Nicolas Garel

McGill University | McGill · Department of Psychiatry

Background: Subanesthetic ketamine has accumulated meta-analytic evidence for rapid antidepressant effects in treatment-resistant depression (TRD), resulting in both excitement and debate. Many unanswered questions surround ketamine’s mechanisms of action and its integration into real-world psychiatric care, resulting in diverse utilizations that v...

Objectives Hallucinogens encompass a diverse range of compounds with increasing scientific and public interest. Risks associated with hallucinogen use are poorly understood. This study aims to evaluate the trends in hallucinogen-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations in California from 2016 to 2021, as compared to alcohol and cann...

We present the first evidence that sub-anesthetic ketamine infusions for treatment resistant depression (TRD) may facilitate deprescription of long-term benzodiazepine/z-drugs (BZDRs). Long-term BZDR prescriptions are potentially harmful yet common, partly because of challenging withdrawal symptoms. Few pharmacological interventions have evidence f...

Background: Psychedelic drug experiences are shaped by current-moment contextual factors, commonly categorized as internal (set) and external (setting). Potential influences of past environments, however, have received little attention. Aims: To investigate how previous environmental stimuli shaped the experiences of patients receiving ketamine for...

Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) is the act of a healthcare provider ending a patient’s life, at their request, due to unbearable suffering from a grievous and incurable disease. Access to MAiD has expanded in the last decade and, more recently, it has been made available for psychiatric illnesses in a few countries. Recent studies have found that such...

Objective Serotonergic psychedelics are re-emerging as potential novel treatments for several psychiatric disorders including major depressive disorder. The Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) convened a task force to review the evidence and provide a consensus recommendation for the clinical use of psychedelic treatments for...

Background Alcohol use disorder is highly prevalent and has important economical, societal, psychiatric, and medical consequences. All currently approved therapeutic approaches targeting alcohol dependence have relatively modest effects and high relapse rates. Recent evidence suggests that ketamine may be an effective intervention to treat alcohol...

Intravenous ketamine is an effective treatment of bipolar depression. One of its most important side-effects is a transient altered state of consciousness commonly referred to as dissociation. These states can be anxiety-provoking, distressing and even treatment-limiting, warranting research into mitigation strategies. In this article, we present t...

Anxiety can elicit significant burden in patients with psychosis and is associated with sleep disturbances, reduced quality of life and increased risk of suicide. It is estimated that between 30% and 62% of patients with schizophrenia experience anxious syndromes.Treating these con- ditions with pregabalin can be an effec- tive option and could lea...

Introduction Combinations of psychotherapy with antidepressants are gold-standard psychiatric treatments. They operate through complex and interactional mechanisms, not unlike the reemergent paradigm of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, which promising research suggests may also be highly effective in even challenging populations. Areas covered...

We often begin our research articles and grant applications by citing the high prevalence of the mental disorders that we are investigating, the assumption being that the higher the prevalence, the more impactful the research. On the other end of the spectrum are rare or orphan diseases, some of which have been observed in only a few cases around t...

Background Despite increased attention and recognition of autism spectrum disorders, many patients suffering from these disorders remain undiagnosed or are diagnosed late due to their subtle clinical presentation. The challenge for clinicians working in the field of mental health is not in screening and diagnosing young children showing typical sig...

Introduction : La psychiatrie périnatale est un champ de la psychiatrie à part entière, située à la jonction de la psychiatrie et de la médecine périnatale. Son mandat porte sur la santé physique et mentale de la femme enceinte, du fœtus, puis de la mère en post-partum et du nouveau-né. Cette multiplicité de patients devant être pris en charge dans...