Psychedelics are well-known for their ability to cause mind-expanding trips and altered states of consciousness, but could they actually change who we are after the high fades? Recent research suggests that psychedelics like psilocybin, ayahuasca, and LSD may have lasting impacts on how we perceive and process our emotions. These findings could have major implications on how we view these substances from a therapeutic standpoint for their proposed ability to treat a variety of mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
The effects of psychedelics on emotional processing
The study, published in Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, sought to understand the long-term effects of serotonergic psychedelics on three main psychological areas: cognition and creativity, emotional processing, and personality. Psychedelic trips typically only last for a few hours, but researchers have hypothesized that the main mechanism of their therapeutic effects occurs after the trip takes place. Through a systematic review of 10 controlled trials involving 304 participants, the researchers of the study measured participants’ emotional processing abilities before and after their psychedelic experiences. The trials involved participants completing tasks that measured their ability to recognize and process emotions like happiness, sadness, disgust, and anger. They found that those who took psychedelics showed faster reaction times when recognizing negative emotions like sadness and disgust, even weeks beyond their psychedelic experience1.
Why these findings matter
Research into psychedelics has found that the substances have the potential to give long-lasting relief from symptoms of mental health conditions; however, scientists still don’t understand exactly why these prolonged effects occur. Many studies into psychedelics primarily examine their short-term effects, but this study suggests that it’s possible that these substances could have much longer-term effects on how we process emotions. The faster emotional recognition and improved emotional processing seen in study participants weeks after the psychedelic experience demonstrate the possible sustained therapeutic effects psychedelics can have on patients.
Many mental health conditions can cause individuals to have issues processing and managing negative emotions, leading to emotional dysregulation and prolonged, high amounts of distress. If psychedelics can truly enhance the brain’s ability to recognize and process negative emotions, as the study suggests, it may help those with mental health conditions work through their difficult emotions and adapt better instead of becoming overwhelmed with them. These long-term effects could help address these emotional challenges and treat individuals who have not had luck treating their symptoms with traditional methods of therapy like medication.
What this means for the future of psychedelic-assisted therapy
The findings of these studies are still in a preliminary phase, and more research is needed to fully understand the long-term effects and safety of psychedelics, especially as a means for treating mental health conditions. The trials looked at by the study had limitations, like short follow-up periods, small sample sizes, and lack of standardized measures. Yet, despite these limitations, the promising results open a new way for researchers to examine psychedelics for mental health treatment, offering long-term relief through mental resilience.
References
- Solaja, Ivana, Kate Haldane, Natasha Mason, Brandon Weiss, Xiaomin Xu, Mei Xu, Stevan Nikolin et al. “Who Are You after Psychedelics? A Systematic Review and a Meta-analysis of the Magnitude of Long-term Effects of Serotonergic Psychedelics on Cognition/Creativity, Emotional Processing and Personality.” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 158, (2024): 105570. Accessed September 30, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105570. ↩︎
