Editorial: Down the rabbit hole - the psychological and neural mechanisms of psychedelic compounds and their use in treating mental health and medical conditions.

Abstract

Editorial on the Research Topic Down the rabbit hole -the psychological and neural mechanisms of psychedelic compounds and their use in treating mental health and medical conditions Psychedelic substances have demonstrated promising therapeutic effects across a wide range of mental health conditions including depression (1-13) anxiety disorders including generalized anxiety (14-16) and social anxiety (17, 18) and autism (19), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (6, 20-23), and substance use disorders such as tobacco addiction (24) and alcoholism (25-30).These therapeutic effects are hypothesized to work through various mechanisms operating at different levels of analysis.At the cellular and molecular level, these include increased stimulation of the 5-HT2A serotonin receptor, increased cortical glutamatergic transmission, increased neuroplasticity, and decreased inflammation (31).At the network and circuit levels, the proposed mechanisms involve decreased brain modularity, changes in network functional connectivity, and increased neural entropy (32,33).Psychologically and behaviorally, the effects are thought to involve increased cognitive and psychological flexibility, experiences of psychological insight, heightened emotional acceptance, and peak experiences or mystical-type states (34,35).By further examining the neurobiological and psychological mechanisms of psychedelic substances, we can gain a deeper understanding of how these substances interact with the brain and influence behavior and help alleviate suffering in various psychopathologies.