Development of Adaptive Coping From Mid to Late Life: A 70-Year Longitudinal Study of Defense Maturity and Its Psychosocial Correlates.

The present study examines changes in defense maturity from mid to late life using data from an over 70-year longitudinal study. A sample of 72 men was followed beginning in late adolescence. Participants' childhoods were coded for emotional warmth. Defense mechanisms were coded by independent raters using the Q-Sort of Defenses (, Ego mechanisms of defense: A guide for clinicians and researchers 217-233) based on interview data gathered at approximately ages 52 and 75. We examined psychosocial correlates of defenses at midlife, late life, and changes in defense from mid to late life. Overall, defenses grew more adaptive from midlife to late life. However, results differed on the basis of the emotional warmth experienced in the participants' childhoods. In midlife, men who experienced warm childhoods used more adaptive (mature) defenses; yet by late life, this difference in defensive maturity had disappeared. Men who experienced less childhood warmth were more likely to show an increase in adaptive defenses during the period from mid to late life.

Change in defense mechanisms during short-term dynamic and cognitive therapy in patients with cluster C personality disorders.

The aims of this study were to examine whether a change in overall defensive functioning during treatment a) would predict change in symptom distress during the course of treatment and follow-up and b) would be greater in short-term dynamic therapy than in cognitive therapy. Patients (N = 50) who met criteria for cluster C personality disorders were randomized to 40 weekly sessions of short-term dynamic therapy or cognitive therapy. Video recordings of a pretreatment interview and therapy session 36 were evaluated using the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scales. Symptom distress was measured using the revised version of Symptom Checklist-90. Change in overall defensive functioning during treatment predicted change in symptom distress from pretreatment to 2 years after treatment. Both treatment groups showed significant changes in defensive functioning toward greater adaptability but without any significant differences between the short-term dynamic therapy and cognitive therapy groups in a sample of patients with cluster C personality disorders.

Psychedelics not linked to mental health problems or suicidal behavior: a population study.

A recent large population study of 130,000 adults in the United States failed to find evidence for a link between psychedelic use (lysergic acid diethylamide, psilocybin or mescaline) and mental health problems. Using a new data set consisting of 135,095 randomly selected United States adults, including 19,299 psychedelic users, we examine the associations between psychedelic use and mental health. After adjusting for sociodemographics, other drug use and childhood depression, we found no significant associations between lifetime use of psychedelics and increased likelihood of past year serious psychological distress, mental health treatment, suicidal thoughts, suicidal plans and suicide attempt, depression and anxiety. We failed to find evidence that psychedelic use is an independent risk factor for mental health problems. Psychedelics are not known to harm the brain or other body organs or to cause addiction or compulsive use; serious adverse events involving psychedelics are extremely rare. Overall, it is difficult to see how prohibition of psychedelics can be justified as a public health measure.

Psychedelics and mental health: a population study.

BACKGROUND: The classical serotonergic psychedelics LSD, psilocybin, mescaline are not known to cause brain damage and are regarded as non-addictive. Clinical studies do not suggest that psychedelics cause long-term mental health problems. Psychedelics have been used in the Americas for thousands of years. Over 30 million people currently living in the US have used LSD, psilocybin, or mescaline. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between the lifetime use of psychedelics and current mental health in the adult population. METHOD: Data drawn from years 2001 to 2004 of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health consisted of 130,152 respondents, randomly selected to be representative of the adult population in the United States. Standardized screening measures for past year mental health included serious psychological distress (K6 scale), mental health treatment (inpatient, outpatient, medication, needed but did not receive), symptoms of eight psychiatric disorders (panic disorder, major depressive episode, mania, social phobia, general anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, posttraumatic stress disorder, and non-affective psychosis), and seven specific symptoms of non-affective psychosis. We calculated weighted odds ratios by multivariate logistic regression controlling for a range of sociodemographic variables, use of illicit drugs, risk taking behavior, and exposure to traumatic events. RESULTS: 21,967 respondents (13.4% weighted) reported lifetime psychedelic use. There were no significant associations between lifetime use of any psychedelics, lifetime use of specific psychedelics (LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, peyote), or past year use of LSD and increased rate of any of the mental health outcomes. Rather, in several cases psychedelic use was associated with lower rate of mental health problems. CONCLUSION: We did not find use of psychedelics to be an independent risk factor for mental health problems.

Over 30 million psychedelic users in the United States.

We estimated lifetime prevalence of psychedelic use (lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin (magic mushrooms), mescaline, and peyote) by age category using data from a 2010 US population survey of 57,873 individuals aged 12 years and older. There were approximately 32 million lifetime psychedelic users in the US in 2010; including 17% of people aged 21 to 64 years (22% of males and 12% of females). Rate of lifetime psychedelic use was greatest among people aged 30 to 34 (total 20%, including 26% of males and 15% of females).

Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) for alcoholism: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Assessments of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in the treatment of alcoholism have not been based on quantitative meta-analysis. Hence, we performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials in order to evaluate the clinical efficacy of LSD in the treatment of alcoholism. Two reviewers independently extracted the data, pooling the effects using odds ratios (ORs) by a generic inverse variance, random effects model. We identified six eligible trials, including 536 participants. There was evidence for a beneficial effect of LSD on alcohol misuse (OR, 1.96; 95% CI, 1.36-2.84; p = 0.0003). Between-trial heterogeneity for the treatment effects was negligible (I² = 0%). Secondary outcomes, risk of bias and limitations are discussed. A single dose of LSD, in the context of various alcoholism treatment programs, is associated with a decrease in alcohol misuse.