Mental health is an area of allopathic medicine in which there still aren't many treatment options, and many people are helped only somewhat or not at all by what's available. Recently research into the use of psychedelic drugs for legitimate therapeutic purposes has started up again after being more or less abandoned during the 60s and 70s. Below is a TED talk about the use of LSD and psilocybin to treat Treatment-Resistant Depression and PTSD. So far both drugs are showing promise which is exciting because in the cases of both PTSD and Depression, many patients don't
For Further Study:
Can Magic Mushrooms Unlock Depression? | Rosalind Watts | TEDxOxford
Psilocybin may ‘reset’ the brain to help manage treatment-resistant depression
Gabor Mate - Manifesting the Mind - Inside the Psychedelic Experience
I Tried Mushrooms - Psychedelics and Schizophrenia
FULL EPISODE: The Psychedelic Frontier
The Treasure Called the Psilocybes: Paul Stamets
Here's Why You Want To Know About Mushrooms and Depression
In this short video by Dr Tracey Marks, she explains that treatment with psilocybin (a psychedelic compound found in some "magic mushrooms") can be an effective way to treat depression for the 40 % to 60 % of patients who don't recover completely from depression with already available treatment modalities. Psilocybin activates the 5HT-2A receptor on neurons to raise levels of serotonin, and this is believed to be it's mode of action. As few as 2 doses of psilocybin can be enough to lead to long-term increases in flexible thinking. In the US, the FDA has granted breakthrough therapy designation to two pharmaceutical companies to develop psilocybin medication for treatment-resistant depression and "regular" depression. The companies that are in FDA trials to develop these meds are Compass Pathways and Usona Institute. More information is available on their websites, including info on volunteering to participate in trials.
Psychedelics: effects on the human brain and physiology
TED talk about how psychedelic drugs free our minds to think about things in new ways, to think outside the box, to learn and grow from our experiences, and to reframe our past, giving people with PTSD the chance to process and heal. Some of these drugs also help because they have chemicals that function exactly like serotonin. This can explain both many of the positives (such as increased and altered sensory perception, feeling connected, enlightenment, awe, etc.) as well as negatives (thoughts of death, panic attacks, etc.). Use of psychedelics (even after one time) has long term positive effects. The effects of psychedelics is similar to that of meditation. Not only do they not lead to addiction they actually treat addiction to other drugs. They work on the serotonin receptor differently than SSRIs because instead of limiting reuptake (which is problematic), they bind directly to the serotonin receptor (to specific ones maybe?) which is safer and more effective.
"Leading psychopharmacologist Roland Griffiths discloses the ways that psychedelic drugs can be used to create spiritually meaningful, personally transformative experiences for all patients, especially the terminally ill."
Psilocybin, love and the meaning of life | Mary Cosimano | TEDxKC
This talk focuses on the central importance of love and connections for people to have meaning in their lives, and how psilocybin can provide this for many people facing a wide variety of mental health and other challenges. This therapy is provided in a carefully designed treatment context that supports the needs of the participants needing help with everything from depression to PTSD to cancer to smoking cessation and has had remarkable results.
"Before Ecstasy became famous in the 1990s as the street drug of choice among ravers and curious college kids, a loosely knit network of psychiatrists and psychologists experimented with giving patients medical-grade MDMA, a synthetic compound originally developed by a Merck chemist in the early 1900s, to treat anxiety and depression."
"So far, 77 percent of the participants who have received MDMA in the Boulder pilot no longer meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD, according to Marcela Ot'alora, the study's lead investigator. After another clinical trial in Charleston, South Carolina, a similar effect was seen in 83 percent of the group that received MDMA treatment (compared to just 25 percent of the group who received talk therapy alone). Perhaps most encouragingly, three and a half years after the Charleston study was completed, the benefits largely held: Three-quarters of the MDMA-treated patients who'd been deemed clinically free of PTSD remained free of it,"
Recently brain scans done of people while taking LSD have shown some of the ways that the drug has the effects that it does and why it might be so helpful for people with PTSD and other mental health challenges. These scans show that areas of the brain that are usually not connected become connected while on the drug in ways that lead to what has been called "a more unified brain". The visual hallucinations that are so commonly associated with LSD are created by parts of the brain not usually involved in sight rather than by the visual cortex as was previously thought. Researchers also reported that the brains of people on LSD seemed to be functioning in a more childlike way, with fewer restrictions and limitations, than tend to be seen in adult brains. Microdosing, which is the use of very small doses of LSD that are too low to create a noticeable psychedelic effect, are effectively used by some people to achieve the benefits of increased creativity, less restricted thinking, and a more stable and positive mood. Microdosing has been used effectively to address some mental health issues including depression and PTSD. Personally, I think this may be because psychedelic drugs increase sensory input while also it more pleasant and this may be an effective way to be grounded in the present, which is something that many people have found useful in coping with PTSD in particular.
