Psychedelics: A review of their effects on recalled aversive memories and fear/anxiety expression in rodents
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews September 20, 2024 Isabel Werle, Leandro J. Bertoglio 17 citations
Threatening events can create maladaptive memories that existing treatments often fail to address. This review of nearly 400 studies since 1957 examined how various psychedelics—including psilocybin, LSD, DMT, mescaline, 5-MeO-DMT, DOI, and MDMA—affect aversive memory extinction, reconsolidation, learned fear, anxiety, and locomotion in rodents. Psychedelics frequently show biphasic effects on locomotion at doses that enhance extinction learning, impair memory reconsolidation, or reduce learned fear and anxiety. Emerging evidence suggests a dissociation between prospective benefits and locomotor effects. Under-explored aspects include sex differences, memory age and generalization, repeated treatments, and timing of changes. Validating findings in traumatic-like memory models is essential for improving therapeutic approaches.