I just subscibed to this newsletter. They are making big strides. They are getting very good results treating depression, PTSD and addiction.
They are exploring inflammation, and Alzheimer’s. They are also working on the effects of the compounds without the effects of hallucination. However, there is an open discussion about the usefulness of the hallucinations specifically with depression anxiety and PTSD.
Cheers
Qazulightyc
One challenge to these studies is there is no question who got the placebo.
I guess you can say there are great strides happening in psychedelic research. Sure doesn’t seem that way to me when I read today’s update on the woman who lives 3 towns over from us who strangled her three babies and then tried to kill herself by jumping out from a top floor window of her home - all while her husband was gone for 25 minutes getting a CVS order and take-out food. Defense attorney is saying she was overmedicated with psych meds.
Sad story where psychedelic meds did not help.
'38Packard
→ more work to do
Normally psychedelic meds are administered in a controlled setting.
Can you send a link please.
Qazulight
Hey Qazulight, I don’t make this stuff up. Hope you can see this Boston Globe article.
Here’s a snippet:
Between October and January, Lindsay Clancy was prescribed 13 psychiatric medications in all, Reddington said.
They were: zolpidem, sold under the brand name Ambien; clonazepam, sold under the brand name Klonopin; diazepam, sold under the brand name Valium; fluoxetine, sold under the brand name Prozac; lamotrigine, sold under the brand name Lamictil; lorazepam, sold under the brand name Ativan; mirtazapine, sold under the brand name Remeron; quetiapine fumarate, sold under the brand name Seroquel; sertaline, sold under the brand name Zoloft, along with trazodone, hydroxyzine, amitriptyline and buspirone, he said.
You might want to google this case, as it will be interesting to watch how this pans out. Terrible for the husband and the three kids who are no longer with us. She was a labor and childbirth nurse at Mass General I think.
'38Packard
I did a quick Google search, and I think you mean “psychotropic.” This article indicates she was on prescription drugs, and psychedelics are not available by prescription.
You’re right though, even in this age we have very few effective treatments for mental illness. SSRIs are only barely more effective than placebos and come with side effects that can make the patient feel better off without them. Similar problems with bipolar patients who tend to not remain on their medications because they don’t feel well.
That’s why psychedelics are so promising. Researchers at Johns Hopkins and other institutions have shown lasting results for depression, alcoholism, PTSD, and other conditions, in as little as one treatment, with no side effects.
This is an astonishing result. For a variety of reasons, many of these studies have been conducted on terminal cancer patients. Many patients reported that after treatment their anxiety and fear of death either faded or went away altogether.
A pioneer in this field was Harvard ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes, who documented indigenous populations use of psychedelic plants, and observed that psychedelics could have powerful healing properties. He later wrote a book on the topic with Albert Hofmann, the chemist who first synthesized and ingested LSD.
Michael Pollen wrote an excellent book on this topic, “How to Change your Mind.” It is now five years old, so the research he discusses isn’t up to date, but discussion is very lucid and well done.
Thanks for the clarification @syke6 . my bad.
'38Packard
Not bad.
The doctors know so little. In Dr Andrew Huberman’s long form Podcast about mental health, psychedelics, and meditation. In that podcast they talked about the theory that was considered accurate. The theory was that low serotonin caused depression and anxiety. However, while SSRI’s can be effective, they now believe the mechanism is not what they had believed.
Also, SSRI’s can tip a person who has a tendency to mania over into a psychotic break. This is also a risk with psychedelics.
Qazulight
If anyone has the time, interest and inclination, here is an interview of Dr Roland Griffiths, Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness research. He goes into some of the history as well as current research: How Psychedelics Can Help, Drug Addiction, and Nature of Consciousness, with Dr. Roland Griffiths - YouTube