Emergency Medical Minute

Contributor: Jorge Chalit-Hernandez, OMS3 Educational Pearls: Psychedelics are being studied for their therapeutic effects in mental illnesses, including major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and many others Classic psychedelics include compounds like psilocybin, LSD, and ayahuasca MDMA and ketamine are often included in psychedelic research, but have a different mechanism of action than the others Their mechanism of action involves agonism of the 5HT2A receptor, among others Given their resurgence, there is an increase in recreational use of these substances A recent study assessed the risks of recreational users developing subsequent psychotic disorders Individuals who visited the ED for hallucinogen use had a greater risk of being diagnosed with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder in the following 3 years Hazard ratio (HR) of 21.32 After adjustment for comorbid substance use and other mental illness, the hazard ratio was 3.53 - still a significant increase compared with the