Psychedelics, entactogens and depression Psychedelic and entactogenic drugs in the treatment of depression by Riedlinger TJ, Riedlinger JE Botanical Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Existing drug modalities for treating depression include some with serotonergic effects.
Studies suggest that psychedelic drugs are also serotonergic.
This may indicate a role for psychedelics in the treatment of depression. Such treatment has already been attempted using psychedelic drugs in both the indoleamine and phenylalkylamine categories. Encouraging results seem to recommend further research, with special emphasis on drugs in the phenylisopropylamine subgroup of phenylalkylamines that are only peripherally psychedelic. Certain of these, called entactogens or empathogens, cause substantially less distortion of normative consciousness than classic psychedelics, such as LSD or mescaline. They could therefore be more easily assimilated into existing psychotherapy approaches, where their function would be to enhance the normal psychotherapeutic process rather than serving a maintenance role as chemotherapeutic agents.