Four research papers I wish my GP had read before prescribing antidepressants

Lewis, Stevie

doi:10.3399/bjgp21x716321

Cited by 5 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…One important property of psychedelics is their low addictive properties and other physical side-effects. This feature gives them an advantage over several currently approved drug treatments in mental health care (Lewis, 2021;Guy et al 2020;Davies et al, 2019;Jauhar et al 2019;Read and Williams, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pattern Breaking: A Complex Systems Approach to Psychedelic Medicine

Hipólito¹,

Mago²,

Rosas³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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There is growing evidence for the safety and efficacy of psychedelic therapy in mental health care. What is less understood however, is how psychedelics act to yield therapeutic results. In this paper we propose that psychedelics act as destabilisers — both in a psychological and a neurophysiological sense. Our proposed framework builds on the ‘entropic brain’ hypothesis, according to which psychedelics increase the entropy of spontaneous cortical activity and, in parallel, the richness or depth of content of psychological experience. The so-called ‘RElaxed Beliefs Under pSychedelics’ (REBUS) model is a predictive-coding inspired extension to this hypothesis, which states that psychedelics’ entropic action is paralleled by a relaxation of prior assumptions. Here we adopt a complex systems theory (CST) perspective, proposing that psychedelics act as destabilisers of excessively reinforced fixed points — or ‘attractors’ — which translates as the breaking of excessively reinforced or overweighted patterns of thinking or behaving. Our CST approach explains how psychedelic-induced increases in brain entropy destabilise neurophysiological set-points that are synonymous with overweighted priors, thereby augmenting and enriching the account given by REBUS. We believe that this perspective helps inspire conceptualisations of psychedelic psychotherapy — bearing relevance both to the peak psychedelic experience and subsequent sub-acute period of potential recovery. We discuss implications for risk mitigation and treatment optimization in psychedelic medicine.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pattern Breaking: A Complex Systems Approach to Psychedelic Medicine

Hipólito¹,

Mago²,

Rosas³

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Any negative effects of reducing or coming off completely have traditionally been interpreted as a return of the condition for which the drugs were prescribed, leading to urgent reinstatement of the drugs. This parallels the minimisation and misdiagnosing of the withdrawal effects of antidepressants, which only very recently have been recognised to be very common and frequently severe and long-lasting ( Davies and Read, 2019 , Framer, 2021 , Horowitz and Taylor, 2019 , Lewis, 2021 , Taylor et al, 2019 , White et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The experiences of 585 people when they tried to withdraw from antipsychotic drugs

Read

2022

Addictive Behaviors Reports

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Pattern breaking: a complex systems approach to psychedelic medicine

Hipólito

Mago

Rosas

et al. 2023

Neuroscience of Consciousness

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Recent research has demonstrated the potential of psychedelic therapy for mental health care. However, the psychological experience underlying its therapeutic effects remains poorly understood. This paper proposes a framework that suggests psychedelics act as destabilizers, both psychologically and neurophysiologically. Drawing on the ‘entropic brain’ hypothesis and the ‘RElaxed Beliefs Under pSychedelics’ model, this paper focuses on the richness of psychological experience. Through a complex systems theory perspective, we suggest that psychedelics destabilize fixed points or attractors, breaking reinforced patterns of thinking and behaving. Our approach explains how psychedelic-induced increases in brain entropy destabilize neurophysiological set points and lead to new conceptualizations of psychedelic psychotherapy. These insights have important implications for risk mitigation and treatment optimization in psychedelic medicine, both during the peak psychedelic experience and during the subacute period of potential recovery.

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Four research papers I wish my GP had read before prescribing antidepressants

Cited by 5 publications

References 10 publications

Pattern Breaking: A Complex Systems Approach to Psychedelic Medicine

Pattern Breaking: A Complex Systems Approach to Psychedelic Medicine

The experiences of 585 people when they tried to withdraw from antipsychotic drugs

Pattern breaking: a complex systems approach to psychedelic medicine

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