Psychology

Hallucinogens: future of mental health treatment?

“Most powerful substances that we know of, that have powerful effects on the central nervous system, are like any powerful tool,” says Johnson, who has studied how psilocybin affects depression. “They can have dangerous effects, or beneficial effects, if judiciously used in a context where the dangers are known and mechanisms are in place to…

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Science

Illegal drugs are now used as medicine

“But researchers say that these physiological effects don’t fully explain how psilocybin can help someone quit smoking. “It’s not the drugs themselves that are producing all these therapeutic benefits. It’s usually the drug experience in combination with supportive psychotherapy,” study author Albert Garcia-Romeu, Ph.D., a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University, told Healthline” “In 1960 people…

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Psychology

A dose of a hallucinogen from a ‘magic mushroom,’ and then lasting peace

“Published… the results from that study, and a similar small, controlled trial, were striking. About 80 percent of cancer patients showed clinically significant reductions in both psychological disorders, a response sustained some seven months after the single dose. Side effects were minimal…The N.Y.U. researchers assessed patients the next day and found the effects to be…

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Politics

Why psychedelics might be legalized sooner than you think

“Support for legalizing magic mushrooms is low, but the groundswell is real. Using the medical marijuana movement as a playbook, “psychedelic societies” are pushing to destigmatize – and even legalize – magic mushrooms” Since 2004, a dozen clinical trials have demonstrated profound improvements in spiritual wellness, addiction, OCD and depression. One Phase III trial, the…

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Psychology

Using psychedelics to increase performance and reprogram the mind/brain interface

“The rose tinted days of “tune in, turn on” are long past. Contemporary neurohackers are exploring these chemicals for everything from accelerated learning to healing major trauma, reprogramming underlying associations that lead to habitual behavioral or thought patterns, shadow work, paradigm engineering, and, of course, the continued exploration of the nature of reality itself. ”…

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Spirituality

The existential medicine

“Ultimately, his friends and daughter—entering college by this time—convinced him that he needed to address his mental wellbeing. He tried counseling, but it didn’t improve his outlook. Neither did antidepressants. After several screening and counseling visits, Martin found himself sitting on a couch in a converted medical office/living room on Hopkins’ Bayview campus.” Meanwhile, early…

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Psychology

Seeing opportunity in psychedelic drugs

New research into LSD and psilocybin makes a powerful argument against prohibition. ‘This study assures us that there were not widespread “acid casualties in the 1960s,” Charles Grob, a pediatric psychiatrist at UCLA, told Nature.’ Over 30 million U.S. adults have tried psychedelics and there just is not much evidence of health problems,” the author…

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Spirituality

Can psychedelics make us more moral?

“In truth, the ban [on psychedelics] has been brief…it has always been about marketing.” Earp, a research associate at the Oxford Centre for Neuroethics, does not limit his discussion to psychedelics. For example, psychopathy is a chemical misfiring: emotional stimuli, such as words like ‘murder’ and ‘rape,’ have no effect on a psychopath’s nervous system.…

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