Effect and Potency of Psychedelics at the Psychopharmacological, Psychological, and Neurobiological Levels: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Psychedelics are psychoactive substances that alter perception, mood, and cognition. Since the 1950s, their molecular relationship with the serotonergic system has been studied, as evidenced through neu-roimaging. The objective of this review is to evaluate the interaction and potency of psychedelics across different dimensions (molecular, subjective, physi-cal, and neurobiological). To achieve this, a review of articles (PRISMA-ScR) published between 1950 and 2024 was conducted, searching PubMed, Medline, PsycINFO, and Embase in English and Spanish. The results highlight the challenges faced in interdisci-plinary research on the action of these substances at the molecular (psychopharmacology), structural and functional (neurobiology), and subjective (psychologi-cal) levels. Rather than providing specific answers, this review offers a panoramic view of the phenomenon under study: historical findings, new insights facilitated by current technology, a synthetic comparison of subjective effects, a brief description of current neurobiological hypotheses, and an identification of knowledge gaps on the topic.