[https://smoothbrains.net/posts/2024-03-01-5-meo-dmt.html]

One can imagine a wolf which lives off salmon in the local river. Perhaps our wolf suffers an encounter with a bear down at these hunting grounds and develops an aversion to water. This maladaptive behavioural pattern continues for some time, during which the passive coping mechanism helps it manage the stress of hunger. But this is insufficient for survival, and eventually the animal is driven to the point of starvation, at which point a pivotal mental state is triggered. If it’s lucky, the creature overcomes its behavioural aversions, and it learns to feed itself once again.

We propose that passive coping (i.e. tolerating a source of stress) is mediated by postsynaptic 5-HT1A receptor signalling and characterised by stress moderation. Conversely, we argue that active coping (i.e. actively addressing a source of stress) is mediated by 5-HT2A receptor signalling and characterised by enhanced plasticity (defined as capacity for change).