medical treatment as a criminal sanction," says Berlin, who treats patients with sexual disorders at Johns Hopkins Hospital and at an independent clinic.

Microdosing psilocybin mushrooms improves mood and mental health after one month, new study finds - Forbes
These findings join the ranks of many peer-reviewed, legitimate academic studies that look at psilocybin as a hopeful treatment for depression. The Journal of Psychopharmacology published a follow-up earlier this year to this widely-publicized study from Johns Hopkins Medicine that found psilocybin may continue to help people with depression up to one year later

Is being ‘hangry’ real? 1st-of-its-kind study looks at how hunger affects mood - Today show (NBC)
"It's really cool that they captured [the link between hunger and anger] in real life," said Susan Carnell, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University. The findings weren't a surprise to Carnell, because "there are increasing studies in psychiatry linking the gut and brain."

Advocates push for decriminalization of psilocybin mushrooms in Boulder - Daily Camera (Boulder, Colo.)
[Del] Jolly, a Boulder County resident, has partnered with Johns Hopkins in a real-world psilocybin mushroom study through Unlimited Sciences, the psychedelic research organization he co-founded. Should Boulder choose to decriminalize psychedelic substances, it would not impact research

Zac Kamenetz, the psychedelic rebbe of Berkeley, seeks applicants for Jewish cannabis retreat - Jewish News of Northern California
A few years ago, Rabbi Zac Kamenetz of Berkeley was a novice to psychedelic substances. But after a life-changing experience as a subject in a Johns Hopkins study of psychedelic experiences in clergy, he’s now a leading voice in a growing movement to normalize the use of psychedelic substances such as psilocybin (aka magic mushrooms) in the practice of Jewish spirituality.

Moderating your alcohol by saving drinks for the weekend? A study says there may be risks. - USA Today
The [study's] results reflect the range of potential long-term health impacts of alcohol even for those who aren’t categorized as high alcohol users, said Sarah Andrews, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University. Such a trend could point to a need for improved medical screenings that ask for more details on drinking patterns.

June

Legalize psychedelic mushrooms? Advocates say they have enough signatures to make this November’s ballot - Denver Post
“The biggest takeaway I hope people understand is that these natural medicines have been used by humans for 10,000 years and in the last 20 to 25 years there has been a significant amount of clinical research at universities like Johns Hopkins and UCLA that really demonstrate the efficacy of natural medicines,” said [Kevin] Matthews, who led Denver’s decriminalization initiative in 2019.

8 solid CBD options, bc we know you're anxious - Cosmopolitan
Some studies claim that CBD may reach receptors in the brain that regulate fear and anxious behaviors. “It shows promise as a medication that can reduce anxiety for some people, but additional studies are needed to determine which products, at which doses, are beneficial before the FDA approves it,” says Ryan Vandrey, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Mummies who mushroom: The mums using psychedelics to take the edge off modern parenthood - Harper's Bazaar Australia
Psychedelics are … largely illegal in the United States, where the federal government still classifies most of them as Schedule 1 drugs (the same category as cannabis), meaning they “have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use in treatment” — even as researchers at Johns Hopkins, Harvard, UCLA, and some of the other biggest institutions in medical research have found benefits to using low doses of psychedelics.

How an NHL enforcer broke his body — and turned to psychedelics to heal his brain - Rolling Stone
Since [Riley] Cote began proselytizing, scientific research bolstering the case for psychedelics has accumulated. Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore established a center for psychedelic and consciousness research in 2019, and has published 50 peer-reviewed papers that indicate psychedelics help treat depression, promote psychological insight, alleviate anxiety in cancer patients, break smoking addiction, and improve overall life satisfaction.

Rabbi Ben Gorelick plans to use religious freedom against an 8-year minimum psychedelic charge - High Times
With [a visit from authorities] always looming, the [Sacred Tribe] prepared, working with psychedelics professionals to ensure compliance with Colorado and federal laws. The community has partnered with professionals from Johns Hopkins University and various psychedelic labs along the way

How to reset your caffeine habit and boost your energy levels - Women's Health (Australia)
So, why consider quitting coffee? The thing is, over time, the cells in your brain adapt and you need to consume more to get the same buzz, says Dr Lindsay Standeven, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. That’s when you may find your one-cup habit turning into multiple mugs daily. “Since caffeine appears in more than just coffee, you might not know exactly how much you’re consuming on the regular.”

‘We want to know whose brain is healing and why.’ (study) - New York Times
Dr. Jennifer Coughlin, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the study’s lead researcher, first observed the overtime work of the reparative brain cells in a pilot of the study that began in 2015. Testing four active N.F.L. players and 10 former pros whose careers ended within 12 years, Coughlin’s team found higher levels of a biomarker that increases as microglia activity does.

An ex-police officer turned senator unwittingly took 'magic' mushrooms without realizing — now he microdoses the drug most days to ease his depression - Business Insider
Matthew Johnson, a Susan Hill Ward professor in Psychedelics and Consciousness at Johns Hopkins University, and Albert Garcia-Romeu, an assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins, are quoted in this article, speaking about possible risks of self-microdosing.

Mushrooms may help ease the elderly and terminally ill into afterlife - New York Post
A pair of studies, produced in tandem by researchers at NYU Langone Health and Johns Hopkins University, described a psilocybin trial involving 80 advanced cancer patients. Both teams found that 80% of participants had gained extended relief from the stresses of death after a “single dose” — 0.3 milligrams per kilogram — for more than six months after their psychedelic voyage. Those patients reported fewer feelings of despair, and greater satisfaction with life despite their terminal status

What to do if you hit your head - Consumer Reports
As people age, they may be more likely to fall and hit their head, says Matthew E. Peters, MD, an associate professor in the division of geriatric psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medicine. That’s in part because your strength, balance, and reflexes may decline with age as well as with conditions such as osteoporosis and arthritis.

7 signs your mental health medication isn't working the way it should – HuffPost
“Everyone’s brain and body responds to and processes medications differently, so getting on the right medication regimen can be a frustrating process for some people,” Melissa Shepard, board-certified psychiatrist and assistant professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, told HuffPost. “The most frustrating part being we don’t always know why.”

