Psychedelics: Their Limited Understanding and Future in the Treatment of Chronic Pain
Cureus August 25, 2022 Vedant N Hedau, Ashish P Anjankar 5 citations
Psychedelics are hallucinogenic drugs that substantially alter consciousness, causing psychological, auditory, and visual changes. Chronic pain, a major global cause of disability, is often managed with pharmacological interventions and physical therapy, but these can lead to drug resistance, side effects, and addiction, as with opioids. Standard therapies are not always effective long-term. Psychedelics have shown promise in clinical psychology, and research is exploring their use for pain disorders. The article discusses how psychedelics affect the brain and body and how they might modulate pain, though the precise mechanism of chronic pain remains incompletely understood.