Treating Addiction: Perspectives from EEG and Imaging Studies on Psychedelics.

After a ban on psychedelic research in the late 1960s, covert studies continued through the 1990s, but the past decade has seen renewed scientific interest in substances such as LSD, ayahuasca, and psilocybin. This chapter reviews EEG and brain imaging studies that evaluate how psychedelics affect the brain. It also examines evidence for using psychedelics as adjunct therapy for psychiatric and addictive disorders, noting that psychedelics appear to have efficacy in treating depression and alcohol-use disorders.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Despite reports of apparent benefits, social and political pressure beginning in the late 1960s effectively banned scientific inquiry into psychedelic substances. Covert examination of psychedelics persisted through the 1990s; the turn of the century and especially the past 10 years, however, has seen a resurgent interest in psychedelic substances (eg, LSD, ayahuasca, psilocybin). This chapter outlines relevant EEG and brain imaging studies evaluating the effects of psychedelics on the brain. This chapter also reviews evidence of the use of psychedelics as adjunct therapy for a number of psychiatric and addictive disorders. In particular, psychedelics appear to have efficacy in treating depression and alcohol-use disorders.