Psychoplastogen

2022, Maxemiliano V. Vargas, et al., Psychedelics and Other Psychoplastogens for Treating Mental Illness, Antonio Metastasio, Graham Campbell, Renee Harvey, Peter Schuyler Hendricks, Joanna Caroline Neill, Katrin H. Preller (editors) Can Psychedelic Therapies open a New Frontier in Mental Healthcare (Or Will the Bubble Burst?), Frontiers Media, page 123, FIGURE 7 | Comparison of traditional antidepressant treatments with hallucinogenic and non-hallucinogenic psychoplastogen treatments. *Currently, no clinical trials have been conducted with non-hallucinogenic psychoplastogens, and thus, their fast-acting and long-lasting effects refer to preclinical testing only.

Although the molecular targets of classic and dissociative psychedelics differ (5HT and NMDA receptors, respectively), their plasticity promoting properties are similar and are known to activate TrkB, mTOR, and 5HT_(2A) signaling pathways, suggesting that these key signaling hubs may serve as potential targets for the development of "psychoplastogens," fast-acting antidepressants, and anxiolytics (Ly et al., 2018).

The fact that LSD, psilocybin, and so forth act as psychoplastogens—agents that increase the plasticity of the mind—is part of what explains their therapeutic effects (Ly et al. 2018, Olson 2018).

Psychedelics trigger neuroplasticity immediately, which is why they've been dubbed psychoplastogens. It's not yet known, however, how long this plasticity lasts.