Psychedelic trips aid anxiety treatments in study

www.physorg.com...

Quote form source:
n this April 13, 2010 photo, one gram of psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in hallucinogenic mushrooms, is seen on a scale at New York University in New York. A study being conducted at the university examines the effects of hallucinogenic drugs on the emotional and psychological state of advanced cancer patients.

She swallowed it, lay on the couch with her eyes covered, and waited. And then it came.
"The world was made up of jewels and I was in a dome," she recalled. Surrounded by brilliant, kaleidoscopic colors, she saw the dome open up to admit "this most incredible luminescence that made everything even more beautiful."

Tears trickled down her face as she saw "how beautiful the world could actually be."
That's how Nicky Edlich, 67, began her first-ever trip on a psychedelic drug last year.
She says it has greatly helped her psychotherapeutic treatment for anxiety from her advanced ovarian cancer.

And for researchers, it was another small step toward showing that hallucinogenic drugs, famous but condemned in the 1960s, can one day help doctors treat conditions like cancer anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Anyone that has done any of these psychedelic's knows this.

Interesting to see that the war on drugs has held our medical advancements back. Duh.

Now that maybe the government will let up a little bit on these kind of drugs we will get to see if they have any effects that are good on our bodies.

The most important of course being '___'. It is produced everywhere in nature and in our brains. More studies need to be done on that for sure.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

I put this in this section because it is science.

I thought this thread would get a little more traffic. I was kind of waiting for opinions on this.

I thought people would be calling me a drug addict.

Can't argue with science.

Pred...

Yeah I saw the piece on CNN originally.

Surprisingly Dr. Sanjay G. didn't spread too much misinformation about it. The Dr. they have from NYU I believe was seemed very adamant about this and there was actually about 10 minutes IIRC spent on this piece.

It was pretty funny because the correspondent was holding an I-PAD flipping around pictures of old school MDMA rolls LOL!!! Talk about a trip back to the 90's.

The Dr. actually said the DEA makes this molly and then sends it for testing. But the catch is you gotta be traumatized. Hey, I had to sit through Titanic for 3.5 hours, I think that qualifies me somehow..

[edit on 24-4-2010 by GreenBicMan]

I think you miss the point when it comes to control of the populace.

Many recreational drugs open the user's mind to a different perspective on life and the world we live in. This is counterproductive to a hardworking, conformative society where the average person is simply a tool to make the rich richer and the powerful more powerful.

We can't be thinking for ourselves hence the illegality of anything that might encourage this behaviour.

reply to post by OZtracized


I agree and that is what drives me nuts. When recreational drugs are used we realize what a crappy world this is. Psychedelics make you see things as you never had before and changes how you think and you values.

But hey why would they want a bunch of open minded thinkers in the world?

Now go back to drinking your fluoridated water so you feel better....

Pred...

reply to post by GreenBicMan


Hey, I'm married with 2 kids... I am traumatized. I think that is the definition.

I always wondered how do you get to be the guinea pigs for these experiments?

Pred...

Originally posted by predator0187
I thought people would be calling me a drug addict.

Too right, you have to be careful, people label people.

On this who knows?

I saw that piece on CNN as well which parallels with this thread. There are quite a few schedule I drugs once thought to have NO medical or therapeutic benefit, may in fact benefit people with certain mental disorders such as Post Traumatic Stress, etc. Perhaps the FDA jumped the gun on classifying these drugs mainly because of their addictive and abuse potential and never went to clinical trial to determine their effectiveness.

A conventional treatment, EMDR (Eye-Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) is one of the more effective treatments for wide range of disorders including chronic pain, phobias, depression, panic attacks, eating disorders and poor self-image, stress, worry, stage fright, performance anxiety, recovery from sexual abuse and traumatic incidents. The big problem with EMDR is that it doesn't work for everyone, mainly because some people cannot relax and train their brain to reprocess. The therapy usually involves a partner tapping rhythmically on your knees, but some therapist use light-bars and/or binaural beat to create the correct stimulation. The EMD part of the treatment effectively is a guided lucid dream which I can only described as an induced hypnotic hallucination. The reprocessing part is effectively a rewiring of brain's short and long term memory by changing synaptic firing patterns by stimulating the part of the brain responsible for emotions (The Amigdala) and shutting down the part of the brain that usually processes memory (the hippocampus).

