How Psychedelics May Change Brain Flexibility and Support Systems During Key Learning Periods

Psychedelics may induce metaplasticity and reorganize the extracellular matrix.

• Psychedelics are associated with altered states of consciousness.
• These compounds have shown promise for treating disorders like posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and addiction.
• Early studies primarily focused on biochemical targets, which do not fully explain the effects of psychedelics.
• Neurobiological explanations suggest that psychedelics reopen critical periods in brain development.
• The therapeutic effects of psychedelics support a learning model rather than the traditional biochemical imbalance model.

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