Boris Heifets: Toward Single Shot Therapy for Neuropsychiatric Disorders

Single shot therapies offer a promising avenue for treating neuropsychiatric disorders where a powerful, consciousness altering intervention in a highly monitored, psychotherapeutic context triggers durable clinical change. By drawing parallels to surgical models where acute interventions lead to long-term outcomes, this approach leverages how substances like MDMA and ketamine act on synaptic plasticity. Research indicates that these effects are mediated by changes in specific neural circuits and require a social or environmental context to manifest reliably. Animal models are currently utilized to study the precise mechanism of MDMA action, revealing how it facilitates social behaviors through specific serotonin-dependent microcircuits in the brain.