The therapeutical role of psychedelic drugs in treatment of mental disorders
Dan Cătălin Oprea, Loretta Epure, Vasile Chiriță, Adrian Cantemir
Bulletin of Integrative Psychiatry September 15, 2021 DOI: 10.36219/bpi.2021.3.09 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Psychotherapist |
| Key findings | Psychedelic drugs show beneficial effects in treating anxiety, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and alcohol and smoking addictions. |
Abstract
Psychedelic drugs (also called hallucinogens, psychotogenics, psycholytics, entheogens) are substances that act mainly on the 5-HT2 serotonergic receptor.There are two main groups of psychedelics: indoleamines (lysergic acid diethylamide-LSD, N, N-dimethyltryptamine-DMT, and psilocybin) and phenethylamines (mescaline, dimethoxymethamphetamine-DOM, methylenedioxyamphetamine-MDA, and methylenedioxymethamphetamine-MDMA).These drugs have a long history, being used in the past in spiritual and religious ceremonies and also in the treatment of physical and mental illnesses.Studies have been conducted over the years on the therapeutic utility of these psychedelic drugs (especially psilocybin, LSD) in the psychiatric field and their beneficial effect has been highlighted in conditions such as anxiety, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, alcohol addiction, smoking addiction.