By Maia Szalavitz — 2012
A new brain-scan study helps explain how psilocybin works—and why it holds promise as a treatment for depression, addiction and post-traumatic stress.
Read on healthland.time.com
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Through this treatment plan, the patient was able to “reconceptualize her trauma” and “was able to move through difficult memories and emotions rather than letting them consume her,” explained U of O associate professor, Monnica Williams.
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Though researchers are still trying to understand the cognitive and therapeutic mechanics of psychedelics, they have concluded that psilocybin, DMT and other psychoactive chemicals can help people feel more tolerance, understanding and empathy.
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To treat depression, the neurons which control the hormones serotonin and dopamine in our brains seem to get all the attention.
It seems that psychedelics do more than simply alter perception. According to the latest research from my colleagues and me, they change the structures of neurons themselves.
The mind-altering drug has been shown to help people suffering from anxiety and depression. But how it helps, who it will serve, and who will profit are open questions.
My first encounter with ketamine did not go well.
The last time I was on ketamine, I was hooked up to an IV following surgery. This time, the drug—in general medical use as an anesthetic since 1970—arrived on my doorstep courtesy of Mindbloom, a new telemedicine company specializing in ketamine-based psychedelic therapy.
Repeated intravenous (IV) ketamine infusions significantly reduce symptom severity in individuals with chronic post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the improvement is rapid and maintained for several weeks afterwards, according to a new study.