What should constitute a control condition in psychedelic drug trials?

Over the past decade there has been a surge in interest in placebo-controlled trials using non-classical 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and classical psychedelics such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and ,-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) to treat neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the success and reliability of these trials depend on the design of the trials, the choice of control conditions, and the ability to blind both participants and researchers. When appropriate control conditions are lacking, it becomes difficult to disentangle placebo and expectation effects from medication effects.

Clinician Perspectives Highlight the Need for Early Dyadic Coping Skills for People Living With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

Context: A diagnosis of ALS can be challenging, and many people find ways to adapt. At the same time, emotional distress can arise early after an ALS diagnosis even when high quality multidisciplinary care is provided. When emotional distress occurs, it can become chronic over time, and can affect both the person living with ALS and their care-partner (together called a dyad).

EEG measures of brain arousal in relation to symptom improvement in patients with major depressive disorder: Results from a randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Hyperstable arousal regulation during a 15-min resting electroencephalogram (EEG) has been linked to a favorable response to antidepressants. The EMBARC study, a multicenter randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial, provides an opportunity to examine arousal stability as putative antidepressant response predictor in short EEG recordings. We tested the hypothesis that high arousal stability during a 2-min resting EEG at baseline is related to better outcome in the sertraline arm and explored the specificity of this effect.