By Lucine Avanesian
Initially, in educational contexts, it can be impossible to consider unregulated psychedelic medications such as "magic mushrooms" being used. Yet this could well be where the future of psychiatry and psychotherapy lies, after new research.
This recent surge of research over the past two decades is paving the way for the introduction of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy into the Canadian health care system. As a cure for psychiatric disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and addiction, this may include psychedelic-assisted therapy.
What are Psychedelics?
Psychedelic, a term invented in the mid-1950s by Canadian psychiatrist Humphry Osmond, means "mind-manifesting" and refers in a class entirely of its own to a form of psychotropic drug. Mescaline, psilocybin, Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), ibogaine, and ayahuasca are examples of psychedelic drugs.
Psychedelics (also known as hallucinogens) are a class of psychoactive substances that produce changes in perception, mood and cognitive processes.
Psychedelics affect all the senses, altering a person’s thinking, sense of time and emotions. They can also cause a person to hallucinate—seeing or hearing things that do not exist or are distorted.
There are many different kinds of psychedelics. Some occur naturally, in trees, vines, seeds, fungi and leaves. Others are made in laboratories.
Research
Among the many who are interested in psychedelic research are world-class universities such as Imperial College London, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and New York University. For intractable medical disorders such as treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and post-traumatic stress disorder, studies have focused on the clinical uses of psychedelics (PTSD). While provisional, the findings of phase I and phase II clinical trials have so far been encouraging, notably at a time when there has been little progress in treatments and medications for the treatment of psychiatric illnesses in more than 30 years (Carhart-Harris et al., 2016).
By causing powerfully altered psychological states of variable length (minutes to hours), where vision and consciousness are changed and a' reset' of the mind takes place, psychedelics exert their influence.
Nearly two decades ago, after a lengthy ban was enforced in the United States in reaction to the hippie counterculture of the 1960s, the resurgence of studies into these once-taboo drugs began. The renaissance is based on an already broad body of studies from the 1950s and 1960s. Researchers now are reopening the door to these medications for medicinal indications and giving hope to Canadians suffering from mental health conditions that are crippling.
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