Best online therapy for teens in 2022 - Everyday Health
Make sure the therapy your teen will be receiving is provided by a licensed therapist, says Leslie Miller, MD, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the director of the Mood Disorders in Adolescents and Young Adults Program at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “I think it’s important to see the criteria of the person who [your teen is] are going to be seeking treatment with to make sure that they have the training to teach the therapy and the skills,” Dr. Miller explains.

Can supplements really help with depression or anxiety? - New York Times
“There’s not nearly as much oversight [with supplements] compared to traditional pharmaceuticals, which require pills be manufactured in a consistent way, with consistent dosing,” said Dr. Paul Nestadt, a co-director of the Johns Hopkins Anxiety Disorders Clinic and an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Stephen Asma: My father’s experience with morphine in hospice showed me the healing joy of altered states - Chicago Tribune
Research at the MIND Foundation in Berlin and the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research is revealing that psychedelics are better than many antidepressants for treating certain kinds of depression. But even healthy people can benefit from psychedelic experiences.

How psilocybin, the psychedelic in mushrooms, may rewire the brain to ease depression, anxiety and more – CNN
"One of the most interesting things we've learned about the classic psychedelics is that they have a dramatic effect on the way brain systems synchronize, or move and groove together," said Matthew Johnson, a professor in psychedelics and consciousness at Johns Hopkins Medicine. "When someone's on psilocybin, we see an overall increase in connectivity between areas of the brain that don't normally communicate well," Johnson said.

Calls to poison control about children taking too much melatonin have risen dramatically in the last decade - Everyday Health
“In the European Union, you need a prescription to get melatonin and therefore it’s highly regulated,” says David Neubauer, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and sleep expert at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. Because melatonin is sold as a dietary supplement in the United States, it’s not subject to the same rules as prescription drugs or over the counter medications, he says.

Pa. veterans will help study psychedelic drugs to treat trauma, prevent suicide - Penn Live (Central Pennsylvania)
Some of the research done by institutions such as Johns Hopkins have found that psychedelic drugs hold great promise for helping people overcome alcohol and smoking addictions.

Psychedelics might be the next big thing in mental health care, experts say (audio) – NPR
Fred Barrett is a psychiatry professor and psychedelics researcher at Johns Hopkins University. He says psilocybin can feel like the next big thing in mental health care, but it's only been rigorously tested on a few hundred people.

Suicides among Black People May Be Vastly Undercounted - Scientific American
“At a very basic level, this data impacts a doctor’s risk assessment in emergency rooms across the country,” says Paul Nestadt, a psychiatrist who specializes in the epidemiology of suicide at Johns Hopkins University.

Sheppard Pratt opens new psychedelic research center in Towson - Baltimore Business Journal
Baltimore has recently become a hub for psychedelics research. Johns Hopkins University has a center focusing on psychedelics research, backed by $17 million in funding. Along with studies focused on the medical uses of psychedelics, JHU is also looking at the wider effects the chemicals have on consciousness, researching the impact of the chemicals on spirituality and on the perception of music.

May

Maryland bill to fund psychedelics research and access for veterans takes effect without governor’s signature - Marijuana Moment
The Senate bill that Hogan is allowing to become law will provide “cost-free access” to psychedelics for eligible veterans. The state Department of Health will be required to “periodically” consult with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, Sheppard Pratt hospital and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

What’s the safest way to try psychedelic-assisted therapy right now? – Self
Since esketamine can cause sedation, impaired judgment, and has the potential for misuse, there are strict guidelines around its use. It must be administered under the supervision of a doctor and you may need to convince your insurance to cover the cost by providing proof that you’ve tried other medications and therapies, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Canadian senator admits he takes psilocybin for depression - High Times
Psilocybin also works differently than regular anti-depressants. Indeed, there is emerging evidence that it could be a viable alternative to existing treatments for depression. Even more excitingly, the research available so far also seems to suggest that psilocybin’s effects last long after treatment ends — which is not the case with traditional medicines. Results of a study at Johns Hopkins University even show that psilocybin treatment for major depression lasts about a year for most patients.

Texas school shooting: How to help kids get through unspeakable horror - Los Angeles Times
4. Limit exposure to the media. This is true for youth of all ages. Violent images can cause secondary trauma. For younger children, “every time they watch the news, they feel like it’s a new event as opposed to repetition of the same event. It’s important for them not to watch too much,” Carol Vidal, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University, told The Times in 2019.

Mushroom advocates arrested - The Paper (Albuquerque, N.M.)
Studies over recent years have shown psilocybin to be a potentially therapeutic drug for treating PTSD, anxiety and a number of other psychological ailments — especially for terminal patients. Earlier this year, Johns Hopkins Medicine published a study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology that found that two doses of psilocybin in conjunction with psychotherapy drastically decreased major depressive disorder symptoms for most participants.

How to plan for a schizophrenia relapse – WebMD
Work closely with your treatment team. Keep up with your doctor’s appointments while you’re feeling well. This helps you and the doctor treating your schizophrenia build a trusting relationship, says Russell Margolis, MD, clinical director of the Johns Hopkins Schizophrenia Center. It could also give your doctor a sense of when you start to feel unwell, he says.

Vicky Dulai on the growing acceptance of psychedelics for healing - OCNJ Daily (Ocean City, N.J.)
Perhaps the biggest evidence of growth in acceptance of psychedelics can be seen at Johns Hopkins Medicine. One of the country’s most revered medical institutions is home to the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.... Among the center’s compelling findings, Vicky Dulai reports that treatments for major depression using psilocybin can be effective for up to a year for many patients.

What to do if you’re pulled over after using cannabis - Philadelphia Inquirer
If you must drive, research suggests that impairment has mostly worn off by five hours after inhalation, said Tory Spindle, a psychologist at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Lucid dreaming and visions of God: How psilocybin therapy helped locals cope with depression - Bethesda magazine
A 2020 study conducted by [Johns] Hopkins’ Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research found that of 24 adult participants suffering major depression, a majority showed an improvement in symptoms after two separate doses of psilocybin along with psychotherapy.

