The psychedelic brain

Disclaimer: This blog does not promote or endorse the use of illegal substances. It is intended solely to explore the growing body of research investigating the potential role of psychedelics in innovative mental health treatments. Please be aware that the recreational use of psychedelics is illegal in many countries. These substances should only be used within the legal framework of your country and under the guidance of a qualified clinical professional. 

What if healing deep emotional wounds didn’t take years of therapy but just the right experience guided by a clinical professional at the right moment?  

I am an undergraduate student at the University of Chicago, majoring in Neuroscience and Economics. I was recently captivated in my psychology class (called ‘Sensation and Perception’, which I would recommend to anyone interested in understanding how the brain perceives the world around us) when my professor mentioned the effects of LSD on a patient suffering from PTSD, and how this changed their perception of trauma. 

Here I want to talk about recent research in animals by Nardou et al. (2023) suggesting that psychedelics like LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) and psilocybin (a psychedelic found in mushrooms) may be able to reopen “critical periods,” which are windows that allow to rapidly learn language, emotions, and relationships during childhood. This may be because psychedelics specifically reshape the emotional side of your brain, which is the part of the brain specific to the sense of self, and open up and rewire new pathways that could potentially alter a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) response. However, without clinical guidance, the sense of self can be disrupted, causing depression, suicidal thoughts, and severe anxiety, indicating the potentially dangerous nature of psychedelics.  

This suggests that LSD, in association with therapy, as well as adequate support from a clinician, could potentially support the healing process. However, as of right now, results are solely based on animal studies, and more research is needed for humans before a connection can be made. 

Psychedelic Drugs 

Psychedelic drugs, more commonly called hallucinogens, alter someone’s perception, thoughts, and feelings. As inferred from the name, they also cause a person to hallucinate. Looking closely at the brain, this occurs because they affect the brain network and communication through serotonin and dopamine release. 

Serotonin and dopamine are neurotransmitters, which means that they send messages and affect communication in the brain through nerve cells. Serotonin mostly helps regulate one’s mood, with low concentrations linked to depression, while dopamine is linked to a feeling of reward, motivation, and focus. Therefore, as one can imagine, the two are associated and promote well-being when functioning normally.  

As mentioned above, psychedelic drugs may temporarily reopen critical windows. In neuroscience, "critical periods" are short windows in early life when the brain is particularly sensitive to certain experiences. Think of how babies effortlessly absorb language or how young animals learn to bond with caregivers. These learning abilities usually weaken as we age. By adulthood, the brain becomes more stable and, in many ways, more rigid. 

However, individuals can become tolerant to psychedelic drugs, as they may constantly seek the feeling induced by them, and making them increase their dosage. People can also become “psychologically dependent”, as they feel that these drugs are an important part of their lives.   

Despite their potential being studied, psychedelic drugs can cause uncomfortable physical effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, headaches, abdominal pain, tremors, and rapid heartbeat. These effects can be damaging and dangerous and may require immediate medical attention. In some cases, they might even be fatal. Similarly, psychological adverse effects can be very severe and long-lasting, like anxiety, panic and flash-backs of the hallucinatory experiences.  

LSD, The Most Effective Drug for Critical Periods 

A previous animal study from Nardou et al. (2019) found that psychedelics can reopen these critical periods in mice and specifically, the one related to social reward learning. In the study, adult mice given LSD, psilocybin, a naturally occurring hallucinogen found in some mushrooms, or MDMA (also known as ecstasy, which is a stimulant) regained the ability to form strong social bonds, a trait usually limited to their juvenile stage. These effects lasted for weeks. 

It was discovered that different drugs kept the learning window open for mice for different lengths of time. Ketamine lasted for about 48 hours. Psilocybin stretched for two weeks. And LSD for a full three weeks. 

Psychedelics can impact the brain as such by exploiting a process known as metaplasticity, which is the brain’s natural ability to potentiate synaptic connections and thus retain new information. Psychedelics seem to enhance this process by increasing the function of serotonin in the brain.  

Findings and Their Effect on Therapy 

Rather than just managing symptoms, psychedelics may enable change by reopening the brain's natural learning machinery (although it has only been tested on mice as of today).  

For people with depression, PTSD, or attachment difficulties, it could mean accessing the kind of emotional rewiring that seemed impossible in adulthood. This of course can only happen if supported by guidance from a therapist, which might enhance learning abilities. Thus, proper and guided use of these drugs within future approved medical treatments could potentially help create new pathways that, with the help of a licensed therapist, may act as complementary tools in the healing process from conditions such as PTSD and trauma. 

In conclusion, it is important to remember that this evidence is in mice, and that translating mouse studies into human therapies takes time. Hence, no clear connection can be made yet between the human brain and psychedelics in terms of trauma healing as a mode of therapy.  

Also, it is important to remember that, despite the presence of clinical trials exploring psychedelics’ effects in people, including using brain imaging, and indicating a potential therapeutic role, psychedelics are dangerous drugs. They can have a very harmful effect, and non-medical use is never advised.