Psychedelics Treating Mental Illnesses

Introduction

When most people hear the word “psychedelics”, their minds immediately go to drug abuse and getting high and that kind of stuff. A lot of these people don’t even care if some of these psychedelics have been declared legal by the government, they just believe taking shrooms is illegal and wrong! You can’t really blame them for the stereotypes they believe because of the strong anti-drug propaganda being pushed around as well as the extremely strict laws in place regarding the sale and use of psychedelics. These laws as well as the propaganda have been enough to ward off scientists from making the necessary findings regarding the medical use of these drugs.

The Medical Benefits of Psychedelics

Psychedelics like ketamine, MDMA, and psilocybin have been shown to treat mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, and PTSD. It is quite fascinating how there is not much talk or research going into the cure of people with mental health issues. Humans have spoken about finding the cure for cancer and HIV ever since these illnesses were discovered, but people with mental issues like depression and PTSD are simply given pills or other supplements to manage their condition.

The Effect of Psychedelics on the Medical World

Just managing it is not enough, and the use of psychedelics to treat people with mental illnesses might just be the only way to go if we actually want to find a cure for these things. The question though, is that can psychedelics treat mental illnesses completely? And how will their full introduction into the medical world affect the grand scheme of things?

What Is Being Done?

You will be fascinated to learn that motions have already been put in place to aid the use of psychedelics in treating people with mental illnesses. By March 2021, Dr. Sessa and his team of scientists at Awakn will establish and open up the first psychedelic clinic in the United Kingdom. Their main selling point is the use of Ketamine for psychotherapy and it is possible because ketamine has now been declared as a legal anesthetic. Within the first couple of months of their operation, they aim to treat about 30 patients a month. Apart from their ketamine psychotherapy, they are also currently conducting thorough research into psilocybin and MDMA and pushing for the legalization of psychedelics for medical purposes. They are even training new psychedelic therapists and looking to integrate this “psychedelic medicine” into the regular scheme of healthcare. They are doing a lot of work to ensure that psychedelics are used for their helpful purposes and that its potential to be a mental health treatment is not stifled. Dr. Sessa himself has stated that the current treatment being given to mental health patients is like paper over cracks, and that psychedelic psychotherapy is probably the best option if these mental disorders are to be wholly treated. This new clinic being established in Bristol is another in a growing list of clinics offering psychedelic medicine. Just last year in December, Neo Kuma Ventures began the first psychedelic healthcare fund in Britain, and they have continually invested a lot of money into the development of the psychedelic medicine industry. In the United States of America, the state of Oregon is a prime example of the long process it takes to introduce psychedelic psychotherapy into the mainstream healthcare industry. The people had voted to legalize psilocybin for therapeutic use since November last year, but they will have to wait till at least 2022 before it is totally mainstream. But why is there so much of a delay in the introduction period?

The War On Drugs

A big reason as to why there is such a negative perception of the consumption of psychedelics is due to the massive war on drugs. The necessary research that would have revealed much more about the use of psychedelics for treatment was halted because of the fight put up by governments around the world against the use of these drugs. In fact, there is no country in the world where the use of psychedelics is 100% legal, and this has indirectly led to several deaths that could have been treated with the use of these psychedelics. Several progressive medical professionals have lamented the fact that people with mental illnesses do not have a range of options available to them for their treatment. There are currently about 100 million people around the world who are dealing with depression and not being treated the way they probably should be. An organization named COMPASS Pathways is making waves in the psychedelic medicine world, as they are holding large clinical trials of psilocybin’s effect on depression. They are working with hundreds of patients across the United States, Canada, and Europe. They see it as gathering evidence to show the positive effects of psilocybin on mental illness patients, and they look to prove that psychedelics are quite safe when it comes to providing effective treatment for depression. At the moment, COMPASS is still very much in the process of performing thorough clinical trials that will show that psilocybin-assisted treatment works. With the positive results they hope to get, there will be a boost in confidence regarding the use of psilocybin in clinical therapy.

Finally A Cure?

Even though it seems total legalization of psychedelics for treatment is still a long way off, the benefits to be gotten from legalization are only growing. It has even been discovered that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy could be used to cure alcohol addiction, because of its link to trauma. The usual treatment for these mental illnesses like PTSD and depression are supplements that do not work to deal with the root cause of the illness, but they only treat the symptoms. However, using these psychedelics like ketamine, MDMA, and psilocybin goes straight to the trauma that would have led to such mental illnesses. Unfortunately, these psychedelics that could be so helpful to mental healthcare are currently regulated as schedule 1 substances, so prescribing them outside a clinical trial would be illegal. Even getting to acquire these substances could be quite tasking, as their supply is very limited.

Money Talks

So far, the many scientific studies and pieces of research that have been curated by scientists regarding the use of psychedelics to treat mental illnesses seem to have not made as much of an impact as they should have. So, the only way to swing the government and bureaucrats towards buying the idea of using psychedelics for mental healthcare may be by showing them the potential savings that can be made. Studies have shown that if psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy was widely available to people, then healthcare costs would be reduced significantly. So, it may take quite a bit to convince these people who are anti-psychedelics that using these substances is not so bad after all.

Drug Prohibition

It is a common fact that only drugs that have the potential to be dangerous are prohibited. But it seems like, the more drugs have been prohibited in recent years, the higher the spike in their supply and usage. After years and years of governments and people trying to fight against the use of psychedelics and other substances, nothing has worked and people use these drugs much more than they did 50 years ago. The question now begs to be asked that, why then are these drugs not being provided for their positive uses? It has now been established that psychedelic-psychotherapy can help cure trauma for good. Many people who experienced severe trauma have gone on to try talking therapy, which has not been thoroughly effective. Even taking antidepressants is no cure, because it just works to combat the symptoms of the illness, and not the illness itself. But those who have stumbled upon psilocybin’s effect on illnesses like depression have spoken about feeling a large weight being lifted off their shoulders. But as long as the use of psychedelics for medicinal purposes remains illegal, then people will continue to buy them illegally and self-medicate, which might prove even more harmful.

Conclusion

Surely the best decision is to just legalize these “illicit” substances and have them administered by real health professionals who will ensure that they are only used for their medicinal benefits. The growth of the psychedelic industry is evident and it is only a matter of time before we begin to reap its benefits. For now though, you can still get yourself some quality magic mushrooms from www.canadamushrooms.com where you can get your favorite psilocybin shrooms for 50% off.