Activists demanding psilocybin for terminally ill patients arrested outside DEA headquarters - The Hill
Studies over the past several years have shown promise in using psilocybin-assisted therapy to treat disorders like depression and anxiety. A 2016 study from Johns Hopkins University found a majority of participants suffering cancer-related anxiety or depression experienced “considerable” relief for up to six months from a single large dose of psilocybin.

Micro-dosing magic mushrooms: A growing trend among San Diego moms - CBS 8 (San Diego)
While [Matthew Johnson, Ph.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research] stands behind the benefits of psilocybin, he cautions, the majority of research conducted is related to macro-dosing sparingly in controlled environments, not microdosing for long periods of time. “It’s not like we’re seeing [patients] less depressed when they continue to take psilocybin. It’s like you take psilocybin in two sessions under monitoring and you’re feeling better a week later, a month later, six months later.

Experiencing job burnout? Self-care can help, but it isn't just your problem to solve - USA Today
How do you recover from burnout? Implementing a self-care strategy can help, said Johns Hopkins University psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor Neda Gould, who also runs the university’s mindfulness program. "I think the good news is that there can be small adjustments that begin to have a meaningful impact,” Gould said.

April

We have arrived at the riskiest time of year for suicide - Irish Times
Many theories have been put forward to try to explain this time-of-year phenomenon. If we can understand it, maybe we can do something about it. Perhaps a person who has been robbed of energy by depression in the winter may gain enough motivation in the summer to take their own life. That’s what psychiatrist Dr Adam Kaplin at Johns Hopkins University in the United States says, according to an interview on the university website.

The completely correct guide to getting over jet lag - Washington Post
Technically speaking, jet lag should hit when you have traveled across at least two time zones, says David Neubauer, a clinical faculty member in the Johns Hopkins Sleep Disorders Center. So whether you’re heading from Toledo to Taipei or from LAX to JFK, the threat of jet lag is there.

Ellen W. Halle, a former therapist with the Johns Hopkins Sex and Gender Clinic who was known for her many friendships, dies - Baltimore Sun
Ellen W. Halle, a pioneering sex therapist with what became the Johns Hopkins Sex and Gender Clinic ... died of Alzheimer’s disease April 21 at the Brightwood Retirement Community in Lutherville. The former Roland Park resident was 95.... In 1966, Mrs. Halle, responded to a “Hopkins to Train Housewives as Psychotherapists” ad in The Sun.... At the time, the program, which eventually became the Johns Hopkins Sex and Gender Clinic, was known as the Johns Hopkins Sexual Behaviors Consultation Unit.

What parents need to know about antidepressants for children and teens - Baltimore's Child
“We often think that the benefit [of treating with antidepressants] is worth [the] risk [of suicidal thinking] as long as there’s close monitoring and everyone knows what to expect,” says Dr. Hal Benjamin Kronsberg, a psychiatrist for Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center’s School-based Mental Health Program and the Child Mobile Treatment team.

What is histrionic personality disorder? - The Cut
“[Such persons’] way of seeing themselves, of seeing the world, operating in the world, is very rigid, extreme to the point where it causes a great deal of trouble for them in many areas of life,” explains Francis Mondimore, director of the Mood Disorders Clinic at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

Why psychedelics like psilocybin from magic mushrooms and LSD are seeing a surge in medical interest, in treatments for depression, addiction and more - South China Morning Post
In 2018, the US Food and Drug Administration designated some psychedelic treatments as “breakthrough therapy,” which means they have significant therapeutic potential. [In 2019], private donors gave US$17 million to start the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research at Johns Hopkins Medicine, part of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States.

Do antidepressants improve quality of life? (study) - Everyday Health
It would be a mistake to conclude that antidepressants don’t improve the quality of life for people with depression on the basis of this study, says Paul Nestadt, MD, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. For starters, the tool used to assess quality of life was “rough and inelegant," he says.

Is the opioid crisis masking real rates of suicides? – WebMD
An overarching focus on mental health during the pandemic may have played a role [in the 3% drop in suicides nationally]. More people were seeking treatment during mental health crises, both in person and through telehealth. While [Paul Nestadt, MD, a psychiatrist with Johns Hopkins University] agrees that these things did play a role, he thinks the numbers could also be misleading. Suicides, he says, could be hidden by the nation’s opioid crisis.

Lois H. Feinblatt, a pioneering sex therapist at the Johns Hopkins Sex and Gender Clinic, dies at 100 - Baltimore Sun
Lois H. Feinblatt, a pioneering sex therapist who practiced with the Johns Hopkins Sex and Gender Clinic for more than three decades and was also a philanthropist, died in her sleep Friday at [her home] in Guilford. She was 100 years old and a month away from celebrating her 101st birthday…. In 1970, Mrs. Feinblatt joined the staff of a new Johns Hopkins program that was known as the Johns Hopkins Sexual Behaviors Consultation Unit.

The active ingredient in ‘magic mushrooms,’ makes scientific gains - The Hill
In a testament to how powerful the mystical experience associated with the drug can be, Roland Griffiths, the professor in the Neuropsychopharmacology of Consciousness at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who received approval in 2000 to carry out the first experiments on psilocybin since the 1960s, found in a survey of early study participants that more than half regarded it as one of the most meaningful experiences of their life.

Psilocybin could be a therapeutic breakthrough for addiction – Time
[A] 2017 Johns Hopkins University pilot study, co-authored by Albert Garcia-Romeu, found that the majority of 15 participants were able to quit smoking for at least 16 months after receiving two to three moderate to high-level doses of psilocybin.

GoDaddy Billionaire Bob Parsons believes psychedelics can heal trauma — and he’s putting his money (and brain) on the line – Forbes
It wasn’t until the early 2000s when academic interest in psychedelics started to pick up again. Today, the psychedelic renaissance is underway as promising studies out of Johns Hopkins, Imperial College London, New York University, Yale and other institutions suggest that drugs such as psilocybin and MDMA possess therapeutic potential for various conditions, including depression, PTSD and addiction.

