Clinical and biological predictors of psychedelic response in the treatment of psychiatric and addictive disorders: A systematic review.
Bruno Romeo, Marianne Hermand, Amélie Pétillion, Laurent Karila, Amine Benyamina
Journal of psychiatric research May 1, 2021 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2021.03.002 via PubMed
Summary
The review indicates that the intensity of the acute psychedelic experience is a key predictive factor for response to psychedelic treatments in various psychiatric and addictive disorders. This was observed across conditions like alcohol and tobacco use disorders, treatment-resistant depression, and anxiety and depressive symptoms in cancer patients, but not in obsessive-compulsive disorder. The mechanisms behind this effect remain unclear, with several hypotheses proposed regarding serotonin modulation and brain network dynamics.
Study at a glance
| Design | systematic review |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 20 |
| Population | studies on patients with addictive disorders, treatment-resistant depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depressive and anxiety symptoms in patients with life-threatening cancer |
| Key finding | The main predictive factor of response to psychedelics is the intensity of the acute psychedelic experience. |
Abstract
The use of psychedelic treatments has shown very promising results in some psychiatric and addictive disorders, but not all patients achieved a response. The aim of this review is to explore the clinical and biological factors which could predict the response to psychedelics in psychiatric and addictive disorders. A systematic research was performed on MEDLINE, PsycInfo, Web of science, and Scopus databases from January 1990 to May 2020. All studies investigating the predictive factors of response to psychedelics regardless of psychiatric or addictive disorders, were included. Twenty studies investigating addictive disorder, treatment-resistant depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depressive and anxiety symptoms in patients with life-threatening cancer were included in this review. We found that, in all indications, the main predictive factor of response to psychedelics is the intensity of the acute psychedelic experience. Indeed, we found this factor for alcohol and tobacco use disorders, treatment-resistant depression, and anxiety and depressive symptoms in patients with life-threatening cancer, but not for obsessive-compulsive disorder. The intensity of the acute psychedelic experience was the main predicting factor of response. The action mechanism of this experience was not clear, but some hypotheses could be made, such as a modulation of serotoninergic system by 5-HT2A receptors agonism, a modulation of the default mode network (DMN) with an acute modular disintegration of the DMN followed by a re-integration of this network with a normal functioning, or an anti-inflammatory effect of this treatment.