Not Just For Veterans
Doblin believes that there are many applications and uses for psychedelics that extend beyond the VA especially for depression and other psychological issues.
Psychedelics will also play a major role in community-wide addiction treatment, he said. It will be combined with psychotherapy, as well as for couples, obsessive-compulsive disorder , phobias, and depression.
Why Psychedelic Drugs May Become A Key Treatment For Ptsd And Depression
Ecstasy and the active ingredient in magic mushrooms have shown promise in clinical trials, but more testing is needed
Emma Yasinski
Freelance Writer
While it has been referenced throughout history, notably in World War I, post-traumatic stress disorder as we know it today was first described as a distinct diagnosis after World War II among individuals who had survived Nazi concentration camps. The patients came home experiencing anxiety, depression and nightmares. They were frequently startled. In a paper synthesizing some of these early observations in 1963, psychiatrist Paul Chodoff wrote, Perhaps the most nearly universal and most characteristic symptom was an obsessive rumination state in which the patient was more or less constantly preoccupied with recollections of, and ruminations about, his experiences during persecution, and about family who had died or been killed. Psychiatrists tested a variety of treatments from drugs to exposure therapy for what Chodoff referred to as concentration camp syndrome.
Patients and scientists have longed for more options. How many drugs are registered for PTSD? asks Eric Vermetten, a psychiatrist at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands and a military veteran himself. The answer is two. And when were they registered? 21 years ago. Thats 21 years, we havent had any new drugs registered for PTSD.
Benefits Of Approving Psilocybin To Treat Ptsd
Supporters of using psychedelic drugs to help patients lessen their anxiety feel strongly that these drugs should be made available in a safe and supportive medical setting. In Dr. Rosss study, the majority of participants reported having a positive experience that helped them feel less afraid. If these drugs can have such a success rate, then what could possibly be the reason for them not being legal?
Drugs can be either chemically or psychologically addictive. When the cells in a persons body cannot function without a certain drug, that person is chemically addicted to the drug. In contrast, when someone is psychologically addicted to a drug, they think that they desperately need it, but their body doesnt actually physically need it to function. Psilocybin is not chemically addictive like drugs such as nicotine and is also not known to have strong negative effects.
Utilitarianism is a doctrine used in ethics that says that an action is right insofar as it promotes happiness, and that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the guiding principle of conduct. When a drug is in the process of being approved, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration uses this doctrine to determine whether it will lead to the greatest overall happiness. Supporters believe that because the drug is not that bad for you and has shown to have positive effects, the good definitely outweighs the bad.
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Safety And Potential Side Effects
Frequently reported side effects of MDMA include anxiety, tight jaw, headache, and fatigue . Episodes of anxiety can occur when the first effects of MDMA become noticeable and can easily be coped with by psychotherapeutic support . In some cases, a slightly depressed mood has been reported . MDMA is known to increase heart rate and blood pressure in a dose-dependent manner . Therefore, some forms of hypertension and severe cardiovascular pathology are seen as contraindications. Slight hyperthermia as induced by MDMA presents no problem when used in a medical setting . Some authors have raised concerns over a potential neurotoxicity and abuse liability of MDMA . However, neither of those have occurred in medically supervised use of MDMA .
Study Showing Positive Effects For People With Ptsd
In general, there seems good reason to think psychedelic compounds can alleviate a broad range of trauma-related symptoms, with recent research showing that use of psychedelics, including LSD, can decrease the negative impact of racial trauma. A new study is showing that repeated ketamine infusions can reduce symptoms in people with chronic PTSD. And researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine surveyed people with a PTSD diagnosis who had taken 5-MeO-DMT, finding that 78% of respondents experienced an improvement in their PTSD symptoms.
But for now, MDMA is the clear front-runner in the battle against PTSD. The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies recent phase three clinical trial of MDMA-assisted therapy produced spectacular results. Around 67% of participants who received three MDMA-therapy sessions no longer qualify for a PTSD diagnosis, and 88% experienced a significant reduction in symptoms. To put this in perspective, the recovery rate from three MDMA-assisted psychotherapy sessions over two months is better than existing treatments achieve at two years, and approximately twice as successful as the placebo results in this experiment MAPS is optimistic that these results will facilitate future US Food and Drug Administration approval for this breakthrough therapy.
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Psychedelics As Mental Health Therapy
Research into psychedelics including psilocybin, MDMA and ketamine has shown that the drugs have potential therapeutic benefits, particularly for serious mental health conditions such as depression, addiction and anxiety. A study published in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Psychiatry in 2020 found that psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy was an effective and quick-acting treatment for a group of 24 participants with major depressive disorder. published in 2016 determined that psilocybin treatment produced substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer.
Psychedelic magic mushrooms are being researched to see the benefits of psilocybin used in … psychedelic therapy. There is currently movement to legalize or decriminalize plant medicine because of it’s therapeutic potential.
