Entropy & Neuroplasticity
Entropy can be defined as the general trend of the universe toward death and disorder. According to Wikipedia, Entropy is a scientific concept that is most commonly associated with a state of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. Left to our own devices without direction or will to change or intervention we tend towards our own demise. As life proceeds we can become jaded, stuck in our ways and rigid in our thoughts. We all have different wounds from traumas, losses, and conflict. Wounds that are not healed can create painfully reactive humans. We may no longer be acting out of free will but walking through life with every step as a reaction to our past. Entropy’s effect on mental health appears to be reduced neuroplasticity. Mood disorders and addiction disorders stem from a disruption in neuroplasticity (Ray, Weickert et al., 2014).
Neuroplasticity is the nervous system’s ability to adapt and change. Neuroplasticity creates fluidity in life. Psychedelic medicines are being studied as psychoplastogens. Substances that have the ability to enhance neuroplasticity and create lasting change. Through the processes of dendritogenesis, synaptogenesis, neurogenesis, and expression of plasticity-related genes (e.g., brain-derived neurotrophic factor and immediate early genes) neuroplasticity enables what I call “the Star Fish Effect”. The Star Fish Effecttm is the human capacity to regenerate the brain with the help of psychedelic medicine similar to how a star fish regenerates its limbs. Reduced neuroplasticity in the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus and has been studied extensively in MDD. Psychedelics promote neuroplasticity in the brain and this has been seen particularly in the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus (Calder and Hasler, 2023). In the context of psychedelic medicine entropy actually has a positive effect. Psychedelic neuroscience data led to the ‘“entropic brain hypothesis” and “RElaxed Beliefs Under Psychedelics” theory (REBUS). These theories hypothesise that the altered state of consciousness evoked by psychedelics stem from a parallel enriching effect on the dynamics of spontaneous population-level neuronal activity, which can be observed empirically by measuring the entropy of neuroimaging signals” (Carhart-Harris, 2018, Carhart-Harris et al., 2014, Carhart-Harris and Friston, 2019). Entropy enriches and enhances brain activity. Parts of the brain interact in a new and unpredictable way. Psychedelic medicine can help us escape our limitations by changing our brains. Instead of entropy leading to demise, entropy along with neuroplasticity creates new possibilities of emotional freedom and potentially a new lease on life.
Citations
Calder, A.E., Hasler, G. Towards an understanding of psychedelic-induced neuroplasticity. Neuropsychopharmacol. 48, 104–112 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-022-01389-z
Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Friston, K. J. (2019). REBUS and the anarchic brain: toward a unified model of the brain action of psychedelics. Pharmacological reviews, 71(3), 316-344.
Ray MT, Shannon Weickert C, Webster MJ. Decreased BDNF and TrkB mRNA expression in multiple cortical areas of patients with schizophrenia and mood disorders. Transl Psychiatry. 2014 May 6;4(5):e389. doi: 10.1038/tp.2014.26. PMID: 24802307; PMCID: PMC4035720.