Psychedelics have long been known for their therapeutic in treating mental health disorders. However, there remains a concern that patients in clinical trials may have adverse effects to these drugs. In fact, a recent study has shown personality traits associated with the negative/positive experiences of psychedelic use. These findings may inform how participants in clinical trials respond to these substances.
"The findings point to interesting testable things we can look at in future research," said Alan Davis, assistant professor of social work at The Ohio State University and senior author of the review. "It might be plausible to use threshold doses that are smaller than those used in a trial as a first exposure so people have less anxiety, experience the benefit and, from that, go into a higher dose later."
Results were published in the journal ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science.
"It's been an open question so far in psychedelic science: How can we predict how people will react? We thought this review would be a good opportunity to develop a narrative of what the consensus is so far," said study first author Jacob Aday, a PhD candidate in psychology at Central Michigan University who collaborates with Davis.
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"Psychedelics might broadly apply to a whole range of different psychiatric problems, and in part that might be because they're directly affecting neurotransmission and the brain's ability to communicate in new ways that involve different parts of the brain," Davis said. "But there is still a lot to unpack about exactly how this all works and why it may be effective."
Source: Science Daily
