The use of psychedelics for therapeutic purposes has been used for years now to treat various mental health disorders. There is evidence that psychedelic-assisted therapy may improve mental health in patients suffering from many conditions, such as major depression, anxiety, and PTSD.
The compounds doctors most frequently used are psilocybin mushrooms, LSD, and mescaline, for these types of studies. Although studies revolving around psychedelics for therapeutic use are relatively new, the emerging research suggests that these psychedelic drugs may actually be beneficial for some people with specific symptoms, especially when other methods of treating the illness have failed.
As these kinds of studies are new, researchers don’t know exactly how and why psychedelics work in this manner. There are speculations that psychedelics can reset the brain by altering neurotransmitter levels or even inducing a new perspective on life with the mystical experiences psychedelic trips provide.
There have been reports of patients feeling more open to new ideas in the discussion with the therapist, thus that also may be the case why psychedelics tend to have healing potential.
For mental health issues in psychedelic therapies, patients consume drugs that contain plant chemicals, which can induce psychedelic effects, such as hallucination, elevated state of consciousness, and sharpening of the senses. These include LSD and psilocybin from hallucinogenic mushrooms, which are used in innovative mental health treatment approaches. There are forms of therapy where synthetically derived psychedelics are used in therapy such as MDMA or Ketamine.
Most of the time psychedelic treatment is combined with other more traditional forms of psychological treatments, to offer other forms of support and make sure that the outcome is successful. However, sometimes doctors do prescribe this treatment on its own.
In the majority of cases, doctors will try this new form of psychedelic therapy on people who already tried standard medications or therapies, but without a response. Here are some ways that they might work:
A person’s mindset or belief system may shift as a result of intensely meaningful experiences under the influence of psychedelics. These experiences may be beneficial to better understanding your own emotions, and also give you greater insights into your own mind. Psilocybin treatment has been shown to induce intensely meaningful experiences that can lead to significant emotional insights.
Studies have shown that people using psychedelics may be more suggestible. As a result, they may be more responsive to positive suggestions from therapists, or they may be more receptive to the benefits of their own hallucinations.
The role of behavioral sciences is crucial in understanding how psychedelics increase suggestibility and enhance therapeutic outcomes.
Neurotransmitters are the brain’s messengers. Many traditional mental health drugs directly impact neurotransmitters in order to change the mood. Research shows that some psychedelic drugs may also act on neurotransmitters, changing the brain’s behavioral patterns and improving overall mood.
When patients are using traditional medication for mental health conditions, it often takes up to several weeks for them to start working, and they may only work for as long as the patient takes them. Most research conducted on psychedelic therapy has found an immediate improvement, even with a single dose or session.
With the use of psychedelic compounds in the therapy sessions, the effects on brain chemistry can lead to significant therapeutic outcomes. With these changes, people tend to be more open to new experiences, and even their emotions could be felt in a different manner. Having the effects like these helps the therapist breach the patient’s mind and try to increase the efficiency of classic psychotherapy.
As the studies on this topic are relatively new, researchers do not know how exactly this kind of treatment work. It’s important to note that psychedelic-assisted therapy does not work for everybody.
Learn More:Tips for Selecting a Psychedelic Therapist
Usually, the first phase is professional consultation to ensure that you won’t have any contraindications to the treatment. This is also a great chance to discuss your goals and concerns around psychedelic therapy.
The second step involves ingesting, the psychedelic substance either orally or intravenously, under the supervision of a trained clinician. There can be multiple sessions, it all depends on the type of psychedelic drugs you are using and the treatment plan. For example, MDMA-assisted therapy is usually done in 3 different sessions, on the other hand when using Ketamine it can vary from 1 to 12 sessions.
The final phase involves integrating meaning from the psychedelic experiences, which is done between the therapist and the client.
Learn More: Tips for Selecting a Psychedelic Integrator
There are various drugs that could be used in psychedelic therapy to treat mental illness. However, only a handful was studied in clinical trials and more research should be conducted. The studies were conducted to see if these drugs have the potential to treat:
Some of the drugs used for psychedelic-assisted therapy are:
MDMA-assisted psychotherapy has been shown to treat PTSD symptoms for up to four years in multiple phase 2 clinical trials.
A phase 3 trial of MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD was also completed, which assesses whether the treatment works better than what is currently available. This was the first phase 3 trial conducted, of any psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy so far.
With three treatments, 67 percent of patients who had severe PTSD no longer qualified for a diagnosis, while 88 percent had decreased symptoms.
A 2023 FDA approval is possible based on the results of the trial, according to the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).
LSD is a long-lasting, potent psychedelic drug that’s appraised to be the prototype for therapeutic psychedelic research. It has shown the potential to reduce anxiety in people living with life-threatening diseases, as well as to help one’s struggling with addictions such as alcoholism and opioid addiction.
Psilocybin treatment has shown positive results in the treatment of anxiety and major depression in patients living with terminal illnesses.
Scientists believe that psilocybin-assisted therapy could also help with fighting addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and treatment-resistant depression, but more studies should be conducted to determine its true therapeutic potential.
Psilocybin also eases existential anxiety in people fighting life-threatening cancer, according to researchers at the Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, at John Hopkins.
Being the most-studied psychedelic drug for mental health therapy, in low doses, ketamine has shown to be beneficial in numerous ways.
For people with major depression, research shows significant improvement after the ketamine treatment, the positive outcome lasted for about 6 to 8 weeks.
Nevertheless, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy is still being studied, for it’s believed to have more therapeutic potential. It’s been researched for the treatment of alcohol dependence, and addiction to various psychoactive drugs.
