Classic psychedelics and the treatment for alcoholism

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2024.111129Get rights and content

Highlights

  • •
    Psychedelic substances have demonstrated potential for treating AUD.
  • •
    Psychedelics possibly facilitate psychotherapeutic interventions.
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    Great inter-individual variability in the duration of beneficial effects.
  • •
    5-HT2A receptor activation, may be effective in the pharmacotherapy of AUD.
  • •
    Classic psychedelics have the potential to modulate neuroplasticity in the brain.

Abstract

Alcohol is a harmful drug, and reducing its consumption is a significant challenge for users. Furthermore, alcohol dependence is often treatment-resistant, and no completely effective treatment model is available for chemical dependence. Classic psychedelics, such as LSD, psilocybin, and ayahuasca have been used in different clinical and pre-clinical trials, demonstrating promising pharmacotherapeutic effects in the treatment of treatment-resistant psychopathological conditions, such as addiction, especially related to alcohol dependence. In this work, we conducted a narrative review of the emerging research regarding the potential of psychedelics for alcohol use disorder treatment. Psychedelic substances have demonstrated potential for treating drug addiction, especially AUD, mostly by modulating neuroplasticity in the brain. Given that serotonergic psychedelics do not produce physical dependence or withdrawal symptoms with repeated use, they may be considered promising treatment options for managing drug use disorders. However, certain limitations could be found. Although many participants achieve positive results with only one treatment dose in clinical studies, great inter-individual variability exists in the duration of these effects. Therefore, further studies using different doses and experimental protocols should be conducted to enhance evidence about psychedelic substances.

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Section snippets

Psychedelics: cultural use and neural outlook

Psychedelic substances have been used for many centuries by different cultures worldwide and have a long history of indigenous use in Latin America, where they are incorporated into sacramental rituals (Frecska et al., 2016). Various species of plants with psychedelic properties, such as mushrooms of the Psilocybe genus, peyote (an original cactus in Central America), ayahuasca, elephant vine (Argyreia nervosa), morning glory (Ipomoea tricolor), peregrine (Anadenanthera peregrina), and black

Psychedelics for treating alcoholism

Psychedelic substances have demonstrated potential for treating drug addiction (Table 1, Table 2), as demonstrated in a pilot study that used psilocybin to manage nicotine dependence. Promising results were presented in this study, demonstrating an 80 % abstinence rate within 6 months following administration of a single dose of the psychedelic substance (Johnson et al., 2014). Furthermore, a meta-analysis evaluating LSD use in patients seeking alcoholism treatment revealed a significant

Limitations and future perspectives

From the different studies conducted in recent years, certain limitations and challenges concerning research on psychedelic use for the treatment of psychiatric disorders could be found. It is important to realize that although many participants achieve positive results with only one dose of treatment in clinical studies, there is great inter-individual variability in the duration of these effects (Carhart-Harris, 2019). Responses to the psychedelic experience may be related to the severity of

Acknowledgement and funding

This work was funded by Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e Inovação do Estado de Santa Catarina – FAPESC (EPR - research grant Universal 12/2020-2021TR000640) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tencológico - CNPq (Universal Grant −429,302/2018–5).

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Guilherme Lodetti: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Supervision, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Rafael Mariano de Bitencourt: Writing – review & editing, Formal analysis. Eduardo Pacheco Rico: Supervision, Funding acquisition, Formal analysis.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Ethical Statement for Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology Biological Psychiatry.
I testify on behalf of all co-authors that our article submitted to Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology Biological Psychiatry.

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