Serotonergic hallucinogens and recognition of facial emotion expressions: a systematic review of the literature

Rocha, Juliana Mendes; Osório, Flávia L.; Crippa, José Alexandre de Souza; Bouso, José Carlos; Rossi, Giordano Novak; Hallak, Jaime Eduardo Cecílio; Santos, Rafael G. dos

doi:10.1177/2045125319845774

Cited by 35 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…There is a growing body of evidence to suggest serotonergic hallucinogens can affect recognition of facial expressions (Rocha et al., 2019). LSD has been shown to reduce recognition of sad or fearful faces alongside enhancing emotional empathy (Dolder et al., 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved colour blindness symptoms associated with recreational psychedelic use: Results from the Global Drug Survey 2017

Winstock

Ferris

et al. 2020

Drug Science, Policy and Law

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It is well documented that psychedelic drugs can have a profound effect on colour perception. After previous research involving psychedelic drug ingestion, several participants had written to the authors describing how symptoms of their colour blindness had improved. The Global Drugs Survey runs the world’s largest annual online drug survey. In the Global Drugs Survey 2017, participants reporting the use of lysergic acid diethylamide or psilocybin in the last 12 months were asked, We have received reports from some people with colour-blindness that this improves after they use psychedelics. If you have experienced such an effect can you please describe it in the box below, say what drug you took and how long the effect lasted. We received 47 responses that could be usefully categorised of which 23 described improved colour blindness. Commonly cited drugs were LSD and psilocybin; however, several other psychedelic compounds were also listed. Some respondents cited that the changes in colour blindness persisted, from a period of several days to years. Improved colour blindness may be a result of new photisms experienced in the psychedelic state aligning with pre-existing concepts of colour to be ascribed a label. Connections between visual and linguistic cortical areas may be enhanced due to disorder in the brain’s neural connections induced by psychedelics allowing these new photisms and concepts to become linked. This paper provides preliminary data regarding improved colour blindness accompanying recreational psychedelic use which may be further investigated in future iterations of the Global Drugs Survey or in a stand-alone Global Drugs Survey-managed psychedelics survey.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved colour blindness symptoms associated with recreational psychedelic use: Results from the Global Drug Survey 2017

Winstock

Ferris

et al. 2020

Drug Science, Policy and Law

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“…For MM, repeated training promotes the use of mental strategies, altering the cognitive frame in which negative thoughts are perceived and coped with (e.g., 133). With regard to psilocybin, perceptual and thought contents are directly altered by destabilizing established belief systems resulting in a restoration of adequate mood regulation (e.g., 69,172,173).…”

Section: Moodmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depression, Mindfulness, and Psilocybin: Possible Complementary Effects of Mindfulness Meditation and Psilocybin in the Treatment of Depression. A Review

Heuschkel

Kuypers

2020

Front. Psychiatry

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Depression is a major public health problem that affects approximately 4.4% of the global population. Since conventional pharmacotherapies and psychotherapies are only partially effective, as demonstrated by the number of patients failing to achieve remission, alternative treatments are needed. Mindfulness meditation (MM) and psilocybin represent two promising novel treatments that might even have complementary therapeutic effects when combined. Since the current literature is limited to theoretical and empirical underpinnings of either treatment alone, the present review aimed to identify possible complementary effects that may be relevant to the treatment of depression. To that end, the individual effects of MM and psilocybin, and their underlying working mechanisms, were compared on a non-exhaustive selection of six prominent psychological and biological processes that are well known to show impairments in patients suffering from major depression disorder, that is mood, executive functioning, social skills, neuroplasticity, core neural networks, and neuroendocrine and neuroimmunological levels. Based on predefined search strings used in two online databases (PubMed and Google Scholar) 1129 articles were identified. After screening title and abstract for relevance related to the question, 82 articles were retained and 11 were added after reference list search, resulting in 93 articles included in the review. Findings show that MM and psilocybin exert similar effects on mood, social skills, and neuroplasticity; different effects were found on executive functioning, neural core networks, and neuroendocrine and neuroimmune system markers. Potential mechanisms of MM's effects are enhanced affective self-regulation through mental strategies, optimization of stress reactivity, and structural and functional adjustments of prefrontal and limbic areas; psilocybin's effects might be established via attenuation of cognitive associations through deep personal insights, cognitive disinhibition, and global neural network disintegration. It is suggested that, when used in combination, MM and psilocybin could exert complementary effects by potentiating or prolonging mutual positive effects, for example, MM potentially facilitating psilocybin-induced peak

