Posted by Hugh on January 27, 2023, at 11:49:16
The January 2023 issue of Psychology Today contains three articles about psychedelics. Here's an excerpt from the article by Hara Estroff Marano:
In 2009, Roth's lab discovered that psychedelics target the pyramidal neurons to amp up the production of dendritic spines, vastly expanding synapse formation and the neurons' capacity for incoming information. That is, they jump-start neural plasticity, an effect that has led some to view them as "psychoplastogens." The neuroplastic effects are not only long-lasting but "we think they are responsible for the therapeutic actions," says Roth.
There's also evidence that psychedelics stimulate hyperconnectivity between sensory brain regions as they relax connectivity in the self-involved default mode network. In doing so, they mimic neurodevelopment, pharmacologically creating the optimal brain state for environmental input to have enduring effects; in short, they reopen critical periods of learning that otherwise close after adolescence.
The opening is felt bodily, says Yehuda, the director of the Traumatic Stress Studies division at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Yehuda is conducting clinical trials of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy with MDMA for PTSD and psilocybin for depression.
The full articles:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/202301/why-psychedelics-are-therapys-next-frontier
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