Medicinal Drugs: Is Psychedelic Therapy the Future?

[d-T-r]

Link to article >>>> http://thebackbencher.co.uk/is-psychedelic-therapy-the-future/

"In the future, it may be increasingly common for doctors and therapists to efficiently use psychedelic-assisted therapy to benefit their patients.

Dr. Robin Carhart-Harris is a neuropsychopharmacologist (or a ‘scientist’ if you want to be more general) who works at Imperial College London. In the past he worked under David Nutt, the former chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs. Nutt was fired for being a bit nutty (in the eyes of the government anyway) by claiming that ecstasy and magic mushrooms were less harmful than horse-riding and alcohol. To anyone who watched the two-part programme Drugs Live on Channel 4, Carhart-Harris was one of the scientists involved in administering MDMA, in a clinical setting, to a priest and Keith Allen. The programme helped to promote the evidence that MDMA could be useful in helping PTSD sufferers face their trauma with an anxiety-free attitude, eventually being able to overcome it.

In the near future Cahart-Harris will be carrying out two new exciting experimental studies. One is with psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms; the second is on LSD. Both will make use of brain imaging techniques. The LSD study will be ground-breaking because we will be able to see which different brain regions are affected under the influence of the drug, where blood flow and activity is most prominent, for example."


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Lots of good stuff happening with psychedelics in the scientific world lately. Still many obstacles, but thankfully there has already been enough positive results to justify further research.

What do other ninjas think about psychedelics as a potential route for therapy? It seems like we are going full circle and "rediscovering" the techniques and methods shamans and medicine men and women have been using as far back as we know. It's good that the stigma is being addressed and these psychotropic substances are being recognized for their medicinal purposes as opposed to the culturally imposed propaganda we hear about them.

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[corpus callosum]

I think that in a rational society where politics is not allowed to exert effects outside of its proper remit, the use of psychedelic compounds in the appropriate patients will be beneficial; denying patients such a treatment, or subjecting them to inferior agents, is IMO rather tragic.

As a society, NOT using these substances for their benefits is missing a big trick.IMO. But its going to take alot of effort in educating the populace before we get there, and it remains to be seen how soon this will happen as by default it will require the authorities to make a 180 degree turn-around in their stance, and as most of us know the powers that be are generally reluctant to reveal how they have been misleading the citizens for so long.

However, I think the future looks brighter than it has done for a long time with regards to this.Let us see what happens....

 

[obliguhl]

I recently read in a paper, that biomedicine is one of the last resorts the government has direct control over. They dictate which drug is a "medicine" and therefore indirectly have a way to control our bodies (my interpretation). I've come to think that psychedelic healing is much more than just taking substance x, but utilizing cultural symbols to facilitate what we know as the "placebo" effect and usually belittle. But if you think about it, having a way to make the mind benefit the body by properly communicating "healing signals" be it through a ritual or through giving a placebo is absolutely fantastic!

But why would the elites want us to heal ourselves and shape culture ourselves? Who'd demand any of the "services" they're offering to sustain their place of power ?

 

[dio]

I do believe Leary was far ahead of his time and generally in cases like that, it takes culture 100 years to catch up.

So given that, I think in 50 years psychedellic psychotherapy will be 'rediscovered' and people go "oh wait, Leary was onto something here..."

The current psychedellic psychotherapy research being done is extremely adolescent. Giving people drugs and measuring effects on the brain, or putting them in a room and seeing what happens. This is ages behind what Leary was working on.

Psychedellic psychotherapy only becomes relevant when one begins to use it as a means to essentially reprogram brains. The questions that must be figured out and answered is, how does one reprogram a brain, and what should be programmed into it? This is what Leary was playing with, and what has to be gotten back to, and fully figured out if psychedellic psychotherapy is to hold relevance.

 

[cellux]

Check out these quotes I collected from Stanislav Grof's LSD Psychotherapy:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Psychonaut/comments/1aspae/a_tribute_to_stanislav_grofs_lsd_psychotherapy

 

[universecannon]

yes

nice picture by the way. Who is the artist?

 

[DeDao]

This decision seems like a no brainer. When you take these things (certain ones in particular) you can notice an obvious therapeutic application.

I think that they will have to be cautious with what chemicals they prescribe to whom and how they ingest and all this. There is a huge liability, I think, when you work with such deep, cleansing, strong medicine. A lot of people are not ready for such realizations and would rather be safe within a bubble of ignorance and bliss.

Some people aren't meant to know that they are the main character and director of the most amazing movie in the universe.. Oh wait, I suppose I wasn't supposed to say that. Oh hell, they won't know what it means anyway :thumb_up: .

 

[Loveall]

Great discussion.

This week, yet another phase II MDMA drug assisted therapy for treatment of PTSD clinical trial result has been released. I believe wraps up the phase II trials, and phase III greenlight was already given in August 2017 based on earlier results. The phase III trials started last month, after witch this effective treatment should be available to patients in general.

Here is the conclusion from the (last?) Phase II trial:

The promising efficacy and safety results from this dose
response study, along with findings from five other phase 2
trials form the basis for expansion into multi-site phase 3 trials.
In addition, the FDA granted "Breakthrough therapy" designation
for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD treatment,
which may expedite the drug development process.
Both short-term (one and two month) and long-term (12 month)
follow-up results were positive across numerous therapy
teams, demonstrating generalizability of the approach. The
treatment was safe and well-tolerated. More research is needed
to determine the optimal number of MDMA sessions needed to
achieve symptom remission. Upcoming phase 3 trials, with a
planned enrollment of 200–300 participants will evaluate the
time to response and other factors that influence outcomes. If
findings are replicated in phase 3 trials, MDMA-assisted psy-
chotherapy will become an available treatment option for peo-
ple suffering with PTSD.


My hats off to the researchers and the good people at the dmt-nexus. It is not easy to see past the conventions of society.

I hope that western society can evolve and become more accepting of people's personal freedoms and back off missguided heavy handed criminalization and it's negative consequences such as: violent cartels, adulteration, encarcerated of non violent citizens minding their own business, delays in druf research, excessive work load the judicial system and police, violent home invasions by the government, increased used of more dangerous prescription drugs, increased access for minors in a thriving illegal market, etc.

Here is maps press release: Participant Screening Begins in Phase 3 Clinical Trials of MDMA-Assisted Therapy for PTSD - Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies - MAPS

Paper is attached.