Using Psychedelics With Therapeutic Intent Is Associated With Lower Shame and Complex Trauma Symptoms in Adults With Histories of Child Maltreatment.

BACKGROUND: Child maltreatment negatively affects the formation of internal schemata of self and other during development, leading to negative adaptations in self-concept and social cognition. Clinical reports suggest the efficacy of psychedelics in treating the psychopathological sequelae of child maltreatment. Altering maladaptive schemata of self and other implicated in negative self-concept and impaired social cognition may be a central mechanism for reducing posttraumatic stress symptoms. AIMS: This study aims to assess whether psychedelic use moderates the relationships between child maltreatment and self-concept, social cognition, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. METHOD: An online survey was completed by 166 participants and included measures of maltreatment exposure and severity, history of intentional therapeutic psychedelic use, posttraumatic stress symptoms, internalized shame, and facial emotion recognition. RESULTS: Child maltreatment significantly correlated with posttraumatic stress symptoms (r = .26 and r = .20, p < .01) and internalized shame (r = .18, p < .05). Of all maltreatment subtypes, emotional abuse and neglect most strongly correlated with complex trauma symptoms (r = .32, p < .001) and internalized shame (r = .31, p < .001). Participants with a history of intentional therapeutic psychedelic use reported significantly lower complex trauma symptoms (d = 0.33, p < .05) and internalized shame (d = 0.35, p < .05) despite similar histories of maltreatment. Differences in complex trauma symptoms (d = 0.66, p < .01) and internalized shame (d = 0.80, p < .001) were largest for participants with a history of more than 5 occasions of intentional therapeutic psychedelic use. A history of more than 5 occasions of intentional therapeutic psychedelic use significantly moderated the relationship between emotional abuse and neglect and complex trauma symptoms (p < .01). No associations were found between maltreatment or psychedelic use and facial emotion recognition. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that using psychedelic drugs with therapeutic intent is associated with lower levels of complex trauma symptoms and internalized shame in individuals with histories of child maltreatment. Psychedelic use may have therapeutic benefit in treating the posttraumatic sequelae of child maltreatment.

The acute effects of classic psychedelics on memory in humans.

RATIONALE: Memory plays a central role in the psychedelic experience. The spontaneous recall and immersive reliving of autobiographical memories has frequently been noted by researchers and clinicians as a salient phenomenon in the profile of subjective effects of classic psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin, LSD, and ayahuasca. The ability for psychedelics to provoke vivid memories has been considered important to their clinical efficacy. OBJECTIVE: This review aims to examine and aggregate the findings from experimental, observational, and qualitative studies on the acute modulation of memory by classic psychedelics in humans. METHOD: A literature search was conducted using PubMed and PsycInfo as well as manual review of references from eligible studies. Publications reporting quantitative and/or qualitative findings were included; animal studies and case reports were excluded. RESULTS: Classic psychedelics produce dose-dependently increasing impairments in memory task performance, such that low doses produce no impairment and higher doses produce increasing levels of impairment. This pattern has been observed in tasks assessing spatial and verbal working memory, semantic memory, and non-autobiographical episodic memory. Such impairments may be less pronounced among experienced psychedelic users. Classic psychedelics also increase the vividness of autobiographical memories and frequently stimulate the recall and/or re-experiencing of autobiographical memories, often memories that are affectively intense (positively or negatively valenced) and that had been avoided and/or forgotten prior to the experience. CONCLUSIONS: Classic psychedelics dose-dependently impair memory task performance but may enhance autobiographical memory. These findings are relevant to the understanding of psychological mechanisms of action of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

Assessing the Validity and Clinical Utility of a Developmental Trauma Diagnosis in Ethnic Minority Adolescents.

Developmental Trauma Disorder (DTD), a proposed diagnostic construct designed to reflect symptoms common among multiply-traumatized youth, was examined in a population of primarily female, predominantly Hispanic and African-American adolescents seeking psychiatric treatment (N = 53). The study uses a mix of interview and self-report data to test the prevalence of DTD symptoms relative to PTSD symptoms in this sample as well as to differentiate the DTD symptoms from DSM-IV and DSM-5 PTSD. DTD symptomatology was found to be as prevalent in the sample as PTSD symptomatology and further, DTD was found to be distinct from PTSD These results add to the literature suggesting the utility and need for the addition of a DTD diagnosis to the DSM, as well as offer insight into a population that has not been heavily scrutinized under a DTD framework.

