The psychedelic revolution is being led by a 74-year-old holocaust survivor
Lisa Monteggia, professor of neuroscience at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, has studied how ketamine works to fight depression. Based on her own research, she thinks the trippy effects can be dissociated from the therapeutic ones. The right dose of the right compound, correctly timed, could “enable the design of treatment strategies against neuropsychiatric disorders without the unwanted side effects of these drugs,” she tells me.
For example, there is ongoing research aimed at developing a drug that would have the same depression-lifting effect of ketamine, but without the out-of-body trip. (Success here would also have the financially convenient effect of creating products that—unlike existing psychedelics— could be patented.) Johnson & Johnson, Naurex, and AstraZeneca have all been testing such drugs… But many of the psychedelic researchers think this quest is unlikely to bear fruit: indeed, so far, ketamine-like compounds without trippy effects haven’t reliably beaten placebo. This suggests that the emotional experience, its psychological content, and the way you make meaning out of the trip may really matter.
Original Article (Vice):
The Psychedelic Revolution Is Being Led by a 74-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor
Artwork Fair Use: Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums