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In 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration designated MDMA as a breakthrough therapy for PTSD, a move which streamlined clinical trials to test the effectiveness of the drug. A year later, the FDA granted the same status to psilocybin as a breakthrough therapy for treatment-resistant depression. The new willingness to allow research has led to a push to study psychedelics as medicines for the nations military veterans, whose challenges with mental illness have led to a suicide rate among vets that is higher than that of civilians.
‘magic Mushrooms’ Help Longtime Smokers Quit
Johns Hopkins researchers report that a small number of longtime smokers who had failed many attempts to drop the habit did so after a carefully controlled and monitored use of psilocybin, the active hallucinogenic agent in so-called “magic mushrooms, in the context of a cognitive behavioral therapy treatment program.
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Spiritual Nourishment For Ptsd
The addicted brain needs physical nourishment and the brain/mind also needs spiritual nourishment that derives from transcendent vision and ongoing rituals of connection with others. Interestingly, the primary pharmacological treatment for PTSD and depression involves enhancing the serotonergic and dopaminergic/GABA systems in the brain. Not surprisingly, botanical medicine, hallucinogens, and entheogens interact with these same systems. As I elsewhere note, there are many routes to GABA besides benzodiazepines. Nature provides an abundance of plants for this purpose. This reality suggests that successful treatment of PTSD may be more about what path we take to arrive at the synapse. As we shall see, the entheogens are serotonergic agonists more than one client has started on Prozac and said, âGee, it feels like acid!â
Spirit molecules are used by people with PTSD and most have been or are the subject of ongoing clinical research for the treatment of PTSD or the sequelae. Because of the range of effects of trauma and because they often emerge and resolve and reemerge over the life course, the individual suffering the effects of trauma will have evolving needs over his/her/their life course.
Rudy Gonsior 36 Turned To Psychedelics After A ‘straight
Rudy Gonsior, 36, a special forces operator of 18 years, told Insider that before going on an ayahuasca retreat in 2019, he had never done any illicit drugs.
“I was pretty much straight-edge all the way through, other than some of the classical experiences with alcohol,” he said. “An altered state of mind was something that I’ve never experienced. So it was kind of a turn into a whole different world for me.”
But earlier that year, he began to consider psychedelics as a possible treatment for his PTSD, after experiencing the end of his marriage and an emotional breakdown. He began to bury himself in research that had already been done on psychedelics.
“I was desperate,” he said. “It was a real Hail Mary move for me. I didn’t feel like I had anything else going for me at that point. I had done traditional talk therapy, I had been offered cornucopia of pharmaceuticals from VA, which I turned down because I saw what it had done to good friends of mine.”
Gonsior said he was experiencing classic PTSD symptoms that many veterans go through, like waking up from a dream and feeling like he was still in the midst of combat, becoming aggravated at small things that shouldn’t matter, and feeling suffocated and anxious in crowded spaces.
One night, he recalled, he found himself standing nude at his front door in the middle of the night, pistol in hand, because he thought someone was trying to break into his home.
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Altering Consciousness And Trauma
- Post-traumatic stress disorder disrupts the rhythmic function of consciousness.
- Psychedelics could help restore an individual’s sense of rhythm and balance.
- Understanding the types of drugs that people use to self-medicate may help us understand their psychological, biological, and spiritual needs.
This post is Part 1 in a series.
Though altering our state of consciousness is often demonized, it is essential to understand the use of psychedelics and mind-altering substances for people who treat and/or experience PTSD. Trauma alters consciousness and it is no surprise that upwards of 70 percent of people with PTSD self-medicate to the point of addiction at some point in their lives. Many more use substances but do not become addicted. Substance use intersects both the natural human urge for inner exploration with the need to suppress unpleasant states. Plants and mushrooms and their chemical derivatives are the subjects of general empirical science, Indigenous sciences, and biomedical clinical trials aimed at identifying their application for the treatment of PTSD, depression, anxiety, addiction, insomnia and as a catalyst for spiritual and post-traumatic growth. It is at this intersection that a therapeutic approach to understanding psychoactive states and balances can be explored.
New Clinical Trials Beginning
While the VA hasnt endorsed any psychedelics or funded any trials at the federal level, several individual VA hospitals have begun looking at psychedelics as a possible treatment alternative.
The VA is lagging way behind with regard to psychedelics, said Rick Doblin, PhD, the founder and executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies .
Most veterans believe that the VA should be the active voice for veterans. If there is some treatment that can help the veteran, they should be first to study it, Doblin told Healthline. But that is not the case. The vast majority of the funding has been from private donors.
Doblin, who received his doctorate in public policy from Harvards Kennedy School of Government, wrote his dissertation on the regulation of psychedelics and cannabis for medical use.
His professional goal is to change the publics perception of psychedelics. He supports the development of psychedelics as prescription medications but also for personal growth for otherwise healthy people.
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But There Is Good News
You can prepare and control how you respond to every one of those crises.
Knowing how to protect your family from whatâs coming should be your primary concern.
âThe truth is⦠most people havenât taken a single step to prepare for what is CERTAINLY COMING.