Safe, legal access to psilocybin treatment services could help many Mainers - Portland Press Herald (Maine)
Recent studies at Johns Hopkins, Yale and New York universities have demonstrated that a single dose of psilocybin, in controlled settings, produces an enduring decrease in depression symptoms.

‘Magic mushrooms’ for therapy? Veterans help sway conservatives. - Associated Press
[T]here are serious psychological risks [with the use of psychedelics], especially for people with certain forms of mental illness or a family history of conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. “Then there’s a possibility that a high-dose psychedelic experience could sort of trigger that and lead to long-lasting mental health issues,” said Albert Garcia-Romeu, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Magic mushroom psilocybin study found long-term improvement in depression - International Business Times
According to a 2020 study by Johns Hopkins Medicine on how psilocybin affects adults with major depression, “researchers report that two doses of the psychedelic substance psilocybin, given with supportive psychotherapy, produced rapid and large reductions in depressive symptoms, with most participants showing improvement and half of study participants achieving remission through the four-week follow-up.”

Mescaline, magic mushrooms and Mother Ayahuasca: Touting mental health benefits, advocates aim to decriminalize psychedelic plants in Illinois - News Tribune (Jefferson City, Mo.)
Matthew Johnson, the Susan Hill Ward professor in psychedelics and consciousness at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said his lab has found psilocybin helps people quit smoking and recover from depression and anxiety. He said contrary to traditional psychiatric meds, psilocybin can produce enduring changes after just a few doses. The evidence suggests mystical experiences help people gain a new perspective on their issues, he said.

Mommies who mushroom - Harper’s Bazaar
It’s estimated that more than 30 million people in the United States have used psychedelics, according to Matthew W. Johnson, the Susan Hill Ward professor in psychedelics and consciousness at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.

Permanent Daylight Saving Time isn't all sunshine – CNN
The Sunshine Protection Act? "You could just as well call it the Darkness Protection Act," Dr. David Neubauer, an expert in sleep medicine at Johns Hopkins University, told What Matters. "Nobody is creating more sunshine in this Act. It is simply stealing light from the morning, when we need it to reinforce our circadian clock, and adding it to the evening, when we really don't need it," he said.

People who used 'magic mushrooms' less likely to develop opioid use disorder, study finds - USA Today
“There’s no real good reason to think that one (psychedelic) would work better than the other,” said Albert Garcia-Romeu, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “There’s been a sort of shroom craze and, as a result, there’s been a lot more people looking into using psilocybin for medical and health reasons that you don’t see with some of the other more obscure psychedelics.”

Are young women catching ‘TikTok tics’ from social media? The answer is complex. - Boston Globe
Joseph F. McGuire, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore who has seen patients suffering from a sudden onset of tic-like symptoms, believes determining the root cause of these cases is an important task — a task he still considers incomplete. But most important for now, McGuire says, is taking patients’ distress seriously and offering whatever treatment is possible.

Just how far can psychedelics push the boundaries of how we assign consciousness? (study) - Science alert
"This study demonstrates that when beliefs change following a psychedelic experience, attributions of consciousness to various entities tend to increase," says psychiatrist Sandeep Nayak from the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research in Baltimore.

Baltimore police report more than 40 robberies over the weekend (video) - WMAR-TV
"I think when people get hopeless they abandon being civil and do terrible things,” said Dr. Glenn Triesman, a professor [of psychiatry and behavioral sciences] at Johns Hopkins…. "Very well loved surgeon [at Hopkins] was injured in a shooting [Friday] when people tried to carjack him … a person here in the city trying to help people in the city gets treated that way makes people more hopeless not less hopeless.” Triesman said.

The mystifying rise of child suicide - New Yorker
Jimmy Potash, the chair of the psychiatry department at Johns Hopkins, told me that a boy who survived a suicide attempt described the suddenness of the impulse: seeing a knife in the kitchen, he thought, I could stab myself with that, and had done so before he had time to think about it.

Psychedelic users report greater attribution of consciousness to living, nonliving things – Healio
Psychedelic drug users who reported belief-changing experiences also saw increased attribution of consciousness to various living and non-living entities, according to a study published in Frontiers of Psychology. “Psychedelic substances produce unusual and compelling changes in conscious experience, which have prompted some to propose that psychedelics may provide unique insights into the nature of consciousness itself,” Sandeep M. Nayak, MD, and Roland R. Griffiths, PhD, both of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, wrote.

March

The next big addiction treatment - New York Times
Roland Griffiths, a psychopharmacologist at Johns Hopkins, and Matthew Johnson, a Hopkins psychologist, are mentioned or quoted in this article. Therapy sessions at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research also are discussed.

Psychedelics' interaction with psych meds: more questions than answers – Medscape
Albert Garcia-Romeu, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, confirmed that there is "an evidence gap" on psilocybin's and other psychedelic drugs' interactions with other medications. "This has not been formally studied for a number of reasons, but mainly because psilocybin has primarily been considered a drug of abuse," Garcia-Romeu told Medscape Medical News.

Teen girls are still getting TikTok-related tics — and other disorders - Wall Street Journal
Joseph McGuire, an associate professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, said the number of patients being treated for functional tics at the university has remained steady. “Fortunately, we have successfully helped many young patients and their families navigate through this challenging time,” he said.

For kids, fear of the dark is common. Here are ways to help them. - Washington Post
Limited visibility plays a part [in humans' fear of the dark]. “When we cannot see well, we feel more vulnerable,” says Joe Bienvenu, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

New research shows properties in magic mushrooms could have long-lasting benefits to treat depression (video) - CBS News
"One of the curious features about these drugs, I would say it's just the signature feature, is they produce experiences that have huge embedded personal meaning," [Johns Hopkins'] Dr. Roland Griffiths said. Psilocybin's medical potential was studied in the '60s, until concerns about abuse stopped research. Griffiths helped restart experiments and found that just two doses of psilocybin in a controlled environment, combined with therapy, reduced or even eliminated depression for most patients for up to a year after treatment.