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“…Psychedelics have also been shown to alter the recognition of negative faces and reduce amygdala reactivity to negative faces, with a number of studies finding associations between acute and post-acute attenuations of amygdala reactivity to negative faces and post-acute increases in positive mood and well-being. 63 – 66 Another study, however, found that increased amygdala responses compared to baseline for fearful and happy faces 1 day after psilocybin correlated with decreases in depressive symptoms. 67 In contrast to these prior results, a recent study found no acute or post-acute effects of ayahuasca on FER compared to placebo.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Psychedelics With Therapeutic Intent Is Associated With Lower Shame and Complex Trauma Symptoms in Adults With Histories of Child Maltreatment

2021

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Background Child maltreatment negatively affects the formation of internal schemata of self and other during development, leading to negative adaptations in self-concept and social cognition. Clinical reports suggest the efficacy of psychedelics in treating the psychopathological sequelae of child maltreatment. Altering maladaptive schemata of self and other implicated in negative self-concept and impaired social cognition may be a central mechanism for reducing posttraumatic stress symptoms. Aims This study aims to assess whether psychedelic use moderates the relationships between child maltreatment and self-concept, social cognition, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Method An online survey was completed by 166 participants and included measures of maltreatment exposure and severity, history of intentional therapeutic psychedelic use, posttraumatic stress symptoms, internalized shame, and facial emotion recognition. Results Child maltreatment significantly correlated with posttraumatic stress symptoms ( r = .26 and r = .20, p < .01) and internalized shame ( r = .18, p < .05). Of all maltreatment subtypes, emotional abuse and neglect most strongly correlated with complex trauma symptoms ( r = .32, p < .001) and internalized shame ( r = .31, p < .001). Participants with a history of intentional therapeutic psychedelic use reported significantly lower complex trauma symptoms ( d = 0.33, p < .05) and internalized shame ( d = 0.35, p < .05) despite similar histories of maltreatment. Differences in complex trauma symptoms ( d = 0.66, p < .01) and internalized shame ( d = 0.80, p < .001) were largest for participants with a history of more than 5 occasions of intentional therapeutic psychedelic use. A history of more than 5 occasions of intentional therapeutic psychedelic use significantly moderated the relationship between emotional abuse and neglect and complex trauma symptoms (p < .01). No associations were found between maltreatment or psychedelic use and facial emotion recognition. Conclusion These findings demonstrate that using psychedelic drugs with therapeutic intent is associated with lower levels of complex trauma symptoms and internalized shame in individuals with histories of child maltreatment. Psychedelic use may have therapeutic benefit in treating the posttraumatic sequelae of child maltreatment.

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Serotonergic hallucinogens and recognition of facial emotion expressions: a systematic review of the literature

Cited by 35 publications

References 31 publications

Improved colour blindness symptoms associated with recreational psychedelic use: Results from the Global Drug Survey 2017

Improved colour blindness symptoms associated with recreational psychedelic use: Results from the Global Drug Survey 2017

Depression, Mindfulness, and Psilocybin: Possible Complementary Effects of Mindfulness Meditation and Psilocybin in the Treatment of Depression. A Review

Using Psychedelics With Therapeutic Intent Is Associated With Lower Shame and Complex Trauma Symptoms in Adults With Histories of Child Maltreatment

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