PsychEd Episode 27: Serotonin Pharmacology: From SSRIs to Psychedelics with Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Welcome to PsychEd, the psychiatry podcast for medical learners, by medical learners.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In this episode, we begin to explore the neurobiology of the serotonin system — along with key pharmacological agents (SSRIs and classical psychedelics) that act on this system — with guest expert Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris, a neuroscientist and</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College London</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Our discussion is more theoretical than directly clinically relevant, striving to provide a mechanistic understanding of how serotonin functions within the brain and how serotonin-modulating drugs influence this system. The episode was inspired by a review published by our guest expert and Dr. David Nutt called “</span><a href= "https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881117725915"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Serotonin and brain function: a tale of two receptors</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">” (cited below). If you are interested in the topic, you might consider reading this review in full! Please note that the figures referenced during this episode can be accessed at</span> <a href= "https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/figure/10.1177/0269881117725915"><span style="font-weight: 400;"> https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/figure/10.1177/0269881117725915</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The learning objectives for this episode are as follows: </span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">By the end of this episode, you should be able to…</span></p> <p> </p> <ol> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">Understand the general anatomy and function of the serotonin system, with a focus on the purported activity of the more common serotonin receptors and transporters.</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;"><s