Unifying Theories of Psychedelic Drug Effects
How do psychedelic drugs produce their characteristic range of acute effects in perception, emotion, cognition, and sense of self? How do these effects relate to the clinical efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapies? Efforts to understand psychedelic phenomena date back more than a century in West...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Pharmacology |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2018.00172/full |
| _version_ | 1828731939613310976 |
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| author | Link R. Swanson Link R. Swanson Link R. Swanson |
| author_facet | Link R. Swanson Link R. Swanson Link R. Swanson |
| author_sort | Link R. Swanson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | How do psychedelic drugs produce their characteristic range of acute effects in perception, emotion, cognition, and sense of self? How do these effects relate to the clinical efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapies? Efforts to understand psychedelic phenomena date back more than a century in Western science. In this article I review theories of psychedelic drug effects and highlight key concepts which have endured over the last 125 years of psychedelic science. First, I describe the subjective phenomenology of acute psychedelic effects using the best available data. Next, I review late 19th-century and early 20th-century theories—model psychoses theory, filtration theory, and psychoanalytic theory—and highlight their shared features. I then briefly review recent findings on the neuropharmacology and neurophysiology of psychedelic drugs in humans. Finally, I describe recent theories of psychedelic drug effects which leverage 21st-century cognitive neuroscience frameworks—entropic brain theory, integrated information theory, and predictive processing—and point out key shared features that link back to earlier theories. I identify an abstract principle which cuts across many theories past and present: psychedelic drugs perturb universal brain processes that normally serve to constrain neural systems central to perception, emotion, cognition, and sense of self. I conclude that making an explicit effort to investigate the principles and mechanisms of psychedelic drug effects is a uniquely powerful way to iteratively develop and test unifying theories of brain function. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T17:53:41Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5e331e989119448bb8b18d469bb2494a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1663-9812 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T17:53:41Z |
| publishDate | 2018-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Pharmacology |
| spelling | doaj.art-5e331e989119448bb8b18d469bb2494a2022-12-22T03:22:25ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Pharmacology1663-98122018-03-01910.3389/fphar.2018.00172344412Unifying Theories of Psychedelic Drug EffectsLink R. Swanson0Link R. Swanson1Link R. Swanson2Center for Cognitive Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesDepartment of Philosophy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesMinnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesHow do psychedelic drugs produce their characteristic range of acute effects in perception, emotion, cognition, and sense of self? How do these effects relate to the clinical efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapies? Efforts to understand psychedelic phenomena date back more than a century in Western science. In this article I review theories of psychedelic drug effects and highlight key concepts which have endured over the last 125 years of psychedelic science. First, I describe the subjective phenomenology of acute psychedelic effects using the best available data. Next, I review late 19th-century and early 20th-century theories—model psychoses theory, filtration theory, and psychoanalytic theory—and highlight their shared features. I then briefly review recent findings on the neuropharmacology and neurophysiology of psychedelic drugs in humans. Finally, I describe recent theories of psychedelic drug effects which leverage 21st-century cognitive neuroscience frameworks—entropic brain theory, integrated information theory, and predictive processing—and point out key shared features that link back to earlier theories. I identify an abstract principle which cuts across many theories past and present: psychedelic drugs perturb universal brain processes that normally serve to constrain neural systems central to perception, emotion, cognition, and sense of self. I conclude that making an explicit effort to investigate the principles and mechanisms of psychedelic drug effects is a uniquely powerful way to iteratively develop and test unifying theories of brain function.http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2018.00172/fullpsychedelic drugsLSDpsilocybinego dissolutioncognitive flexibilityentropic brain theory |
| spellingShingle | Link R. Swanson Link R. Swanson Link R. Swanson Unifying Theories of Psychedelic Drug Effects Frontiers in Pharmacology psychedelic drugs LSD psilocybin ego dissolution cognitive flexibility entropic brain theory |
| title | Unifying Theories of Psychedelic Drug Effects |
| title_full | Unifying Theories of Psychedelic Drug Effects |
| title_fullStr | Unifying Theories of Psychedelic Drug Effects |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unifying Theories of Psychedelic Drug Effects |
| title_short | Unifying Theories of Psychedelic Drug Effects |
| title_sort | unifying theories of psychedelic drug effects |
| topic | psychedelic drugs LSD psilocybin ego dissolution cognitive flexibility entropic brain theory |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2018.00172/full |
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