How to account for hallucinations in the interpretation of the antidepressant effects of psychedelics: a translational framework.
Psychopharmacology (Berl) March 29, 2022 Manon Van den Berg, Igor Magaraggia, Rudy Schreiber et al. 14 citations
A theoretical framework is proposed to distinguish the hallucinogenic effects of psychedelics from their antidepressant effects. The authors argue that hallucinations and mood improvement may arise through separable neural mechanisms, and they outline a translational approach—spanning cellular, circuit, and behavioral levels—to test this dissociation. The framework suggests that antidepressant benefits could be achieved without the hallucinatory side effects, potentially leading to safer treatments. The paper synthesizes evidence from preclinical and clinical studies to support the idea that the two phenomena are not inevitably linked, though it acknowledges that further research is needed to confirm this separation.