LSD vs. SSRI
Psychedelics activate neuronal networks and the glutamate system that are implicated in the regulation of emotion," Vollenweider says, noting that their hallucinogenic effects can be impeded by < blocking specific serotonin receptors in the brain (known as 5-HT2A).
Psychedelics typically boost serotonin and may also boost the release of glutamate, according to the review authors, another neurotransmitter that has been linked to short-term but long-lasting brain functions such as learning and memory.
The idea that disturbances in brain chemistry might be important to behavior was profound, and began to revolutionize thinking about the brain, and neuroscience in general, and we can see how LSD was the catalyst for that revolution. If neuroscience can be said to have a beginning, one could argue that it occurred in 1954, with the idea that the action of LSD might be related to its effects on the
brain serotonin system. And if we look at the published scientific literature, we see a steadily increasing number of studies on
the role of serotonin in the brain, which continues to the present day. Drugs that
affect the serotonin system such as fluoxetine (Prozac) and other SSRI type antidepressants, or the triptan class of drugs used to treat migraines, were certainly developed more quickly because
of the discovery of LSD.
The newest generation of drugs to treat schizophrenia also binds to one class of serotonin receptor. Would these meds have been developed without the discovery of LSD?