The word psychedelic may bring to mind the culture of the sixties and seventies with their loud patterned clothing and the summer of love. It was then that drugs such as LSD became popular. The hippie counterculture in the United States centered around psychedelic drugs. It was a time of reflection, rebellion, and a reassessment of how life should be lived.
Then came the war on drugs which cracked down on all the fun. In the 1970s, the government classified psychedelics as controlled substances, attaching harsh penalties to their use.
Or maybe it’s the Super Troopers opening scene where three kids are pulled over, and to get rid of the bag of mushrooms, the guy in the back eats all of them at once. Hilarity ensues:
It’s kind of what you think of when you think about psychedelics and mental health; many people think of people having bad ‘trips.’ They think of people bugging out, hallucinating, and literally freaking out.
I remember in college when I took mushrooms for the first time, and once they kicked in, I walked across the street where there were a few soccer fields. I laid down on the grass and felt I was part of the earth.
I have no idea how long I laid there, but when I sat up, I was lost and scared that I wouldn’t be found, or worse, be picked up by some cops. I could see my house right across the street but wasn’t sure. I was paralyzed. Thank God I had a friend find me and bring me back to the safety of our house. I have no idea how people take mushrooms or LSD when in Vegas. I would lose my mind and tip my cap to you, sir…
But what if we told you there might be a beneficial use of psychedelic drugs in treating some mental health conditions?
In 2020, there were an estimated 52.9 million adults with a mental illness of some kind. That’s over 1 in 5. Unfortunately, this number is only increasing as years go by, and more and more people are finding that conventional treatments just don’t work for them.
Enter psychedelics.
Psychedelics throughout history
Psychedelics being used to treat mental health isn’t a new concept. The Aztecs used mushrooms to promote healing, and the Native Americans utilized peyote as early as 5700 years ago.
Since the early 20th century, people have been intrigued by the potential role of psychedelics in supplementing the work of psychotherapy. When the drugs were outlawed in 1971, research ground to an abrupt halt, and it became virtually impossible for researchers to get their hands on the drugs to study them.
Forty-something years later, with some of the stigma around these substances reducing, research commenced with renewed vigor.
From Johns Hopkins scientists looking into magic mushrooms’ psilocybin to horse tranquilizers for depression, studies are showing promising results from these unlikely medications.
Let’s dig deeper.
Ketamine
In 2020, roughly 21 million adults in the United States will experience depression. That’s 8.4% of all adults in the States. An article in American Family Physician states that between 15-33% of people treated for depression won’t see an improvement in their symptoms.
It’s no wonder that people are looking for new types of medication. In 2019, after several clinical trials, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new nasal spray called esketamine. If that name looks suspiciously illicit, it’s because it’s derived from ketamine. Ketamine is an anesthetic typically used by vets but often abused by ravers. Esketamine, however, can be prescribed to people with treatment-resistant depression and has been shown to help improve symptoms.
LSD
Nowadays known as ‘acid,’ LSD was used from the 50s onwards to treat anxiety, depression, psychosomatic diseases, and addiction. Then the pesky government got involved, and all of that was stopped. Now that people are getting more interested in its use for mental health conditions, LSD is the subject of many different studies.
It is a chemical structurally similar to serotonin, also known as the happy hormone. In people with depression, their serotonin levels are reduced. Most modern antidepressants are called SSRIs or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. It stands to reason that a drug with similar properties to existing antidepressants may be able to function similarly.
Some studies have demonstrated that LSD may be able to reduce anxiety. More research is required before scientists can definitively say.
Psilocybin
Psilocybin is the technical name for the psychoactive ingredient found in ‘magic mushrooms.’ It is another chemical structurally similar to serotonin and can potentially help boost mood and reduce anxiety, just like SSRIs can.
John Hopkins University carried out a small-scale study to look at the effect of psilocybin in cancer patients with depression and anxiety. They found clinically significant decreases in both symptoms in around 80% of participants after six months. They then conducted another study in 2020 to determine if they could replicate the results, this time on participants with major depressive disorder. They once again found that psilocybin with therapy was beneficial to those people.
These were only small-scale studies, so more research is required, but it does show promise.
MDMA
Post-traumatic stress disorder can occur for many reasons. Unfortunately, treatment options aren’t always successful, potentially due to coexisting conditions such as childhood trauma, alcohol and substance use disorders, and depression. Many people experiencing PTSD fail to respond to conventional treatment, highlighting the need for new options.
Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA, has been successfully used in research to reduce the symptoms of PTSD. In fact, 67% of people treated with MDMA alongside therapy didn’t meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD by two months after the trial was over. IN other words, two-thirds of the participants were cured.
CBD
In recent years, there has been significant public interest in the use of medical marijuana. There are now all manner of products containing cannabis and cannabis-derived compounds, from tinctures and gummies to salves and lotions. Where just a few years ago these were only found on the black market, they’ve become so mainstream that they’re even available in stores in some states.
Could this signify a change in the way society views illegal drugs?
Obligatory Disclaimer
Now, for the boring legal bit.
None of this is to say that you should be self-medicating with LSD to try to combat your mental health issues. If done improperly (as in, not in measured doses under medical supervision), taking psychedelics can lead to all sorts of bad experiences. You could end up ‘tripping out’ and thinking that you’re floating in the ocean. Doesn’t it sound too bad? How about ‘a sea made out of dogs, dogs eating dolphins, dolphins eating dogs eating dolphins eating dogs’ and all other kinds of insanity? (Pun very much intended!)
What we’re saying is, don’t take it upon yourself to start microdosing hallucinogens to try to tackle your depression or anxiety. These studies were all undertaken in clinical settings with many trained medical professionals on hand should anything go wrong.
But maybe soon, there’ll be a supervised and legal way to utilize these drugs for mental health.
Final Thoughts
There is a lot of promising research into the potential mental health benefits of psychedelics. Psychedelics are generally considered physiologically safe and don’t typically lead to dependence or addiction.
With around one in five adults in the United States living with a mental illness of some kind, there is hope out there that more treatments will be legalized and people can get the assistance they need.
What are your thoughts? Personally, I’m excited to see where this all leads and hopeful that one day, unmanaged mental health will be a thing of the past.
Sources:
- Drug Fact Sheet: Ketamine – https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-06/Ketamine-2020.pdf
- Effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy on Major Depressive Disorder – https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2772630
- FDA approves new nasal spray medication for treatment-resistant depression; available only at a certified doctor’s office or clinic – https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-new-nasal-spray-medication-treatment-resistant-depression-available-only-certified
- Happiness & Health: The Biological Factors- Systematic Review Article – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4449495/
- Major Depression – https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/major-depression
- MDMA-assisted therapy for severe PTSD: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 study – https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01336-3
- Mental Illness – https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness
- People Told Us the Wildest Things They’ve Seen While Tripping – https://www.vice.com/en/article/ev84zp/people-told-us-the-wildest-things-theyve-seen-while-tripping
- Psychedelics Research and Psilocybin Therapy – https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry/research/psychedelics-research.html
- Safety and efficacy of lysergic acid diethylamide-assisted psychotherapy for anxiety associated with life-threatening diseases – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24594678/
- The Controlled Substances Act – https://www.dea.gov/drug-information/csa
- The History of Psychedelics in Psychiatry – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33285579/
- Treatment-Resistant Depression – https://www.aafp.org/afp/2009/0715/p167.html