Posttraumatic stress disorder involves intrusive memories, heightened arousal, and avoidance, rooted in altered learning and memory processes regulated by complex neural and molecular networks. Successful treatment may depend on modifying memory engrams while they are unstable during retrieval. Psychedelic psychotherapy can increase this instability, enhancing the ability to change traumatic memories. This narrative review describes PTSD's clinical features, neuroanatomy, and molecular pathways of memory destabilization and reconsolidation. It proposes that psychedelics, through serotonin-glutamate interactions, destabilize trauma-related engrams, allowing psychotherapeutic modification.
Generalized anxiety disorder involves prolonged worry, physical anxiety, and brain inflammation. A 12-week modular psychotherapy combining cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness meditation reduced both anxiety symptoms and a magnetic resonance imaging marker of neuroinflammation in the amygdala among 50 patients. Anxiety reduction was linked to decreased neuroinflammation in that brain region. The treatment appears to address both psychological and biological aspects of the disorder, suggesting a personalized approach may be effective.