Out of the box: A psychedelic model to study the creative mind
Medical Hypotheses March 23, 2018 DOI: 10.1016/j.mehy.2018.03.010 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Placebo-controlled Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Anxiety Psilocybin |
| Keywords | Creativity Empathy Divergent thinking Openness to experience Construct python library Mood Consciousness Psychopathology Psychotherapist Cognitive psychology Hallucinogen Clinical psychology |
| Citations | 16 |
| Key points | Proposes a model of neuronal networks, neurotransmitters, and personal factors to explain how psychedelics enhance flexible thinking, to be tested in placebo-controlled pharmaco-imaging studies. |
Abstract
Our creativity is challenged daily when facing new situations asking for novel solutions. Creativity, a multicomponent construct includes flexible divergent and rigid convergent thinking. Psychedelic drugs like psilocybin can enhance creativity and affect state of mind (mood, empathy, openness). Of note, flexible thinking is disturbed in psychopathological conditions like anxiety disorders and depression and preliminary findings have shown psychedelics to be efficacious in the treatment of those conditions. The question how psychedelics induce this state of enhanced flexible thinking remains to be answered and investigating the neurobiology underlying this phenomenon will not only help in understanding why psychedelics are of use in the therapeutic setting but also in other settings where flexible thinking is challenged. A model including neuronal networks, neurotransmitters and personal factors playing a role in this process will be proposed which can be put to the test by means of placebo-controlled pharmaco-imaging studies in healthy volunteers.