With the use of psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin, lsd, dmt, mdma will aid in the effectiveness and success rate of the reprocessing and should be easy to measure during clinical trial. A medical doctor would probably want to see PET scan of the brain during the treatment, however that is not part of a psychologist arsenal. One of the issues with these drugs is that the half life for a therapeutic dose is many hours which means the total treatment time is increased. Since EMDR therapy is an outpatient treatment, they need to work out the dosage strength so that it wears off at the end of the treatment. I don't think narcan works on psychedelics the same way it does with opiates and other anesthesia.

The major issue is really whether the FDA is going to let a Physchiatrist or Psychologist with a Ph.D (or Therapist) administer this type of drug under any circumstance. A medical doctor (MD) would get less far less resistance, but these types do not generally treat mental problems at all. It will probably take a concerted effort between big pharma and the Ph.D's to get the right drugs in play for a rigid set of treatment protocols. Although it was not mentioned in any of the news reports and articles, these "types" of drugs are likely to be effective with other mental disorders such as bipolar and schizophrenia. Currently, the Physchiatrists has a limited number of meds they can prescibe, and of this list only a small subset are effective, and the rest of them are just plain crap. Like another post said, it is interesting how the war on drugs has effected advances in modern medicine. This problem is not just a US issue, but effects all humans worldwide. It's about time for that to change.

Originally posted by predator0187
I always wondered how do you get to be the guinea pigs for these experiments?

Yep the government just targets people, and uses them. There is no human rights, there is just 95% scum, and the rest are abused.

Originally posted by predator0187
"The world was made up of jewels and I was in a dome," she recalled.

Do people really see this stuff while they're tripping?

>

btw in 2008 (I think) they started using '___' with psychotherapy in Switzerland.

[edit on 24-4-2010 by rhinoceros]

Good luck with this thread guys, they don't normally last more than a day or so.

Traditional remedies and brews are proven over milenia for their beneficial and curative natures, let alone their ability to expand consciousness.

The attempt to control these substances by making them 'illegal' is nothing short of sacrilegious!

However, no matter how hard they wage their 'war on drugs' they will lose. Times they are a changin'. More and more peeps are ready to take a peek into the darkness and see a bit more of themselves. There'll be no stopping this.

I've been watching the increasing acceptance, awareness and availability of Ayahuasca over the past few years. Now there's a shamanic medicine currently used by a revered French medical doctor in Peru to treat and cure drug addicts! And they call it a class one drug!

reply to post by rhinoceros


Just a heads up.. it's a no-no to discuss personal use of drugs on ATS..
Might want to edit your post..

On topic: Hopefully more research will be able to be done on these substances...It's ridiculous that '___' is banned from being researched by scientists..

reply to post by mapsurfer_

The major issue is really whether the FDA is going to let a Physchiatrist or Psychologist with a Ph.D (or Therapist) administer this type of drug under any circumstance. A medical doctor (MD) would get less far less resistance, but these types do not generally treat mental problems at all. It will probably take a concerted effort between big pharma and the Ph.D's to get the right drugs in play for a rigid set of treatment protocols. Although it was not mentioned in any of the news reports and articles, these "types" of drugs are likely to be effective with other mental disorders such as bipolar and schizophrenia. Currently, the Physchiatrists has a limited number of meds they can prescibe, and of this list only a small subset are effective, and the rest of them are just plain crap. Like another post said, it is interesting how the war on drugs has effected advances in modern medicine. This problem is not just a US issue, but effects all humans worldwide. It's about time for that to change.

I just thought I'd correct this paragraph. A psychiatrist has their MD. They are trained in a biological model and as such their treatment is a biological one, i.e. medication. They go through med school just like everyone else and when it came time for them to pick their specialty they chose psychiatry. This means they can prescribe anything. Also, most psychiatric meds are prescribed by a general practitioner and not a psychiatrist, so other MDs have no problem prescribing drugs for problems they are not trained to treat. Furthermore, there are some states that also give prescription privileges to clinical psychologists, who do have PhDs, although they are limited in what they can prescribe. So, you have been a little misinformed on the differences between psychologists and psychiatrists as well as what privileges these professions are allowed.

reply to post by Xcalibur254


I agree with you. I always thought he only difference was the prescriptions. One can do anything from his M.D. and the other has some limited options based on his pHD.

Pred...