Erudituncus n. gen. (Tetraphyllidea: Onchobothriidae) with a redescription of E. musteli (Yamaguti, 1952) n. comb. and comments on its hook homologies.

Examination of type and new material of Platybothrium musteli Yamaguti, 1952, resulted in the erection of a new genus, Erudituncus, the new combination Erudituncus musteli (Yamaguti, 1952), and the redescription of the newly combined species. This species exhibits novel hook morphology. Each bothridium bears 2 pairs of hooks, the axial pair comprising 1 medial and 1 lateral bipronged hook and the abaxial pair comprising a lateral unipronged hook and a medial, simple hook element. Based on the position of the hook talons, we suggest that the inner prong of the axial hooks of Erudituncus is homologous to the single prong of the axial hooks of Calliobothrium and the axial prongs of Dicranobothrium, Platybothrium, Phoreiobothrium, and Onchobothrium; the outer prong of the axial hooks of Erudituncus is homologous to the abaxial prongs of Dicranobothrium, Platybothrium, Phoreiobothrium, and Onchobothrium; and the abaxial hooks of Erudituncus and Calliobothrium are homologous. Erudituncus musteli was lacking from 31 individuals of the type host of record, the triakid shark Mustelus manazo Bleeker, 1854, examined for this study, but was obtained from 2 individuals of the triakid shark Hemitriakis japanica (Muller and Henle, 1839). Therefore, H. japanica is proposed as the probable type host of E. musteli.

On the phylogenetic relationships among tetraphyllidean, lecanicephalidean and diphyllidean tapeworm genera.

This study had two main objectives: (1) to construct an extensive, explicit list of characters and character states that might serve as a starting point, and perhaps even a model, for the compilation of a more complete list of characters for all cestode taxa; and (2) to use this character list to generate a hypothesis of the phylogenetic relationships among species representing most of the tetraphyllidean, lecanicephalidean and diphyllidean genera. Specimens of one species in each of 48 genera of tetraphyllideans, eight genera of lecanicephalideans, the three genera of diphyllideans, two genera of proteocephalideans and two genera of trypanorhynchs, were examined as whole-mounts and sections, with light and scanning electron microscopy. A list of 120 morphological characters was compiled. Four phylogenetic analyses were conducted using PAUP* and/or NONA. The first was a comprehensive analysis with the 56 tetraphyllidean and lecanicephalidean species as ingroups and the remaining seven species as outgroups. The second was an analysis of the three diphyllidean species as ingroups and the two proteocephalidean and the two trypanorhynch species as outgroups. The third was an analysis of the eight lecanicephalidean species and the "tetraphyllideans" Echeneibothrium sp. and Pseudanthobothrium n. sp. as ingroups and an outgroup consisting of the seven species used as outgroups in the first analysis. In the fourth analysis, the ingroup consisted of the 14 hooked tetraphyllideans (onchobothriids), and the outgroup consisted of the seven species used as outgroups in the first analysis. The results of these analyses support the following phylogenetic hypotheses: The diphyllideans are monophyletic and Echinobothrium n. sp. and Macrobothridium sp. are more closely related to one another than either is to Ditrachybothridium macrocephalum. The tetraphyllideans, lecanicephalideans and proteocephalideans are more closely related to each other than they are to the diphyllideans or the trypanorhynchs. The ordinal status of the lecanicephalideans is dubious. The lecanicephalidean species are more closely related to some of the tetraphyllidean taxa than these tetraphyllidean taxa are to the remainder of the tetraphyllidean taxa. The proteocephalideans appear to belong within the tetraphyllidean clade. The "tetraphyllidean" species Echeneibothrium sp. and Pseudanthobothrium n. sp. are members of the lecanicephalidean clade. The position of "Discobothrium" n. sp. within the lecanicephalideans is dubious. Within the tetraphyllideans, the non-acetabulate species Litobothrium daileyi, Disculiceps galapagoensis and Cathetocephalus sp. are the most basal members of the group. The family Onchobothriidae is monophyletic, as it is currently defined. Within the onchobothriids, the uniloculate species are basal to the multiloculate species; the species with unipronged hooks are basal to the species with multipronged hooks. Although relationships among the phyllobothriids, as they are currently defined, remain poorly resolved, the family Phyllobothriidae is not monophyletic. These results suggest that some aspects of the classification of the lecanicephalidean and tetraphyllidean taxa require revision. However, such revision should be based on further analyses including a broader representation of the genera and species in these groups.

