Psychological treatments | Montreal advances on psychedelic drugs

Popular in the 1960s, the idea that psychedelic drugs could support psychological treatments has been enjoying a renaissance over the past decade. Two Montreal studies have just been published on the subject.

Mathieu Perreault
The Press

Microdoses

Microdoses of LSD for seven days have an effect similar to some antidepressants. This is the conclusion of a study from the McGill University Health Centre, the first to confirm the biological mechanism of the beneficial effect of LSD. “We show that neurons affected by LSD are indeed involved in the serotonin cycle, and that LSD promotes the formation of bonds between neurons,” explains Gabriella Gobbi, of the Research Institute of the MUHC. She co-signs the study published in mid-March in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.

“I started to take an interest in psychedelic drugs about ten years ago, after a symposium on neuroscience and spirituality,” says the Montreal psychiatrist. Serotonin is a neuromodulator that promotes communication between neurons. It is targeted by many antidepressants.

Higher doses of LSD, meanwhile, have an effect on the dopamine system, a 2016 study by D.^D Gobbi. Dopamine is another molecule involved in communication between neurons, this time targeted by antipsychotics. All of this work was done in a transgenic mouse used in studies on stress and depression.

Psychotherapy

If psychedelic drugs are ever used to treat depression, it will likely be as an adjunct to increasing the effectiveness of psychotherapies, according to Dr.^D Gobbi.

“Last year, another of our studies showed that microdoses of LSD promote social behavior, which also has an effect on psychotherapy,” continues the researcher. And a few years ago, a study showed that LSD reduced anxiety in end-of-life patients. Anxiety is a big obstacle in efforts to change our perspective on our life with psychotherapy. »

Testimonials

The other McGill group that recently published on psychedelic agents used artificial intelligence to analyze written testimonials from people who had taken one of these drugs. “Studies on psychedelics often suffer from only involving small groups of humans or being done on animals,” explains the lead author of the study published in mid-March in the journal Science AdvancesDanilo Bzdok, of the Montreal Neurological Institute.

“By analyzing these 6850 testimonials with artificial intelligence, we were able to identify words related to certain areas of the brain and see how psychedelic agents act on the brain. Then, we can use this information to research new drugs. Among the 27 agents studied were LSD, mescaline and compounds from hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Human studies

The next step is a human clinical trial with significant numbers. “We expect to be able to launch a human trial within the next year or two,” says Dr.^D Gobbi. There are a lot of hurdles with LSD: funding, Health Canada permits allowing us to have the substance in the hospital to administer to human subjects. Until then, we continue with the animal, in particular to compare LSD and other psychedelic substances, such as ketamine. »

Recreational doses

How do microdoses compare to “recreational” doses? “The metabolism of LSD in animals and humans is so different that it’s hard to compare,” says Dr.^D Gobbi. There have been very few human studies on microdosing. A small clinical trial has just shown that there is no effect, but this is preliminary and contrary to other results. The end-of-life anxiety study involved full doses of LSD. The recent study on microdoses, published in February in the journal Addiction Biology by psychiatrists at the University of Chicago, involved doses 10 times lower than recreational doses.

Cleavage

Could it be that LSD makes it possible to circumvent splitting, a psychological phenomenon where the patient forbids himself from thinking about certain painful questions? “It’s very likely,” said the D.^D Gobbi. In the 1960s, psychoanalysts used psychedelics to eliminate blockages in psychotherapy. The idea is that the patient manages to see himself from the outside, in a dissociated state, and thus to contemplate those painful questions which are too close to be approached directly. The term “cleavage” was used in particular by Sigmund Freud.