Ibogaine is a psychedelic drug with dissociative properties. It’s not currently approved for any kind of therapeutic use. However, there are legal ibogaine rehabilitation centers in Brazil and Mexico. It’s believed that Ibogaine aid in treating drug addiction, although there is insufficient data to back up these claims.
On the other hand, there are studies that show Ibogain’s potential in treating trauma-related psychological and cognitive Impairment. More clinical studies should be conducted to determine the health benefits of using Ibogaine in psychedelic therapy.
From treatment-resistant depression and PTSD to substance abuse disorders, these substances have shown promise in new and ongoing clinical psychedelic research. Unlike selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which often have severe side effects, psychedelics offer a novel approach to treating these conditions.
In 2019, FDA approved Esketamine, a nasal spray containing ketamine, for easing the symptoms of treatment-resistant depression. Currently, it’s the only form of ketamine that is approved by the FDA, for the treatment of mental health conditions, and it is mostly prescribed side to side with antidepressants.
Since ketamine causes deep sedation and impaired judgment, it has the potential for abuse. There are strict guidelines on how to use it, for instance, it must be administered under the supervision of a doctor.
As ketamine is not a Schedule I drug, it can also be prescribed off-label for treating mental health conditions it was not specifically approved to treat, like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As a result of this loophole, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy therapy clinics all over the country are on the rise, providing ketamine in the form of an intravenous infusion.
In short, yes. However, you should keep a few things in mind.
Clinical trials are one of the safest ways to give psychedelic-assisted therapy a chance. It’s simply because trials are done in a safe and controlled environment under the eye of trained clinicians, at any moment of the psychedelic experience.
It’s not as easy as just signing up for one of these randomized controlled trials. It’s a competitive space at this moment. In order to participate in a randomized clinical trial, you will have to meet certain criteria. For instance, it could involve having symptoms for a prolonged period of time, agreeing to all study rules and regulations, time commitments, and more.
Some experts have concerns about the rise of self-medication. Especially after the 2020 Global Drug Survey showed a generous increase in the number of people who self-medicate, in the hope to treat various mental health problems, with the use of psychedelics.
Many of these concerns are coming from the potential of contamination that didn’t come from a lab-tested source, as street drugs are often laced with other substances. For instance, in the past few years, there was evidence that blotters sold as “LSD” had no actual LSD in them. In fact, they were 25i-NBOMe, which is a far more dangerous drug than acid. Even a tiny mistake in dosing could have catastrophic and even fatal outcomes. Lack of medical supervision is a concern as well.
Otherwise, most psychedelic drugs are generally considered safe, or low risk, especially when they are ingested in clinical settings.
Magic mushrooms may cause short-term elevated blood pressure, or even cause headaches.
MDMA can sometimes have similar effects on blood pressure, increased body temperature, and heart rate. However, these side effects typically go away when the drug wears off.
Also, psychedelics have been linked to an increased risk of psychosis in people who suffer from mental health conditions or have a predisposition to them.
Obtaining and consuming some psychedelic drugs is illegal, which means that you can get in trouble with the law. Therefore, the best way to consume psychedelic drugs should be in clinical settings where psychedelic research is conducted.
The best way to stay safe is to learn about the dangers, one great book about this topic is “Human hallucinogen research: guidelines for safety,”
Some psychedelic drugs, like MDMA, are considered to be a potential drug of misuse, with all the euphoria it can cause. Possible negative effects of consuming psychedelics could include dizziness, dissociation from reality, drowsiness, anxiety, panic attacks, and nausea.
Despite their ongoing promise in the field of psychiatry and psychotherapy, psychedelic drugs are not yet considered to be a mainstream form of medicine, and their use is still greatly condoned only in experimental and monitored settings. As these substances cause severe impairments they shouldn’t be used without a guide or a therapist in order to treat any kind of psychiatric disorders.
On the bright side, for the conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression, psychedelic therapy present a novel and promising treatment avenue. Some patients even say that the experience of ingesting psychedelics can truly be life-changing.
There truly is a lot of excitement revolving around the potential of psychedelic therapies. As a result of this hype, a lot of new therapists, gurus, retreats, and clinics are opening today.
A good place to start is the database of accredited therapists maintained by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies if you want to participate in psychedelic-assisted treatment under the guidance of an expert.
The association welcomes concerns or questions regarding psychedelic-assisted therapy. They can make recommendations that would help guide you in the right direction.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy could be really expensive. The price for a single session can be in the range of 400-500 dollars, while the estimate for the entire treatment is around $15,000. It really depends on the clinic, retreat, or therapist.
One way to reduce costs is to tweak protocols without compromising effectiveness, such as reducing the number of required sessions or the number of therapists. Also, offering sliding scale payment options, subsidizing treatment for people who need financial assistance, and offering telehealth psychotherapy sessions could also help.
For now, getting insurance to pay for the expenses of psychedelic-assisted therapy is very hard, as you will need to convince your insurance that it is the only way to go.
FDA approval could help with opening the door to insurance coverage. Advocates are working on preparing the necessary codes and billing procedures so that insurance will be able to cover these treatments when they are needed.
Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy has shown great promise to ease and cure the symptoms of various mental health problems such as major depression, PTSD, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Many trials and psychiatric research are still underway and there is much excitement and promise around their results.
The best practice is to educate oneself about the substance as well as to do it under professional guidance if it is being used for therapeutic purposes. Although some treatments can be expensive there are affordable options available that fit the needs of most. Psychedelic therapy is an effective way of treating mental health issues and many people have already used it effectively to ease and cure their symptoms to improve their health.
Disclaimer:
This website does not promote or endorse the cultivation or use of psilocybin mushrooms. Psilocybin can be illegal and pose health risks. Always check your local laws and consult a medical professional before considering psilocybin use. Content is designed for adults aged 18 and over.