The Effects of Psilocybin on Cognitive and Emotional Processing in Healthy Adults and Adults with Depression: A Systematic Literature Review

• Autor(a) principal: Laura Inês Nunes Pinto Ramos
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://hdl.handle.net/10216/145685
• topic: Psicologia; Psychology

Aim. Psilocybin, a naturally occurring serotonergic agonist in some mushroom species, has shown promise as a novel, fast-acting pharmacotherapy seeking to overcome the limitations of conventional first-line antidepressants. Studying psilocybin effects on cognition and emotional processing may help to clarify the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic potential of psilocybin and may also support studies with people suffering from depression. Thus, this review aims to synthesize and integrate the literature regarding the effects of psilocybin on these two key areas in both healthy and depressed populations. Method. A systematic search was performed on PubMed, EBSCOhost, Web of Science and SCOPUS databases, restricting to publications from 2000 to 15th July 2022. After duplicates removal, study selection was conducted considering pre-specified criteria. Data extraction was then performed. The quality assessment was evaluated using the Cochrane Collaboration tools for randomized (RoB 2.0) and non-randomized (ROBINS-I) controlled trials. Results. Eighteen papers were included, with sixteen targeting healthy adults and two adults with depression. Impairments within the attentional and inhibitory processes, and improvements within the creativity and social cognition domains were seen in healthy individuals. Only cognitive flexibility and emotional recognition were found to be affected in depressed subjects. Comparison of outcomes from both populations proved limited. Conclusions. Psilocybin acutely alters several cognitive domains, with a localized rather than global focus, in a time-dependent manner. However, the remarkable methodological heterogeneity calls for further research, in the context of mental illness and with standardized plans, with longitudinal studies also imperative.