Lecture 7

Question 1

examples of psychedelics

Answer 1

Psilocybin: mushroom
DMT; plants in america
LSD
Mescaline: cactus
5-MEO DMT: toad

Question 2

LSD

Answer 2

discovre by Albert Hoffman, on accident.
non toxic, non addictive, effective clinical tools. understanding of mental illness: models psychosis. psychological transformation in psychotherapy. Even contacted to Steve Jobs for funding LSD research

Question 3

why was lsd such a profound founding

Answer 3

for neurotransmitters in the brain, especially serotonine

Question 4

Why was there a lot ophef about lsd?

Answer 4

1960s contra culture, vietnam war- anti military attitudes
1971 controlled substances act –> illegal
thought it had something to do with psychosis

Question 5

Name the three types of psychotropic effects?

Answer 5

• mood : high arousal, mood
• perception: geometric visual patterning, morphing, abstract imagery
• cognition: unconstrained cognition, dream like states, loss of ego, loss of sense of self, divine spiritual presence

Question 6

glutomate

Answer 6

mmemory

Question 7

gaba

Answer 7

eating-sleeping- agression

Question 8

acetychloline

Answer 8

movememnt control, thninking

Question 9

receptor distribution

Answer 9

location of the receptors play a role in what we experience!

Question 10

drugs, what do they do

Answer 10

drugs interfere with the way neurons receive, and process signals via neurotransmitters. they lead to abnormal messages being sent through the network

Question 11

5ht-2a receptors

Answer 11

2a affinity & potency
- 2 a antagonist attentuates key psychological efect
- too much serotonin –> receptor down regulation (taking too man y psychedlics in a row - overstimulated)
- cross tolerance - common mechanism

Question 12

cross tolerance

Answer 12

receptor down regulation (taking too man y psychedlics in a row - overstimulated), redce symptoms of anxiety (temporary effect). less intake of serotonin (its same for every psychedelic)

Question 13

deficient 5-ht2ar-stim

Answer 13

preservation (repeating)

Question 14

increase 5-ht2ar-stim

Answer 14

increase sensitivity to environment, lsd makes rats more flexible for example & rapid learners
so it stimulates neurplasticity in the hippocampus and the neocortex, facilitates change/flexibility

Question 15

5-HT1A and 5-HT2A

Answer 15

two most prevalent serotonin receptors

Question 16

SSRI

Answer 16

act on 1A receptors, limbic system. Your limbic responsitivity goes down, so your stress, impulsitivity, agression and anxiety goes down as well, tolerance, resilience, patience and tolerance of stress go up. so your depression goes down and your well being goes up. hopefully.

Question 17

ssri via 5-HT-2A

Answer 17

chaos in the brain –> rigid thinking and pessisism goes down, plasticity goes up, environmental sensitivity, learn better and adaptability.change goes up

Question 18

SSRIs vs psychedelics

Answer 18

passive vs active coping

Question 19

4 basic mechanisms of 2a serotonin

Answer 19

• increase anxiety acute experience: decreases defenses facilitate emotional approach during therapy, yet less inhibition of emotions and memories
• emotions bubble up during psychedelic experience
• 5-HT2AR agonism stimulate neuroplasticity in the hippocampus and the neocortex, associated with flexibility and learning
• 2A signaling downregulates 5-HT2AR receptors and thus –> less anxiety and improved general well-being during the post acute afterglow

Question 20

fMRI psilocybin study, with 15 volunteers in resting stand. what can we conclude

Answer 20

decreases in high level association areas such are hubs in het Default main network: pcc, acc, medial PFC, Thalamus. you would think it would increase but no!
the networks that make sense of the wolrd, they don’t work anymore. It looks fragmented.

desynchronization: default network correlates with ego dissolution, because it’s about having the sense of the self and thinking about yourself in terms of with others

Question 21

Default mode Network (DMN)

Answer 21

• metabolically hungryL 40% more blood than other structure
• highly interconnected: transit hub/integration centre
  activated in self-reflection, mental time travel, metacognition

–> self/ego

Question 22

Disintegration in connectivity among hub structures meansl…

Answer 22

More flexible neurological traffic among the whole brain, cross talk among regions

Question 23

What can we conclude from the study that was preregistered? and psychedelic microdosing and emotion go and no go task?

Answer 23

There was no significant difference. Psilocybin microdosing did not affect emotion processing or symptoms of anxiety and depression compared to placebo

Question 24

How can we explain discrepencies?

Answer 24

• no control over the dosis that participant used?
• baseline levels of emotional well-being were already at sufficient levels such that psychedlelic drug could not improve that much more

Question 25

increasing number of clnical trials

Answer 25

• stopped smoking (80%) after 6 months
• same goes for drinking
  r- reuced OCD
• decrease anxiety at 12 months in patiens life threatening illness
• openess to experience

Question 26

treatment of depression with psychedelics. Thoughts?

Answer 26

no good control group, combined therapeutic interventions, low sample sizes. but more recent research seems to replicate these findings

Question 27

how do depression and psychedelics work?

Answer 27

depression menas increase focus on self - increase activity and functional connectivity in DMN and decrease focus on external world - in depression low social interaction

–> psilocybin/LSD temporarily disintegrate the DMN during acute intoxication, which reduces self focus

Question 28

what more can psilobycin do?

Answer 28

reduced activation of pain regions during social exclusion task, increased emotional empathy and feeling of connection

Question 29

what is the mediating factor for long lasting chance in the quality of life?

Answer 29

• insight
• mysticism
• feeling of unity