Serotonergic hallucinogens and emerging targets for addiction pharmacotherapies.
Psychiatric Clinics of North America June 1, 2012 DOI: 10.1016/j.psc.2012.04.002 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Placebo-controlled Double-blind Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Psychedelic-assisted therapy Addiction Serotonin |
| Keywords | Hallucinogen treatment Entheogen therapy Psychedelic medicine Substance abuse therapy Dependence recovery Addiction medicine Drug addiction treatment Mental health innovation Novel psychiatric treatments Breakthrough mental healthcare Innovative psychiatry Non-addictive treatments Non-dependence therapy Non-habit forming medicine Safe addiction treatment Non-dependence solutions |
| Citations | 54 |
| Key findings | Serotonergic hallucinogen-assisted psychotherapy may be safe and effective for substance use disorders, as these substances do not produce dependence and have low misuse risk. |
Abstract
Only time will tell if serotonergic hallucinogen-assisted psychotherapy treatment paradigms for SUDs will prove to be safe and effective in double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials. If they are, they would truly constitute a novel psychopharmacologic-psychosocial treatment paradigm to treat addictive disorders, although the risk of adverse psychological events would have to be controlled through a careful screening process and the risk of misuse of the substances or developing use syndromes would have to be considered, although the overall risk would be low because, as mentioned, SHs are unlike all other drugs of abuse in that they do not appear to produce dependence syndromes. There effects on the NA and DA range from inhibition to slight activation, all this without producing addiction. The ability of these medicinal tools to treat a range of addictive, psychiatric, and existential disorders is remarkable in scope and possibility. They truly represent a potential paradigmatic shift within the field of psychiatry, too interesting to not explore further.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on serotonin, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cited by 44
- Rapid and sustained symptom reduction following psilocybin treatment for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer: a randomized controlled trial Journal of Psychopharmacology November 30, 2016
- Psilocybin-assisted treatment for alcohol dependence: A proof-of-concept study Journal of Psychopharmacology January 13, 2015
- Pilot study of the 5-HT2AR agonist psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco addiction Journal of Psychopharmacology September 11, 2014
- Psilocybin-Occasioned Mystical Experiences in the Treatment of Tobacco Addiction Current Drug Abuse Reviews January 9, 2015
- Antidepressive, anxiolytic, and antiaddictive effects of ayahuasca, psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD): a systematic review of clinical trials published in the last 25 years Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology March 18, 2016
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Cites 47
- Psilocybin induces schizophrenia-like psychosis in humans via a serotonin-2 agonist action Neuroreport December 1, 1998
- Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) for alcoholism: meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials Journal of Psychopharmacology March 8, 2012
- 5-HT2AReceptor-Mediated Regulation of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor mRNA in the Hippocampus and the Neocortex Journal of Neuroscience April 15, 1997
- Serotonin research: contributions to understanding psychoses TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences August 1, 2008
- Serotonin, via 5-HT2A receptors, increases EPSCs in layer V pyramidal cells of prefrontal cortex by an asynchronous mode of glutamate release Brain Research April 1, 1999
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