Student Sparks

Ethics and Research: Psychedelics

What are psychedelics? How do they impact your brain? Are they safe? Parker and Emma unpack the current research and legality of psychedelics and discuss the ethical implications of psychoactive drugs. Sources: Cheung, K., Earp, B. D., Patch, K., & Yaden, D. B. (2025). Distinctive But Not Exceptional: The Risks of Psychedelic Ethical Exceptionalism. The American Journal of Bioethics, 25(1), 16–28. Tiwari, P., Davoudian, P. A., Kapri, D., Vuruputuri, R. M., Karaba, L. A., Sharma, M., … Vaidya, V. A. (2024). Ventral hippocampal parvalbumin interneurons gate the acute anxiolytic action of the serotonergic psychedelic DOI. Neuron, 112(22), 3697-3714. Wang, E., Mathai, D. S., Gukasyan, N., Nayak, S., & Garcia-Romeu, A. (2024). Knowledge, attitudes, and concerns about psilocybin and MDMA as novel therapies among U.S. Healthcare Professionals. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 28022. Davis, A. K., Bates, M., Lund, E. M., Sepeda, N. D., Levin, A. W., Armstrong, S. B., … Yehuda, R. (2024). The Epidemiology of Psychedelic Use Among United States Military Veterans. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 1–14. Published Online. September 12, 2024. Ehrenkranz, R., Agrawal, M., Nayak, S. M., & Yaden, D. B. (2024). Adverse events should not be surprising in psychedelic research. Psychedelic Medicine. Published Online. September 4, 2024. Hinkle, J. T., Graziosi, M., Nayak, S. M., & Yaden, D. B. (2024). Adverse events in studies of classic psychedelics. JAMA Psychiatry, 81(12), 1225-1235. Yaden, D. B., Goldy, S. P., Weiss, B., & Griffiths, R. R. (2024). Clinically relevant acute subjective effects of psychedelics beyond mystical experience. Nature Reviews Psychology, 3(9), 606–621. Goldy, S. P., Hendricks, P. S., Keltner, D., & Yaden, D. B. (2024). Considering distinct positive emotions in psychedelic science. International Review of Psychiatry, 1–12. Published Online. September 2, 2024. Heller, N. H. & Barrett, F. S. (2024). Teaching a new dog old tricks: bringing rigor, grounding, and specificity to psychedelic neuropsychopharmacology. Neuropsychopharmacology. Published Online. August 26, 2024. Yaden, D. B., Mathai, D., Bogenschutz, M., & Nichols, D. E. (2024). The pharmacology of hallucinogens. In: Miller et al. (Eds.). Principles of Addiction Medicine. American Society of Addiction Medicine. Yaden, D. B., Nayak, S. M., Griffiths, R. R. (2024). Belief change and agnostic frames in psychedelic research and clinical contexts. In: C. Letheby (Ed.). Philosophy and the psychedelic renaissance. Oxford University Press, New York. DiRenzo, D., Barrett, F. S., Perin, J., Darrah, E., Christopher-Stine, L., & Griffiths, R. R. (2024). Impact of psilocybin on peripheral cytokine production. Psychedelic Medicine, 2(2). Cheung, K., Propes, C., Jacobs, E., Earp, B. D., & Yaden, D. B. (2024). Psychedelic group-based integration: Ethical assessment and initial recommendations. International Review of Psychiatry, 1–11. Tiwari, P., Ehrenkranz, R., & Yaden, D. B. (2024). Psychiatric Applications of Psychedelics: Neurobiological Foundations for Treatments of Depression, Anxiety, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Advances in Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. McGuire, A. L., Cohen, I. G., Sisti, D., Baggott, M., Celidwen, Y., Devenot, N., Gracias, S., Grob, C., Harvey, I., Kious, B., Marks, M., Mithoefer, M., Nielson, E., Öngür, D., Pallas, A., Peterson, A., Schenberg, E. E., Summergrad, P., Waters, B., Williams, M. T., & Yaden, D. B. (2024). Developing an Ethics and Policy Framework for Psychedelic Clinical Care: A Consensus Statement. JAMA Network Open, 7(6), e2414650.

Ethics and Research: Internship Mistreatment

In today's world, a college degree isn't what gets you a job despite it being required, its the internships and the volunteering. Both are often unpaid and cause students to lose time and money in the sake of being successful in their careers despite having significantly low amounts of TIME and MONEY. Join us and our EMS friend Sarah to talk about how students are often mistreated in the name of making it in the career world! References Internship Statistics: https://flair.hr/en/blog/internship-statistics/#:~:text=39.2%25%20of%20internships%20in%20the,%2C%20while%2060.8%25%20are%20paid.&text=Former%20interns%20are%2015%25%20less,than%20those%20without%20internship%20experience.&text=Paid%20internships%20are%2032%25%20more,time%20job%20than%20unpaid%20ones.&text=The%20national%20average%20hourly%20wage%20for%20paid%20interns%20is%20%2420.76 [https://flair.hr/en/blog/internship-statistics/#:~:text=39.2%25%20of%20internships%20in%20the,%2C%20while%2060.8%25%20are%20paid.&text=Former%20interns%20are%2015%25%20less,than%20those%20without%20internship%20experience.&text=Paid%20internships%20are%2032%25%20more,time%20job%20than%20unpaid%20ones.&text=The%20national%20average%20hourly%20wage%20for%20paid%20interns%20is%20%2420.76]. Article: https://dc.swosu.edu/aij/vol10/iss2/5/ [https://dc.swosu.edu/aij/vol10/iss2/5/] Article, paid vs unpaid: https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/762177/summary [https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/762177/summary] Article paid vs unpaid: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053482219300178 [https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053482219300178]

Interview: Dr. Airin Avery, PhD (Chemistry)

Parker and I had such an amazing time interviewing Dr. Airin Avery, head coach at SheLifts Academy. We talked about everything academics, lifting, chemistry, and more!

Ethics and Research - Cultural Medicine and The Story of Lia Lee

We often think of medicine in a very Western way. We give people medication, we do surgeries, and the patients listen to the doctors. But this isn't always the case! In this episode, Parker and Emma dive into a story of a Hmong child, Lia Lee, who's parents are struggling to combine their cultural beliefs and modern, Western medicine.

Hangout Session: Husband vs Boyfriend

Join us today as we ask our men questions to test their knowledge of what were studying (plus a little extra). This one gets a little chaotic at times so...enjoy!