The science, ethics, and art of disclosing a dementia diagnosis - Psychiatric Times
Among the four authors of this article on how to communicate a dementia diagnosis are Dr Robert P. Roca, a professor of clinical psychiatry and vice chair of clinical business development in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Dr Susan Lehmann, clinical director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatry, and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Foods and activities to fight SAD - U.S. News & World Report
Sometimes referred to as the winter blues or the winter doldrums, SAD can actually go much deeper than that, says Dr. Paul Nestadt, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Anxiety Disorders Clinic and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. "It's a mood disorder, much like major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder...." he says.

How 'magic mushrooms' could follow in the footsteps of cannabis – Politico
What was once the province of acid-heads in Haight-Ashbury has since emerged as a nootropic tool embraced by Silicon Valley tech bros and a potentially lucrative business opportunity for investors.... And researchers at NYU and Johns Hopkins [have been] eager to pick up where others left off, creating research and training programs focused on therapeutic uses just as there is now greater attention on mental health.

Bill would allow use of some hallucinogens for PTSD treatment - News Tribune (Jefferson City, Mo.)
Rep. Lisa Thomas, R-Lake Ozark, said there hasn't been enough research into the safety of the products. Major universities, including Johns Hopkins, New York University and Washington University in St. Louis, are already conducting studies of the products, [Rep. Tony Lovasco, R-O'Fallon] responded.

Access to psilocybin – psychedelic mushrooms – stalled, but doctors find evidence of clinical benefits - Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.)
A study from John Hopkins University found psilocybin was associated with clinically significant decreases in depression and anxiety in about 80% of participants after six months. Another study from New York University showed a similar result.

Permanent daylight saving time sounds great for Kansas and U.S., but careful what you wish for - Kansas Reflector
David Neubauer, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, put it this way to [Washington] Post reporter Allyson Chiu: “With daylight saving time, we are perpetually out of synchronization with our internal clocks and we often achieve less nighttime sleep, both circumstances having negative health impacts.

My psychiatrist is a DJ - Neo Life
[F]or seven decades ... Western classical music remained the gold standard in most clinical studies. Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore — one of the world’s top institutions leading the “psychedelic revolution” today — has published study after rigorous study on the clinical use of psychedelics to treat depression, anxiety, and other illnesses for twenty years. Yet they still use a playlist created by psychedelic pioneer Bill Richards in 1963: Gorecki, Vivaldi, Beethoven. Even Wagner is in there, the one composer associated more with the Nazis than any musician in history.

Sleep experts say Senate has it wrong: Standard time, not daylight saving, should be permanent - Washington Post
“We have all enjoyed those summer evenings with seemingly endless dusks,” said David Neubauer, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University. But daylight saving time “does not ‘save’ evening light at all, it simply steals it from the morning when it is necessary to maintain our healthy biological rhythms.”

Denver doctor helped patients with severe anorexia obtain aid-in-dying medication, spurring national ethics debate - Colorado Sun
In an interview with The Sun, the director of the eating disorders program at Johns Hopkins said using aid-in-dying medication for anorexia patients is “alarming” and “fraught with problems.” It is in direct contradiction to treating mental illness, promoting hope for recovery and improving quality of life for our patients, said Dr. Angela Guarda, Johns Hopkins psychiatrist.

Tau buildup in brain tied to psychosis, more rapid decline in Alzheimer's disease (study) - M.D.alert via Reuters
Dr. Gwenn Smith, Director, Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neuropsychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, commented on the study in an email to Reuters Health. "In vivo molecular imaging such as PET can provide unique insights into the role of proteins and neurotransmitters in the development of psychosis in AD. The results are promising."

Easier access to a better treatment — buprenorphine — is helping people with opioid use disorder turn their lives around - Seattle Times
Dr. Kenneth Stoller, who directs the Johns Hopkins Broadway Center for Addiction in Baltimore, says treatment narrowly focused on medication could sell patients short. In his program, buprenorphine and other meds are part of a comprehensive package that includes helping patients find housing, connect with psychiatric care and work on skills such as parenting.

A ketamine clinic treads the line between health care and a ‘spa day for your brain’ - New York Times
Patients [at Nushama clinic] are not required to be in ongoing therapy.... Other clinics have more stringent requirements. “All of our patients in our clinic need to have an outpatient psychiatrist and we need a referral from them as well,” said Dr. Paul Kim, who directs a clinic at Johns Hopkins Medicine that offers esketamine.

Keenan: Finding the magic in the mushrooms - Windsor Star (Canada)
While the Parker Psychedelic Research Chair is a Canadian first, prestigious Johns Hopkins University has a Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research. One of its investigators, neuroscientist Frederick Barrett ... described “growing clinical evidence of the really possibly profound effects that these (psychedelic) compounds, in the right setting, may have for patients suffering from at least mood and substance use disorders.”

Americans' stress spiking over inflation, war in Ukraine, survey finds – NPR
"It's like being kicked while you're down," says Dr. Kali Cyrus, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University, who wasn't involved with the [survey]. "It might take some time, but most people are resilient and actually recover [from temporary stressors]," says Cyrus. "But I think there are others who will have to work on it to actually tap into our sources of resilience."

Inpatient hospital discharges highlight missed opportunities for HIV care in people with schizophrenia – Medscape
"[If these patients] didn't have a discharge diagnosis, then it's possible that they were not managed for their HIV or their HIV was not addressed while they were in the hospital," Sarah Andrews, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and AIDS psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, explained. Andrews, who was not involved in the study, noted that this omission is significant.

Melatonin for Sleep: Does it work, and is it safe? – AARP
[M]elatonin is a naturally occurring hormone the brain produces in response to darkness to help our bodies know when it’s time to go to sleep and when it’s time to be awake. When melatonin hits the bloodstream (typically, a few hours before bedtime), it reduces alertness and “facilitates our ability to fall asleep,” explains David Neubauer, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Oklahoma researchers could soon study psychedelic mushrooms’ effect on mental health. The lawmakers behind the push hope it will help veterans - KGOU radio (Oklahoma City)
In the United States, one of the most well known institutions studying [psychedelics] has been Johns Hopkins medical school. Dr. Roland Griffiths has spent decades studying psilocybin and other compounds, and during that time became the founding Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research.

