Neuroplasticity and Psychological Flexibility

As you will learn in the Fundamentals of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy course, neuroplasticity and psychological flexibility are at the heart of how psychedelics impact the mind under its acute effects and instilling long-term changes.

Video: Enhanced Neuroplasticity

2:58

In this video, we’ll learn how psychedelics have the potential to create new neural pathways.

Video: Gul Dolen, MD, PhD on How Psychedelics Could be the Master Key that Unlocks Critical Learning Periods

14:47

Dr. Gul Dolen, MD, PhD speaks with Numinus therapists Dr. Reid Robison and Dr. Stephen Thayer about critical learning periods and the role psychedelics play in reopening critical learning periods. To watch the full podcast, please visit YouTube.

The Power of Psilocybin

The following graphic demonstrates the brain’s neural pathways under the effects of a placebo (figure a) and under the effect of psilocybin (figure b). As you can see, there is a significant increase in activity throughout the brain’s neural networks as well as increased connectivity between different areas of the brain which were not seen nearly as strong in the placebo group (Petri et al., 2014).

Source: Petri et al., 2014, licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Video: Pivotal Mental States

1:14

Did you know that there is a theory that our ancient human ancestors may have regularly consumed psilocybin-producing mushrooms which may have played a role in our evolution (Rodríguez & Winkelman, 2021)?

Video: Psychological Flexibility and Rigidity

7:39

Psychological flexibility is a transdiagnostic factor for mental wellness while psychological rigidity is a transdiagnostic factor for mental illness (Levin et al., 2017; Kashdan, 2010). Dr. Christie discusses this more in this video.

Question

What is experiential avoidance?

Experiential avoidance is the tendency to suppress or avoid challenging internal experiences such as thoughts and emotions. It is a transdiagnostic factor in people with anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress (Shi et al., 2016).

References

de Vos, C. M. H., Mason, N. L., & Kuypers, K. P. C. (2021). Psychedelics and Neuroplasticity: A Systematic Review Unraveling the Biological Underpinnings of Psychedelics. Frontiers in psychiatry, 12, 724606.

Kashdan, T. B., & Rottenberg, J. (2010). Psychological flexibility as a fundamental aspect of health. Clinical psychology review, 30(7), 865–878.

Levin, M. E., MacLane, C., Daflos, S., Seeley, J., Hayes, S. C., Biglan, A., & Pistorello, J. (2014). Examining psychological inflexibility as a transdiagnostic process across psychological disorders. Journal of contextual behavioral science, 3(3), 155–163.

Petri, G., Expert, P., Turkheimer, F., Carhart-Harris, R., Nutt, D., Hellyer, P. J., & Vaccarino, F. (2014). Homological scaffolds of brain functional networks. The Royal Society, 11(101).

Rodríguez Arce, J. M., & Winkelman, M. J. (2021). Psychedelics, Sociality, and Human Evolution. Frontiers in Psychology, 12.

Roelofs, K. (2017). Freeze for action: Neurobiological mechanisms in animal and human freezing. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 372(1718).

Siegel, D (1999). The Developing Mind. Guilford Press

Shi, R., Zhang, S., Zhang, Q., Fu, S., & Wang, Z. (2016). Experiential Avoidance Mediates the Association between Emotion Regulation Abilities and Loneliness. PloS one, 11(12), e0168536.