Something is happening in the world of psychiatric treatments. Decades after drugs like psilocybin (you might know it better as the psychoactive component of magic mushrooms) and MDMA (often taken illegally as ecstasy) were criminalized because they were seen to have no medical use, scientists are researching how they might actually be able to treat some particularly severe mental illnesses.
The trials are still in the early stages. The strict rules around psychedelic drugs mean just getting a study off the ground is tricky, but early positive results mean regulators are starting to relax just a little. The FDA even considered some of these psychedelic treatments as potential “breakthrough therapies” to allow research to be expedited.
Psilocybin has been of particular interest in the treatment of depression and anxiety (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31931272/), especially in cases that resist other forms of therapy. We know that magic mushrooms can create a feeling of euphoria and help us relax, as well as changing our perception of the world. Psilocybin acts on our neurotransmitters and may rewire certain connections in the brain.
This doesn’t mean you should just go out and devour some magic mushrooms. It’s called psychedelic-assisted therapy because it may help other forms of therapy work better. You take the psilocybin in a controlled setting with an experienced professional on hand to help guide you, and to step in if something goes wrong. Your experiences under the influence of psilocybin can then be used to direct the second part of the treatment: psychotherapy, or talk therapy.
Similarly, research has been done on using MDMA on severe, possibly treatment-resistant PTSD (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33972795/). It’s not so much that the MDMA “cures” the PTSD, but the drug helps patients relax, making it easier for them to build up a trusting relationship with their therapist and reducing the pain and fear associated with having to recollect a traumatic experience. MDMA-assisted therapy aims to work with other therapies to make them more effective.
People were using psychedelics for thousands of years before they were banned, but for the first time, we have actual scientific backing for their use in medicine. Like most treatments, they don’t work for everyone and side effects are possible, but for many people, it seems they might present hope when other therapies have failed. It’s certainly one of the most promising areas of research. Let’s hope studies can continue to have success.