Thousands of Oregonians eager to undergo psilocybin treatment under state program - Oregon Capital Chronicle
Studies by Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, and others, have shown that psilocybin can help with depression. A study published by Johns Hopkins last month showed that psilocybin treatment relieved symptoms of major depressive disorder for at least a year.

Fitness titans Victor and Lynne Brick start a foundation to honor Victor’s beloved brother and change the way the world treats mental health - Baltimore magazine
Medical professionals such as James Potash, director of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, are impressed by the Bricks’ efforts. “They have pushed us to think hard about the relationship between physical health and mental health, and that’s a valuable thing for us to keep front of mind,” he says.

'Mommy Wine Culture' is toxic. Here are better ways to deal with parenting stress – HuffPost
“Over the short term, alcohol lowers heart rate and blood pressure, reduces attention and concentration, and increases sleepiness, all of which contribute to the sense of relaxation most people like. Unfortunately, regular alcohol use primes the body to work to counteract these effects,” said Jessica Peirce, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “This means regular use can result in higher baseline heart rate and blood pressure and worsening anxiety, irritability and sleeplessness,” Peirce said.

Shroom boom: Studies show 'magic mushrooms' can relieve severe depression (video) - KARE-TV (Minneapolis)
"How psilocybin works is very different than any other treatment we currently have for depression," said Dr. Roland Griffiths, professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Johns Hopkins has been the leader in psilocybin research for 20 years, and their latest study is no exception. It looked at how two sessions of psilocybin, along with psychotherapy, affected a small group of moderately to severely depressed people. [Note: Dr. Natalie Gukasyan, medical director for Johns Hopkins University Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, also is quoted in this article.]

Magic mushrooms, psilocybin and microdosing: Growing trend draws e-vendors, scientists - CBC (Canada)
[There's still a lot to discover.] Matthew Johnson, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Maryland, summarizes the situation: "Scientifically, the field has not been able to confirm any of the claimed benefits in the few carefully controlled research studies conducted so far on microdosing. It could be, however, that the right type of study has not been conducted yet."

How psychedelic-assisted therapy can help ease end-of-life anxiety - Next Avenue
Subjective features of a mystical or peak experience are a sense of unity, transcendence, sacredness, ineffability, and deeply felt positive emotions. Both NYU and Johns Hopkins studies found the mystical experience to be a mediating factor and predictor in enduring changes in outcome measures, including anxiety and depressive symptoms.

What is holotropic breathwork – and what can it do for your mental health - Women’s Health
Holotropic breathwork is a breathing practice where you do fast, controlled breathing patterns, usually in a group setting, to help influence your mind and emotions, says Matthew Johnson, PhD, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, who is researching holotrophic breathwork.

February

It may be time to change your mind about psychedelics - Next Avenue
[A] landmark study from Johns Hopkins reported in Psychopharmacology showed that a single administration of psilocybin can produce large and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with a life-threatening cancer diagnosis.

More people are microdosing for mental health. But does it work? - New York Times
Joseph, an Austin-based designer ... came across research from Johns Hopkins University about psilocybin, the active ingredient in hallucinogenic, or “magic,” mushrooms. In a small study, full doses of the drug helped cancer patients cope with depression and anxiety. Then he read anecdotes of Silicon Valley influencers claiming increased energy from taking tiny doses of psychedelics. So he decided to start microdosing a few times a week....

Dr. Bronner’s, the soap company, dips into psychedelics - New York Times
The University of Texas, Johns Hopkins and Yale are among the stolid institutions that have created divisions to explore whether psychedelic compounds can advance the treatment of anxiety, depression, addiction and a range of other mental health disorders.

The twitching girls - The Atlantic
Before the pandemic, 2 to 3 percent of pediatric patients at the Johns Hopkins University Tourette’s Center, in Baltimore, had acute-onset tic-like behaviors, but that rose last year to 10 to 20 percent, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Dramatic rise in eating disorders seen during COVID-19 pandemic (video) - WBAL-TV
Dr. Angela Guarda, who runs the eating disorders program at Johns Hopkins Hospital, [said], "The pandemic seems to have drastically affected the risk for eating disorders. In fact, more so than for other psychiatric conditions.” Nearly two years into the pandemic, Guarda said cases have not leveled off, with many young people still suffering from the effects of stress, social isolation and the initial changes in eating patterns.

Colorado may be the next state to decriminalize “magic” mushrooms as new research shows potential benefits - Colorado Sun
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University … have argued for rescheduling psilocybin as a Schedule IV drug, alongside substances like prescription sleep aids, if it clears additional clinical trials. They cite studies of animals and people that suggest psilocybin has low abuse potential and there is no known overdose level, and advocate for using psilocybin in clinical settings.

Microdosing LSD: Can it help or harm mental health? – HealthDay
[M]icrodosing has been promoted as a way to improve creativity, make one smarter or sharper, improve mood and sharpen social skills, experts said. "You will find a claim of everything, probably up to and including improving your golf swing," when discussing the rumored benefits of microdosing, said Matthew Johnson, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research in Baltimore.

PTSD symptoms common in families of COVID patients (study) – Medscape
Commenting on the findings for Medscape, O. Joseph Bienvenu, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, called the study "solid" and noted the lead author is "a well-recognized clinical researcher." It was "remarkable" that investigators were able to include a control group of family members of patients with ARDS [acute respiratory distress syndrome] not due to COVID, added Bienvenu, who was not involved with the research.

Heart Month (video) - NBC4 (D.C.)
Erica Richards, MD, PhD, Chair and Medical Director, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Sibley Memorial Hospital, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, discusses heart health, including the link between heart health and psychological health.

The curious life and mind-altering death of Justin Clark - New York magazine
Matthew Johnson, a psychologist and addiction expert in the Johns Hopkins department of psychiatry who is known for his research with psychedelics, likens ketamine and its analogues to “psychedelic heroin” — harmless-seeming but potentially habit-forming. “It has that psychedelic aspect, but it has that kind of lure — you just want to stay in that reality,” he says. “Why come back to normal reality?”