âJust last year, millions across Texas were blindsided by a winter blackout that also took their water supply.
âThe western US lit up with record-breaking fires that displaced MILLIONS. Homes, gone. Businesses, gone. Cities, gone. Livelihoods, gone.
âHurricanes and tornadoes keep on cominâ.
âAnd thatâs just nature⦠we havenât touched on what the humans control.
âIf youâre not prepared? You’re vulnerable.
For Trauma Survivors New Hope: Psychedelics
Psychedelic drugs are among the most promising treatments for people with conditions like PTSD and severe depression. A new center at The University of Texas at Austin aims to unravel how they work.
Devon and Kelly Thomas wedding at a storybook chapel in Simonton, Texas, was, as they say, perfect. The bride wore white, the bridesmaids, teal, and the February air held a hint of spring. But the ceremony followed an unusual proposal: I told her before we got married that there was something wrong with me that was never going to get fixed, says Devon Thomas, now 50.
Devon Thomas shows a photo of himself in military fatigues. His wife, Kelly Thomas, looks on.
Back then, in 2015, Thomas was halfway through what would ultimately be a 15-year period of severe anxiety and depression that sometimes left him unable to hold down a job, self-medicating with alcohol and marijuana. It was a bewildering turn of events for the self-described top performer, a West Point graduate who was a former U.S. Army Ranger and officer.
I would work at treatment for a while, and then get frustrated because it didnt go anywhere for me, and then stop.
Devon Thomas
Thomas tried conventional treatments medication and cognitive behavioral therapy. For a time, he took testosterone. At one point, he was even referred to a urologist. It was hard to stay motivated. I would work at treatment for a while, and then get frustrated because it didnt go anywhere for me, and then stop, he says.
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References And Further Reading
Carroll A. Can psychedelics be therapy? Allow research to find out. The New York Times. July 17, 2017.
Hudenko W. The relationship between PTSD and suicide. PTSD: National Center for PTSD. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. March 28, 2017.
Ross S Schmidt BL. Rapid and sustained symptom reduction following psilocybin treatment for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer: A randomized controlled trial. J Psychopharmacol. 2016. DOI .
Sessa B. Turn on and tune in to evidence-based psychedelic research. Lancet Psychiatry. 2015. DOI.
Tupper KW Johnson MW. Psychedelic medicine: A re-emerging therapeutic paradigm. CMAJ. 2015. DOI .
Fei Fei Chen 38 Found Her Experience With Ayahuasca To Be A Key Part Of Treating Her Ptsd
Many of the participants Insider spoke to said that while their experiences with psychedelics had helped them overcome their PTSD or see growth in their mental well-being, it wasn’t a one-and-done solution.
Fei Fei Chen, who worked as a paralegal and combat driver in the military between 2001 and 2005, told Insider that when she went on a retreat with Heroic Hearts in the spring of 2021, she and others had to abide by a strict diet that restricted caffeine, sugar, salt, alcohol, nicotine, or any kind of stimulant.
They also prepared for their trip mentally by journaling, talking in groups, and reflecting on what they wanted out of the experience.
“I think without that part, it wouldn’t have been complete,” she said.
Chen describes her experience during the ayahuasca ceremony as drifting “in and out of consciousness.” When she came to, she said she “felt the medicine was moving inside of me.”
First it moved up to her throat, and then it traveled down to her stomach and began to swirl around her pelvis.
“I’m telling you, this thing is alive,” she said. “It’s a consciousness traveling inside of me. And all I had to do was just be open and stay in a space of like appreciation. My mantra was just like, ‘Thank you for healing me, thank you for showing me,’ for like four hours.”
“I think healing should be multidisciplinary,” she said.”It’s like a buffet of things you shouldn’t just eat one thing and hope that it will last forever.”
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How Does It Work
Traditional medications for mental health conditions often take several weeks to work, or may only work for as long as a person takes them. Most research on psychedelic therapy, by contrast, has found an immediate improvement, often with a single dose.
Researchers do not know exactly how psychedelics work, and these drugs do not work for everyone. Some potential ways they might work include:
- Mystical or psychedelic experiences: Intensely meaningful experiences under the influence of psychedelics may shift a persons mindset or belief system, causing them to think or behave differently.
- Increased suggestibility: People using psychedelics may be more suggestible. This can make them more responsive to positive suggestions from a therapist, or to the benefits of their own hallucinations.
- Neurotransmitter changes: Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers in the brain. Many mental health drugs act directly on neurotransmitters to change mood. Certain psychedelic drugs also may act on neurotransmitters, changing the brains behavior and improving mood.
Doctors can use many different drugs in psychedelic therapy, though most recent research has looked at psilocybin, a substance found in psychedelic mushrooms. Learn more about psilocybin here.
Some other drug options
- LSD: A chemical found in several plants
- DMT: A chemical available in some plants
- MDMA: Found in the sassafras tree, and known for its role in the drug Ecstasy
- Mescaline: found in some cacti, such as the peyote cactus