This commentary (2023) discusses the potential transdiagnostic efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapy and its impact on brain function. It proposes that psychedelics induce a mode of brain function that is more dynamically flexible, diverse, integrated, and tuned for information sharing, which is consistent with greater criticality, and suggests that a complexity science perspective may help in understanding the inconsistencies in previous findings and guide towards compelling mechanistic models.
Abstract of A complex systems perspective on psychedelic brain action
“Recent findings suggesting the potential transdiagnostic efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapy have fostered the need to deepen our understanding of psychedelic brain action. Functional neuroimaging investigations have found that psychedelics reduce the functional segregation of large-scale brain networks. However, beyond this general trend, findings have been largely inconsistent. We argue here that a perspective based on complexity science that foregrounds the distributed, interactional, and dynamic nature of brain function may render these inconsistencies intelligible. We propose that psychedelics induce a mode of brain function that is more dynamically flexible, diverse, integrated, and tuned for information sharing, consistent with greater criticality. This ‘meta’ perspective has the potential to unify past findings and guide intuitions toward compelling mechanistic models.”
Authors: Manesh Girn, Fernando E. Rosas, Richard E. Daws, Courtney L. Gallen, Adam Gazzaley & Robin L. Carhart-Harris
Summary of A complex systems perspective on psychedelic brain action
Serotonergic psychedelics, such as LSD, psilocybin, and DMT, are potent psychoactive drugs that induce marked changes in subjective experience. They may be used to treat mental health conditions, such as depression, end-of-life distress, tobacco addiction, and alcoholism.
In the past decade, an emerging field of human psychedelic neuroimaging has utilized fMRI to examine the brain. This work has found that the brain is more integrated than normal and that this increased integration is linked to reduced depression symptoms in patients with depression.
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A complex systems perspective on psychedelic brain action
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2023.01.003
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Cite this paper (APA)
Girn, M., Rosas, F. E., Daws, R. E., Gallen, C. L., Gazzaley, A., & Carhart-Harris, R. L. (2023). A complex systems perspective on psychedelic brain action. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
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Robin Carhart-HarrisDr. Robin Carhart-Harris is the Founding Director of the Neuroscape Psychedelics Division at UCSF. Previously he led the Psychedelic group at Imperial College London.