ALT Hands of three men toasting with beer

ALT Background and study aims Excessive drinking and alcohol use disorder (AUD) represents a global and highly costly healthcare burden. Current treatments are not effective for a large portion of people and there are relatively few treatment options to help people reduce their drinking when first-line options fail. Recently, there has been significant interest in the potential of psychedelic drugs in various mental health disorders, including alcohol and substance use disorders. Despite some promising findings, we still have very little rigorous experimental data on exactly how psychedelic drugs might produce positive changes in mental health and behaviour. One theory suggests that these drugs might alter the connectivity between key brain regions, better allowing people to modify their memory associations around drinking, drinking-related thoughts and behaviours.

ALT ‘Breaking Good’: Repurposing recreational drugs to modify maladaptive memories