Spotlight: Exploring DMT: Endogenous role and therapeutic potential (Schimmelpfennig, et al, 2025)
"N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a naturally occurring amine and psychedelic compound, found in plants, animals, and humans. "
ketamine
Spotlight "Prefrontal contribution to passive coping behaviour in chronic stress and treatment by fast-acting antidepressant" (Fong, et al, 2025)
"Persistent passive coping (p-coping) behaviour is a hallmark feature in major depression and is reversed by fast-acting antidepressants (such as ketamine)."
Spotlight: "Ketamine may treat depression by 'flattening the brain's hierarchies,' small study suggests (2025)
"The finding of increased synaptic density in the DMN suggests ketamine isn't just creating new synapses — it's fundamentally reorganizing how brain networks communicate."
Spotlight: Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy: An Emerging Treatment for Trauma and Depression ( Espí Forcén et al, 2025)
"While more research is needed to fully characterize the safety profile, current data support a relatively benign adverse effect profile with good tolerability when administered responsibly and in accordance with clinical standards to individuals without known contraindications."
Spotlight: Ketamine Plus Therapy Offers Lasting Relief for Severe Depression
A first-of-its-kind clinical trial shows that ketamine treatment for severe, treatment-resistant depression is significantly more effective when paired with psychotherapy and supportive environments. Patients who underwent combined treatment reported a 30% drop in symptoms lasting at least 8 weeks
ketamine
Spotlight: Ketamine as an Adjunct Therapy for Refractory Cancer Pain: A Case Report (Emshoff, et al, 2025)
"While traditionally recognized for its anesthetic and dissociative effects, low-dose, subanesthetic ketamine can be useful in palliative care to manage severe, intractable pain."
Spotlight: NPR-- Can Psychedelics Go Mainstream
"Research shows that psychedelics can help with a range of mental health conditions, like PTSD and depression. "
Spotlight: "How Psychedelics Unlock Neuroplasticity for Healing"
"psychedelics open the brain to new patterns"
Spotlight: PBS Film-- The Last Ecstatic Days
A film about a young man with brain cancer in search of community, and the hospice doctor who gives up everything to honor his dying wish.
Spotlight: Safety and efficacy of ketamine for the treatment of patients with alcohol use disorder: a systematic review (Rathore, et al, 2025)
"No study reported any serious adverse event or ketamine misuse following ketamine treatment. This review underscored ketamine's potential as an adjunctive treatment for Alcohol Use Disorder."
Spotlight: Early Response to Ketamine for Suicidal Crisis Reduces Suicidal Events at 3 Months (Pastre, et al, 2025)
"This is the first study demonstrating that early SI response to IV ketamine is associated with a reduced risk of suicidal events at 3 months. These findings support ketamine's unique antisuicidal properties beyond its antidepressant effects, highlighting its potential role in suicide prevention."
uruguay
Enfoque Uruguay: Propuesta -- Estrategia Nacional de Drogas 2026-2030. Junta Nacional de Drogas
Programa Piloto de Psicoterapia Asistida con Psicodélicos en el Sistema de Salud Uruguayo | Michael DeMarco, PhD
iv ketamine
Spotlight: "Long-Term Outcomes in Patients With Treatment-Refractory Depression Receiving Intravenous Ketamine and Intranasal Esketamine: An Observational Study" (Singh, et al, 2025)
Observational study provides evidence regarding longer durability of generic IV ketamine compared to intranasal esketamine (Spravato).
Spotlight-- "Beyond Anesthesia: Ketamine's Expanding Role in Chronic Pain and Psychiatric Disorders" (Zaki, 2025)
Más allá de la anestesia: El papel de la ketamina en los trastornos crónicos del dolor y la psiquiátrica
uruguay
Propuesta para la Estrategia Nacional de Drogas 2026–2030
Programa Piloto de Psicoterapia Asistida con Psicodélicos en el Sistema de Salud Uruguayo
Spotlight: The Effects of Psychotherapy on Single and Repeated Ketamine Infusion(s) Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression: The Convergence of Molecular and Psychological Treatment (2025)
Ketamine's "therapeutic promise is increasingly understood to involve molecular and neurobiological processes that promote neural plasticity and cognitive flexibility. These changes may create a unique window for psychotherapeutic interventions to take deeper effect."
In Memoriam
Joyce Maureen (McGee) Koppenheffer
December 9, 1947 - July 7, 2025
Rancho Mirage, California - Joyce M. Koppenheffer (née McGee)
Spotlight: Multiday intravenous ketamine infusion therapy for the management of central sensitisation syndrome secondary to chronic chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathic pain (Abdullah & Ong, 2025)
...growing evidence for ketamine as an analgesic agent for chronic pain, with potential considerations to expand its use for other indications.