The Effect of 5-HT2A/1a Agonist Treatment On Social Cognition, Empathy, and Social Decision-making
European Psychiatry March 1, 2015 Katrin H. Preller, Thomas Pokorny, Rainer Krähenmann et al. 20 citations
Social cognition, including empathy and reactions to social exclusion, is often impaired in psychiatric disorders like depression but is poorly addressed by current treatments. In a double-blind, randomized, cross-over study with healthy volunteers, psilocybin (0.215 mg/kg) reduced the neural response to social exclusion in the anterior cingulate cortex, a brain region linked to social pain, compared to placebo. Emotional empathy was enhanced after psilocybin, while cognitive empathy showed no significant change. These findings suggest that 5HT-1A/2A receptor subtypes modulate socio-cognitive functioning and may be relevant for treating social cognition deficits, particularly in depressed patients.