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I. Dziobek

Effect of psilocybin on empathy and moral decision-making

June 16, 2017 / Depressive Disorders, Mushrooms / Psilocybin, Papers, Psychology, Publications / By / , , , ,

Abstract

Background:

Impaired empathic abilities lead to severe negative social consequences and influence the development and treatment of several psychiatric disorders. Furthermore, empathy has been shown to play a crucial role in moral and prosocial behaviour. Although the serotonin (5-HT) system has been implicated in modulating empathy and moral behaviour, the relative contribution of the various 5-HT receptor subtypes is still unknown.

Methods:

We investigated the acute effect of psilocybin (0.215mg/kg p.o.) in healthy human subjects on different facets of empathy and hypothetical moral decision-making using the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET) (n=32) and the Moral Dilemma Task (MDT) (n=24).

Results:

Psilocybin significantly increased emotional, but not cognitive empathy compared to placebo, and the increase in implicit emotional empathy was significantly associated with psilocybin-induced changed meaning of percepts. In contrast, moral decision-making remained unaffected by psilocybin.

Conclusions:

These findings provide first evidence that psilocybin has distinct effects on social cognition by enhancing emotional empathy but not moral behaviour. Furthermore, together with previous findings psilocybin appears to promote emotional empathy presumably via activation of 5-HT2A/1A receptors suggesting that targeting 5-HT2A/1A receptors has implications for potential treatment of dysfunctional social cognition.

Pokorny, T., Preller, K. H., Kometer, M., Dziobek, I., & Vollenweider, F. X. (2017). Effect of psilocybin on empathy and moral decision-making. International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology. 10.1093/ijnp/pyx047

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The Effect of 5-HT2A/1a Agonist Treatment On Social Cognition, Empathy, and Social Decision-making

March 28, 2015 / Anxiety Disorders / PTSD, Depressive Disorders, Mushrooms / Psilocybin, Papers, Psychology, Publications / By / , , , , ,

Abstract

Social cognition is a crucial factor influencing development, progress, and treatment of psychiatric disorders. However, social cognition skills are insufficiently targeted by current treatment approaches. In particular, patients suffering from depression show an increased negative reaction to social exclusion and deficits in empathy. The 5HT-1A/2A receptor agonist psilocybin has previously been shown to reduce the neural response to negative emotional stimuli. However, it is not known if this extends to negative social interaction and whether 5HT-1A/2A receptor stimulation induces changes in empathy. Given the clear need for improved treatment of socio-cognitive functioning in psychiatric disorders, it is important to better understand the neuronal and neuromodulatory substrates of social cognition.

In a double-blind, randomized, cross-over design we therefore investigated the neural response to ostracism after the acute administration of psilocybin (0.215mg/kg) and placebo in healthy volunteers using fMRI. Furthermore, we assessed cognitive and emotional empathy using the Multifaceted Empathy Test.

The neural response to social exclusion in the ACC – a brain region associated with ‘social pain”- was reduced after psilocybin administration compared to placebo. Furthermore, emotional empathy was enhanced after treatment with psilocybin while no significant differences were found in cognitive empathy.

These results show that the 5HT-1A/2A receptor subtypes play an important role in the modulation of socio-cognitive functioning and therefore may be relevant for the treatment of social cognition deficits in psychiatric disorders. In particular, they may be important for the normalization of empathy deficits and increased negative reaction to social exclusion in depressed patients.

Preller, K. H., Pokorny, T., Krähenmann, R., Dziobek, I., Stämpfli, P., & Vollenweider, F. X. (2015). The Effect of 5-HT2A/1a Agonist Treatment On Social Cognition, Empathy, and Social Decision-making. European Psychiatry, 30, 22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0924-9338(15)30017-1
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