SPEAKERS

Research has shown the promise of psychedelics used as an adjunct to psychotherapy in the treatment of various mental health disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder, treatment-resistant depression, and anxiety-related disorders. Psychedelics such as O-phosphoryl-4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (4-PO-DMT; commonly known as psilocybin), and psychedelic-like drugs such as 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) may be approved for medical use by the United States Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency in the coming years. However, their long duration of psychoactive effects increases the clinical and infrastructure resources needed for day-long treatment sessions, thus driving high costs associated with these treatments. Such high costs could limit the accessibility of psilocybin and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to many people who could benefit from this type of treatment, especially those from vulnerable populations such as people of color, sexual and gender minorities, and military veterans. In order to decrease the fiscal burden of these treatments, psychedelics such as N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), 5-Methoxy-N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT), and N,N-Dipropyltryptamine (DPT) may provide a more cost-effective alternative due to their quick onset and short duration of acute effects. Although all three of these substituted tryptamines have similar molecular structures, they each have slightly different profiles of acute effects which could show promise for clinical indications. In this presentation, the current literature on the history, basic pharmacology, and acute phenomenology of DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, and DPT will be reviewed (including research conducted by the presenter), and the therapeutic potential will be explained by presenting emerging evidence of their potential to alleviate symptoms associated with various mental health conditions.