The insights psychedelics give you aren’t always true – Vice
[H]ow can we tell if the insights received while under psychedelics are true? In a recent talk for the UCL Society for the Application of Psychedelics, Johns Hopkins’ cognitive neuropsychopharmacologist Manoj Doss said it’s likely that psychedelics can evoke illusory insights, or the feeling of a profound insight that is misattributed to ideas that arise during a psychedelic experience.

Magic mushroom: Psilocybin treatment eases depression symptoms up to 1 year, study finds - International Business Times
The psychedelic known as psilocybin, which can be found in magic mushrooms, can have the effect of altering a person's awareness, thoughts and feelings. However, it has also shown promise as a treatment for a range of mental health disorders, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine noted in a news release.

These four companies want to take you on a psychedelic voyage in Oregon - Willamette Week (Portland, Ore.)
As [Miles Katz, a co-founder of Netherlands-based Synthesis Institute] points out, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research have asked the participants to wear eye shades while listening to an hourslong, curated, classical music playlist — a sensory combination that can help guide the psychedelic journey and enable the study participants to reflect inward.

Psychedelic therapy effectively treats major depression for up to 12 months (study) - Health Europa
Natalie Gukasyan, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, commented: “Our findings add to evidence that, under carefully controlled conditions, this is a promising therapeutic approach that can lead to significant and durable improvements in depression. However, the results we see are in a research setting and require quite a lot of preparation and structured support from trained clinicians and therapists….”

Why your antidepressants seem to stop working — and what to do - Wall Street Journal
Some patients may need a higher dose of the same medication, while others may need to try a new drug or a new combination of drugs, doctors say.... James Potash, director of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, sometimes adds a drug such as lithium: Some studies have found that adding the drug can reduce symptoms of depression.

Understanding bipolar disorder treatment, from therapy to medications – Self
Francis Mondimore, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Clinic and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, tells SELF that medication is generally the foundation of treatment, but psychotherapy and psychoeducation — which is rooted in better understanding the condition and how it affects thoughts and behaviors — can help people with bipolar disorder avoid relapses and do better over time.

Psychedelic drugs win growing respect - Reason magazine
Johns Hopkins Medicine is now investigating the potential for psilocybin as a smoking-cessation treatment. The study is funded by a federal grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which is an interesting turn of events.

Masks in class -- how damaging to child development? - France 24 (via Agence France-Presse)
Carol Vidal, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University, said that she's concerned at a societal level, though parents shouldn't panic.... "I just think [masks are] not necessary at this point in the pandemic, knowing what we know about the risks for kids in terms of Covid, and knowing that we all have access to vaccinations, and that if we're concerned about our health we can wear N95s (high-caliber masks)," she tells AFP.

‘To hell and back’: Kacey Musgraves will showcase her growth as a singer-songwriter in AAC concert - Dallas Morning News
Star-Crossed is just a huge patchwork quilt of all these influences that I am inspired by … late ‘90s/early 2000s pop like the Avalanches, and then bands like America, the Eagles and Neil Young. I was also listening to a lot of Vivaldi and the Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Playlist, which is wonderful. One minute it’s classical Spanish guitar, and the next it’s Peruvian shaman chants, and India.Arie, and “Gracias a la Vida,” the song in Spanish that I made the bookend of Star-Crossed.

Research shows more Americans are trying melatonin despite potential risks - Everyday Health
Beyond documenting the increased use of melatonin, a key takeaway from this study is that a whole lot of people are having sleep problems, says David Neubauer, MD, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and a sleep expert at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, who was not involved in the study. “Consumers want to do something about their sleep, and so they’re trying melatonin to see if it does help,” he says.

Lawmakers say no to psilocybin-assisted therapy in Maine - Portland Press Herald
State lawmakers quashed a proposal that would have allowed the use of psilocybin to treat depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.... Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine are studying the use of psilocybin to help people quit smoking or drinking, relieve anxiety among cancer patients and treat depression.

Verify: Suicide rates and black health & wellness (video) - WUSA-TV (D.C.)
“We're starting to see a decrease in the general suicide rate in America for the first time in 20 years. But we're not seeing that decrease in communities of color,” said Dr. Paul Nestadt of Johns Hopkins Medicine. In fact, Dr. Nestadt said suicides among Black Marylanders doubled from previous years to 94% during the COVID lockdown between March and July 2020. His research showed white Marylanders' suicide rate dropped to 48% during that same time period.

Washington continues to explore options for legal psychedelics - Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.)
[Harvard stopped two of its researchers from experimenting with magic mushrooms in the 1950s]. Although some colleges continued to fund psychedelic research for another decade or so, it was eventually dismissed as too counterculture and ethically shaky. Today, however, psilocybin is getting new attention for its potential medical benefits. Controlled studies at schools like Johns Hopkins University and the University of Washington show promise as a possible healing tool.

A niche market mushrooms - Oregon Business
Recently, Johns Hopkins Medicine received the first federal grant in 50 years for psychedelic treatment research. It’s a $4 million study to test the effects of psilocybin on helping smokers quit. Johns Hopkins in 2020 also released a small but influential study showing that in adults with major depression, two doses of psilocybin, given with supportive psychotherapy, “produced rapid and large reductions in depressive symptoms.”

Ketamine may be emergency deterrent for people at risk of suicide (study) – HealthDay
The new findings add to evidence that ketamine can help get those patients through the crisis, said Dr. Paul Kim, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Of course, that is not the end of the story, and people need follow-up care. Kim said that might involve changing any antidepressant therapy a patient has been taking, including the dosage.

States pull back mask mandates as cases drop (video) - CBS News
Dr. Carol Vidal, a child psychologist at Johns Hopkins, says it is time for students to take off their masks because so many have fallen behind. "Health is a lot more than just Covid," she says. "It is really hard to measure right now the effects of masking all the time. I would expect that we would find that it's going to be causing harmful effects because we are not designed to communicate with masks."

