ReviewJournal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)2021
Pivotal mental states.
Review in Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 142 citations in OpenAlex.
- Psilocybin in the treatment of eating disorders: a systematic review of the literature and registered clinical trials.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2025Pooled it
- Aesthetic experiences and their transformative power: a systematic review.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Pooled it
- Effects of psychedelic use on authoritarian attitudes revisited.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Trial
- Autonomic nervous system activity correlates with peak experiences induced by DMT and predicts increases in well-being.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Trial
- Psychedelics and the 'inner healer': Myth or mechanism?Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2024Trial
- The entropic brain today.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2026Review
- Developing Methods for Observing Awe Narration in Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Learning as the unifying mechanism of psychedelic action.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Review
- The science of psychedelic medicine.Nature medicine · 2026Review
- On the meaning of "plasticity" in neuroscience and mental health research and its relation to the action of psychedelic therapy.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Cyberdelics: Virtual reality hallucinations modulate cognitive-affective processes.Dialogues in clinical neuroscience · 2025Article
- The Relationship Between Psychedelic Use and Positive Adult Development in Emerging Adulthood: An Integrative Review.Brain and behavior · 2025Review
- Psychedelics and autobiographical memory - six open questions.Psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Investing in Group Psychedelic Therapy for Latinx Immigrants.Journal of immigrant and minority health · 2025Article
- Evaluating the Potential of Microdosing 1cp-LSD for the Treatment of Canine Anxiety: A One-Month Case Study.Veterinary medicine and science · 2025Article
- A neuroscientific model of near-death experiences.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2025Review
- Comorbidity between psychosis and eating disorders: a systematic review.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Review
- Decreased COCommunications psychology · 2025Article
- Prediction of hallucinogen persisting perception disorder and thought disturbance symptoms following psychedelic use.PNAS nexus · 2025Article
- A qualitative analysis of the psychedelic mushroom come-up and come-down.Npj mental health research · 2025Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This paper introduces a new construct, the 'pivotal mental state', which is defined as a hyper-plastic state aiding rapid and deep learning that can mediate psychological transformation. We believe this new construct bears relevance to a broad range of psychological and psychiatric phenomena. We argue that pivotal mental states serve an important evolutionary function, that is, to aid psychological transformation when actual or perceived environmental pressures demand this. We cite evidence that chronic stress and neurotic traits are primers for a pivotal mental state, whereas acute stress can be a trigger. Inspired by research with serotonin 2A receptor agonist psychedelics, we highlight how activity at this particular receptor can robustly and reliably induce pivotal mental states, but we argue that the capacity for pivotal mental states is an inherent property of the human brain itself. Moreover, we hypothesize that serotonergic psychedelics hijack a system that has evolved to mediate rapid and deep learning when its need is sensed. We cite a breadth of evidences linking stress via a variety of inducers, with an upregulated serotonin 2A receptor system (e.g. upregulated availability of and/or binding to the receptor) and acute stress with 5-HT release, which we argue can activate this primed system to induce a pivotal mental state. The pivotal mental state model is multi-level, linking a specific molecular gateway (increased serotonin 2A receptor signaling) with the inception of a hyper-plastic brain and mind state, enhanced rate of associative learning and the potential mediation of a psychological transformation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.