A new species of Phoreiobothrium (Cestoidea:Tetraphyllidea) from the great hammerhead shark Sphyrna mokarran and its implications for the evolution of the onchobothriid scolex.

Phoreiobothrium manirei n. sp. is described from the spiral intestines of 3 immature individuals of the great hammerhead shark Sphyrna mokarran collected off of the west coast of Florida. This cestode is unusual in that it possesses 4 muscular papillae on the anterior margin of the accessory sucker. Numerous small protrusions with central cilium-like projections were conspicuous throughout the posterior margin of each bothridium. This species possesses the unique combination of bothridia posteriorly subdivided into subloculi and hooks with extended bases and 2 rather than 3 prongs. In fact, the hooks are strikingly like those of species in the genera Dicranobothrium and Platybothrium. This combination of characters suggests that the bifid hook condition is plesiomorphic with respect to the trifid hook condition within the Onchobothriidae. These data further suggest that the triloculated bothridial condition is plesiomorphic relative to the biloculated condition.

Coaggregation and formation of a joint myocardial tissue by embryonic mammalian and avian heart cells.

Intercellular adhesion and tissue reconstruction from homologous dissociated embryonic cells from two species were studied. Dissociated 12-day-old embryonic rat heart cells and 50-h-old embryonic chick heart cells were labeled with tritiated thymidine and allowed to aggregate in Erlenmeyer flasks during rotation culture on a gyratory water-bath shaker. The cultures were continued for 72 h. Cell aggregates were examined microscopically for evidence of contractility and subsequently processed at intervals between 1 and 72 h for transmission electron microscopic autoradiography. Rat and chick hearts used in this study appeared comparable in their stage of development and cellular composition. With the exception of mature blood cells and some fibroblastic non-muscle cells, all chick cardiac muscle cells were labeled with tritiated thymidine. As the cultures continued, aggregates increased in size by continuous accretion of cells and joining of small clusters. The cells within these mixed aggregates exhibited synchronous contractility from 1 h until the cultures were terminated. Most of the aggregation in both control and mixed aggregates was completed within 24 h. Control aggregates consisted of cells from a single species, either chick or rat. Approximately 18% of labeled chick cardiac muscle cells established intercellular contacts and junctions with unlabeled rat cardiac muscle cells after 6 h of culture. This increased to 72% after 72 h in culture. The junctions observed between chick and rat cardiac muscle cells were desmosomes and hemidesmosomes. Approximately 13% of the cardiac muscle cells of one species either chick or rat were found scattered within clusters which contained 15% of the cells from the other species after 72 h of culture. These scattered cells did not form junctions with monospecific cell groups. The implications of these intercellular adhesions between the same and different species are discussed, bearing two hypothesis in mind: (1) Moscona and collaborators, (2) Burdick and Steinberg. This study suggests that cellular as well as species identity plays an important role in the determination of intercellular adhesion among the embryonic cells from different species.

Studies of adult amphibian heart cells in vitro: DNA synthesis and mitosis.

