Robin Carhart-Harris

This talk addresses first principles of psychedelic action, beginning with a compound (psychological and pharmacological) definition of what they are. It also defines plasticity and describes how psychedelics enhance a very basic form of plasticity, thereby making people more context sensitive. By definition, psychedelic therapy is a context sensitive combination treatment (CSCT). I offer a candidate biomarker of what I call 'mediational plastity' (M-plasticity), the entropy of spontaneous brain activity (ESBA). I raise the hypothesis that context sensitivity increases (under psychedelics) as a function of increased ESBA. I also introduce recalibrative plasticity (R-plasticity) and suggest some candidates for it. I discuss the relevance of allostatic recalibration and explain what this is and why its relevant to the action of psychedelic therapy. Altogether, this talk will demystify psychedelic medicine, showing that it is neither snake oil nor a traditional pharmacotherapy, rather it is a paradigm challenging CSCT that demands to be understood as such.