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.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on psilocybin for anxiety, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychedelics as Medicines: An Emerging New Paradigm General population | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Taking Psychedelics Seriously | 2018 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Virtual Reality as a Moderator of Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy | 2022 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Heffter Research Institute: Past and Hopeful Future | 2014 | Historical analysis | |
| Psilocybin as a Novel Pharmacotherapy for Treatment-Refractory Anorexia Nervosa | 2021 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
Citations in the library
Cited by 10
- Sub-Acute Effects of Psilocybin on Empathy, Creative Thinking, and Subjective Well-Being Journal of Psychoactive Drugs February 26, 2019
- Spontaneous and deliberate creative cognition during and after psilocybin exposure Translational Psychiatry April 8, 2021
- Persisting Effects of Ayahuasca on Empathy, Creative Thinking, Decentering, Personality, and Well-Being Frontiers in Pharmacology October 1, 2021
- Psilocybin as a Novel Pharmacotherapy for Treatment-Refractory Anorexia Nervosa OBM Neurobiology June 24, 2021
- Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy preparing your target using psychohistoriography: a Jamaican perspective Frontiers in Psychiatry June 29, 2023
and 5 more in the library
Cites 21
- Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: an open-label feasibility study. The Lancet Psychiatry May 17, 2016
- Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences January 23, 2012
- Psilocybin-assisted treatment for alcohol dependence: A proof-of-concept study Journal of Psychopharmacology January 13, 2015
- The Therapeutic Potential of Psychedelic Drugs: Past, Present, and Future. Neuropsychopharmacology April 26, 2017
- The pharmacology of psilocybin Addiction Biology October 1, 2002
and 16 more in the library