The ventricle of the adult newt heart was excised and cut into several pieces of approximately 0.5-1.0 mm. These heart pieces were then cultured for 60 days at 25 degrees C in a modified Leibovitz medium (L-15). Approximately 37% of the explants were attached to the substrate and more than 33% of the attached explants and approximately 15% of the unattached explants established pulsation rates which ranged 3-67 beats/min. The explants were labeled with 1 muCi/ml of 3H-thymidine for 24 hr at 7, 15, 21, 30, 45 and 60 days of culture initiation, and processed for electron microscopic autoradiography. The examination of the autoradiograms revealed that as the culture continued, the cardiac muscle cells altered their morphology, resembling embryonic cardiac muscle cells. These altered muscle cells were termed dedifferentiated cardiac muscle cells. The number of these dedifferentiated cells increased over the period of culture, showing 10.3-94% dedifferentiated cells after 7-60 days of culture respectively. DNA synthesis and mitosis were observed in the dedifferentiated cardiac muscle cells, apart from the non-muscle cells. The quantitation of the autoradiograms revealed that the number of labeled nuclei in the cardiac muscle cells gradually increased over the period of culture, and a maximum number of labeled cardiac muscle cells (30%) was observed in the third week. The peak was followed by a decline in the eighth week which exhibited 1.5% labeled cardiac muscle cells. The trend of mitosis was similar to that of DNA synthesis. The maximum number of mitotic figures (9%) was observed in the third week of culture, which was followed by a decline and finally absent in the eight week. The cardiac non-muscle cells, mostly fibroblasts and endothelial cells, also showed incorporation of 3H-thymidine in their nuclei. The number of labeled non-muscle cells nuclei and the mitotic index were highest (61 and 15% respectively) in the first week of culture, but then they decreased gradually over the eight-week period in culture. This study provides evidence for the first time that the adult amphibian cardiac myocytes can undergo DNA synthesis and mitosis when explanted and cultured. The significance of this cell replication is discussed.

DNA synthesis and mitosis in adult amphibian cardiac muscle cells in vitro.

High-resolution autoradiography and fine structural analysis of adult newt heart tissue in long-term culture revealed that tritiated thymidine was concentrated in the nuclei of dedifferentiated myocardial cells. Mitotic chromosomes were observed in some of these cells. This demonstrates that adult amphibian myocardial cells in vitro are capable of DNA synthesis and mitosis.

Organ culture of adult amphibian heart: a fine structural analysis.

Pieces of hearts from adult newts were cultured up to 2 months. Within 7 days of culture, approximately 37% of the cardiac explants were attached to the substrate and more than 33% of the attached explants and approximately 15% of the unattached explants established pulsation rates ranging from 3 to 67 beats/min. The control and cultured explants were processed at weekly intervals for electron microscopy. The diameter of the control cardiac muscle cells ranged approximately 3-5 micron. The cell surface was provided with microvilli. The intercellular spaces ranged approximately 150-500 A. The intercalated discs lacked the step-like courses observed in the mammalian cardiac muscle. Sarcoplasmic reticulum was scanty. Desmosomal-dense materials were frequently continuous with the Z-bands of both control and cultured cardiac muscle cells. The transverse tubular system and gap junction were absent in newt ventricles. The functional implications of these characterisitics are discussed. At the end of 1 week of culture, the surfaces of the explants were covered by one or more layers of non-muscle cells, and the core of the explants consisted mostly of cardiac muscle cells. In a few cardiac muscle cells the myofibrillar organization was disrupted, resulting in the distribution of scattered patches of myofibrils and free myofilaments in the sarcoplasm. A small number of intact muscle cells contained a considerable number of dense granules in the sarcoplasm. At 15 days in culture, a large number of muscle cells showed structural features reminiscent of embryonic cardiac muscle cells. These cells possessed patches of myofibrils, scattered myofilaments and scanty sarcoplasmic reticulum along with other cellular organelles and inclusions. Several of these altered cardiac muscle cells contained mitotic figures. The cardiac explants maintained the initial beating rate until the end of 2 months of culture, except for the 11% of the explants which stopped beating. By 3-4 weeks in culture, most of the cardiac muscle cells possessed the altered cell morphology mentioned above. The explants after 60 days in culture became more flattened than the earlier explants. The intact cardiac muscle cells were rare, and the cores of the explants were mostly occupied by the altered cardiac muscle cells. It is evident from our studies that the cardiac muscle cells have undergone dedifferentiation in long-term culture, and that this dedifferentiation process has yet had no effect in the maintenance of contractility of the explants. Furthermore, these dedifferentiated cardiac muscle cells are capable of DNA synthesis and mitosis.