Psychology

Love… magic mushrooms

You don’t just feel things when you’re on mushrooms. They make you psychically [physically, and emotionally] understand and absorb your surroundings. The liberation of psilocybin is upon us. Earlier this year, Denver voted to decriminalize magic fungi and activists are now lobbying congress to do so nationally. Shrooms aren’t having a moment; they’re reclaiming their rightful place at…

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Psychology

Can a psychedelic drug save the terminally ill from their deepest fears of death?

Within palliative care wards, antidepressants have not been particularly useful in treating the dying. The trial is part of a revolutionary shift in attitudes towards psychedelic drugs believed to have therapeutic benefits for treatment-resistant depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even commonplace addiction to alcohol or tobacco. “Antidepressants tend to make people feel a little less…

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Psychology

If we wrote about caffeine like we do other drugs…

Without it… they become grumpy and unfocused. “Those who get between me and coffee don’t live long enough to tell about it,” admits Genelle. Violent statements like these are commonly associated with “caffeineheads”—though more research may be needed to confirm a causal relationship with homicidal behavior. It’s not just bohemians who are impacted by this…

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Psychology

Eating mushrooms isn’t [just] like smoking a joint

“Under legalization, you would have big companies not just making mushrooms available but aggressively marketing them to people, as we’re seeing with cannabis,” said Michael Pollan. Under decriminalization, Oakland police will now put enforcement down among its lowest priorities (which means it won’t be a priority at all), and the city is forbidden from prosecuting…

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Psychology

[Is it]… time to legalize psilocybin mushrooms?

While… [some] initiatives, including the “medicalization”… are an important step in the right direction… it is time to go further. In contrast to “legalization,” “decriminalization” involves the loosening of criminal penalties… [for the use of the natural variety found in over one hundred species of psilocybin-containing mushrooms that grow worldwide] and, as in the case…

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Psychology

They broke my mental shackles’: could magic mushrooms be the answer to depression?

If common antidepressants dull emotions to help people cope… psilocybin [containing mushrooms] work… on our serotonin system to heighten emotional responses and encourage people to actively confront their depression, which can prompt enduring shifts in mind-set. Much about the neuroscience of psychedelics remains unknown, but fMRI scans of patients’ brains after taking psilocybin showed reduced…

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Psychology

It’s time… to experiment with new drug policies

Denver’s move is just the latest outbreak of common sense on drugs… If Britain committed to a sensible, humane approach, it would represent a devastating blow to this most catastrophic of global policies. For the sake of common sense and basic humanity… enough is enough – and publicly declare the death rites for the “war…

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Psychology

Why faking positive emotions at work can lead to heavier alcohol consumption

Such is life for millions of service workers, from baristas to customer service reps. Personally, I’ll never forget how frustrating it was to smile and say “sure!”  Significant patterns arose confirming that employees who more frequently reported surface acting/concept creep [the emotional weight carried by service-industry workers, like bank tellers and flight attendants, who are…

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Psychology

A survey of American psychiatrists’ attitudes toward classic hallucinogens

A large minority of American psychiatrists expressed optimism about the potential use of hallucinogens for psychiatric treatment. Recent years have seen renewed interest and research about the use of hallucinogens as possible agents in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. Original Article (The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease):A survey of American psychiatrists’ attitudes toward classic…

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Psychology

Psychedelics, extinction & social change

Could psychedelics help us to come into right relationship with nature? The Earth is in the grip of a sixth mass extinction, with 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles wiped out since 1970. Some have suggested that the root of the problem lies in the ‘story of separation’: the widespread idea that humans are…

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