Psychedelics as a novel approach to treating autoimmune conditions
Caitlin Thompson, Attila Szabo
Immunology Letters October 6, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.imlet.2020.10.001 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Literature review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Serotonin |
| Keywords | Autoimmunity Immune system Immunology Population Psychological intervention Immune modulation Microbiome Intensive care medicine Psychotherapist Bioinformatics |
| Citations | 69 |
| Key findings | Proposes that psychedelics may attenuate or resolve autoimmunity by targeting psychosomatic origins, maladaptive chronic stress responses, inflammatory pathways, immune modulation, and enteric microbiome populations. |
Abstract
With a rise in the incidence of autoimmune diseases (AiD), health care providers continue to seek out more efficacious treatment approaches for the AiD patient population. Classic serotonergic psychedelics have recently been gaining public and professional interest as novel interventions to a number of mental health afflictions. Psychedelics have also been shown to be able to modulate immune functions, however, while there has been great interest to researching into their psychotherapeutic applications, there has so far been very little exploration into the potential to treat inflammatory and immune-related diseases with these compounds. A handful of studies from a variety of fields suggest that psychedelics do indeed have effects in the body that may attenuate the outcome of AiD. This literature review explores existing evidence that psychedelic compounds may offer a potential novel application in the treatment of pathologies related to autoimmunity. We propose that psychedelics hold the potential to attenuate or even resolve autoimmunity by targeting psychosomatic origins, maladaptive chronic stress responses, inflammatory pathways, immune modulation and enteric microbiome populations.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on serotonin, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cited by 58
- Psychedelics in Psychiatry: Neuroplastic, Immunomodulatory, and Neurotransmitter Mechanisms Pharmacological Reviews December 16, 2020
- The clinical pharmacology and potential therapeutic applications of 5‐methoxy‐N,N‐dimethyltryptamine (5‐MeO‐DMT) Journal of Neurochemistry February 12, 2022
- Psilocybin induces acute and persisting alterations in immune status in healthy volunteers: An experimental, placebo-controlled study Brain, Behavior, and Immunity September 7, 2023
- Psychedelics, Sociality, and Human Evolution Frontiers in Psychology September 29, 2021
- Associations between lifetime classic psychedelic use and markers of physical health Journal of Psychopharmacology March 9, 2021
and 53 more in the library
Cites 45
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and 40 more in the library