Why toxic positivity needs to go - Teen Vogue
“It’s like we have this throwback to another time of ‘you just have to fake it until you make it,’ says Carisa Parrish, Ph.D., a child psychologist and associate professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “You only show a positive, confident exterior regardless [of] if you’re stressed, upset, worried, angry, embarrassed — everything has to look fine.”

A beginner’s guide to DMT, the most mysterious psychedelic of them all – Vice
“It’s sometimes described as literally being shot off into DMT space,” said Roland Griffiths, a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University. Griffiths is the founding director of his university’s Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research who has published research on DMT. He said the drug produces “a profound shift in conscious experience.”

Jampro encourages local investment in psilocybin - Jamaica Observer
Spurred by a growing interest in the research of psilocybin mushrooms, otherwise called magic mushrooms, Jamaica Promotions Corporation (Jampro) is encouraging more locals to get involved in the fledgling industry…. University of California, Los Angeles; New York University; and Johns Hopkins University are among the research institutions in the US that have conducted studies on psilocybin.

Cheslie Kryst's death is a reminder social-media posts don't always show someone's mental health, experts say – Insider
Dr. Melissa Shepard, a board-certified psychiatrist and Assistant Professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins' University School of Medicine ... said she is not personally familiar with Kryst and did not want to speculate on the state of her mental health. [She also] said that "we shouldn't expect that everything is going to be shared online" and that someone "who dies by suicide may not know until right before that that's what they're going to do."

January

Two GOP Oklahoma lawmakers push for 'magic mushroom' research - KTUL-TV (Tulsa, Okla.)
While magic mushrooms are typically known for their hallucinogenic effects, recently they've been studied for medicinal benefits. Researchers at Johns Hopkins found that doses of psilocybin reduced depression and anxiety. With those initial results, Rep. [Logan] Phillips said his bill is aimed at helping a cause that hits home.

Looking ahead at reproductive mental health - Parents magazine
Most people recognize the importance of reproductive mental health, and doctors in training are eager to learn more about it. Lauren M. Osborne, M.D., one of the co-editors of [a new textbook on reproductive mental health] and the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Women's Reproductive Mental Health, has piloted a new curriculum designed to educate medical trainees in the field.

Inside the growing wellness trend of psilocybin mushroom microdosing - Hollywood Reporter
Much like cannabis’ transition from stigmatized plant to decriminalized cash cow, today’s wellness industry is now embracing mushrooms as another form of nature’s medicine by putting real capital and academic research behind it. A small Johns Hopkins study, for instance, found in 2020 that psilocybin treatments helped relieve symptoms of severe depression.

Research shows psychedelic mushrooms can help treat depression. Is legalization on the horizon for Washington? - Seattle Times
In 2016, researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine surveyed 2,000 people who had previously had a negative experience or "bad trip" while using psilocybin recreationally. They found that while a third of respondents described psilocybin use as one of the most meaningful experiences of their lives, 10% also shared they put themselves or others at risk for physical harm during their "worst bad trip," with an additional 2% stating they sought medical help.

Survey of Americans who attempted suicide finds many aren’t getting care - New York Times
People who survive a suicide attempt often do well afterward, said Dr. Paul Nestadt, an assistant professor of psychology at Johns Hopkins who has researched the epidemiology of suicide…. “But people have to be able to access care. When they can’t, they’re left with less choices.”

Not a morning person? A sunrise alarm clock could be the answer, experts say. - Washington Post
Unlike traditional alarms that typically jolt people awake with a burst of loud, disorienting noise, dawn simulators can “enhance the wake-up experience,” said David Neubauer, a sleep expert and associate professor at Johns Hopkins University.

Peek inside Philadelphia’s psychedelic revolution - Philadelphia Magazine
Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine found psilocybin—the chemical compound in magic mushrooms—helped relieve major depression in patients, while social users say they feel more creative, solution-savvy and self-reflective.

How to quit coffee: 7 steps to cutting back - Harper's Bazaar
Why is coffee addictive? Over time, the cells in your brain adapt and you need to consume more to get the same buzz – something called tolerance, says Dr Lindsay Standeven, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioural sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. That’s when you may find your habit – one cup in the morning – turning into multiple mugs throughout the day.

Could a VR “trip” offer a sober shortcut to the healing potential of psychedelics? – Mic
Sure, VR can replicate the auditory and visual aspects of a trip. But what about its intensely spiritual, ineffable profundity, which also seems important for the psychological healing that psychedelics promise? I spoke with Matthew Johnson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine, about the extent to which VR apps can mimic psychedelics — and their therapeutic potential.

Psilocybin could be next frontier for depression and anxiety treatment - Georgia Voice
A study published November 4, 2020, by Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center researchers from the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research in Baltimore found that psilocybin (more commonly known as “magic mushrooms”), when given in conjunction with psychotherapy, decreased depressive symptoms in participants.

How do psychedelic treatments work? – WebMD
The psychedelics-related work of Roland Griffiths, PhD, a psychopharmacologist, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and director of its Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research, Johns Hopkins research psychologist Matthew Johnson, PhD, and Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Gul Dolen, MD, PhD, is described in this article.

One man's psychedelic journey to confront his cancer – WebMD
One study from Johns Hopkins University tracked the effects of a single guided dose of psilocybin in terminal cancer patients with anxiety and depression. More than 80% had a "significant decrease" in symptoms -- even 6 months after treatment -- with more than 60% of the group remaining in the normal mood range.

Could psychedelics help treat dementia? - Psychology Today
Treatments are now being explored for patients with conditions such as eating disorders, migraine and cluster headaches, and opioid addiction. Some researchers, including our colleagues at Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelics and Consciousness Research, have begun exploring whether there may be benefits for people living with dementia.

A long, strange trip: Psychedelics meet mainstream medicine – WebMD
There's ... growing research on LSD, mescaline, DMT, and other psychedelics. A number of universities, including Johns Hopkins, NYU, the University of California San Diego, and Imperial College London in the U.K., are doing in-depth research on these medicines. And early results, while limited in size, have been impressive.

2017-2021

Archives of faculty in the media are available here.