Psychedelic therapy

Psychedelic therapy is moving to the next frontier: workplace perk

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Ketamine Depression

Acupuncture and chiropractic care weren’t always the common fixtures of employer benefit plans they are today. It took clamoring from workers, the accumulation of evidence, and the slow realization by businesses that those perks would be popular with workers.

A similar evolution could be in store for psychedelic-assisted therapy for mental health conditions. Health insurers are years away from covering the interventions, but employers — eager to offer whatever perks might entice talent — may be poised to do so much sooner. And now, a Boston-based startup called Enthea wants to speed up the adoption of this benefit by self-insured employers — though data to support the effectiveness and safety of these treatments are still limited.

“Employers will add things to what they offer employees based upon what they hear their employees saying they want, especially in competitive job markets like we have right now,” said Paul Fronstin, director of health benefits research at the Employee Benefit Research Institute. “So in some respects, this fits in.”

Even as ketamine clinics proliferate for the treatment of conditions like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, their use is largely restricted to people with the means to shell out thousands of dollars. Enthea is hoping to make psychedelic-assisted therapy more broadly available.

“There are still no standards of treatment and there’s still no way to create access,” said Sherry Rais, Enthea’s CEO and co-founder. “That’s why Enthea is bridging these gaps. There’s so much I’m excited about.”

Enthea is a third-party administrator that charges businesses for access to its list of vetted providers, plan designs, and clinical policies. The company got a lot of attention earlier this year when it signed the soap company Dr. Bronner’s, which supports psychedelic initiatives including the ballot measure for legal magic mushrooms in Colorado, as its first customer. But despite the high-profile client, Rais said the small, not-for-profit operation “ran out of money” not long after and shut its doors to new customers until it could turn things around.

Now, refueled with $2 million in seed funding and retooled as a public benefit corporation, Enthea is announcing an ambitious expansion: The company plans to enter 40 markets, sign 100 new customers, and add 80 ketamine providers to its network by the end of next year.

Psychedelic-assisted therapy is currently limited to ketamine and its chemical mirror, esketamine, as these are the only such drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Esketamine, which was created by Johnson & Johnson, is the only psychedelic approved for treatment of depression, while ketamine has FDA clearance as an anesthetic and is used off-label as a mental health treatment.

When it comes to prescription drugs, sometimes the off-label use is more common than the on-label one, said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. In those cases, it’s up to the health plan or employer to decide whether they want to cover the off-label use.

“There may be market demand and insurers feel like they have to offer it to maintain competitiveness,” she said.

Not everyone agrees focusing on individual employers is the best way to expand access to psychedelic-assisted therapy. Compass Pathways, a mental health company with the most advanced clinical trials on psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, shares Enthea’s goal of expanding access, but it’s taking a different approach: traditional insurance coverage.

To that end, Compass and MAPS Public Benefit Corporation, the organization behind the most advanced trials on MDMA, recently submitted an application to the American Medical Association for a current procedural terminology code for psychedelic therapy that accounts for the lengthy, 6- to 8-hour treatment sessions. CPT codes allow providers to bill insurers for services.

“If there’s going to be broad and equitable access, the route for that is payers,” said Steve Levine, Compass’ senior vice president of patient access. “This needs to be covered through insurance.” He said broad coverage was more efficient: “Outside of that, you’re going one by one and selecting for a rarified group of payers.”

There’s no formal licensing or accreditation program for ketamine providers. The dozens of ketamine clinics in operation vary widely in how thoroughly they screen patients, leading some experts to worry they’re offering the drug to anyone who can afford it, a 2018 STAT investigation found. In many cases, STAT found clinics didn’t have psychiatrists or other mental health professionals on staff, even though they’re working with patients who may have had suicidal thoughts.

That’s why Rais maintains the most important service Enthea offers employers is its credentialing process. The company examines several aspects of providers’ operations to ensure safety, including where they were trained, what licenses they have, how long they’ve been providing services, whether they have malpractice insurance, and whether they’re under investigation.

“We kind of take a holistic look at their business and then we can credential them,” she said.

Right now, Enthea has just one provider in its network, Flow Integrative, the company that Dr. Bronner’s uses. But it has received letters of interest from more than 90 providers in 26 states and is busy working through the list to credential them. In January, the company will launch services in New York City, Austin, Texas, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

On the customer front, Enthea has received interest from 32 employers spanning a range of industries, including personal wellness, food, software, and even finance. The company says it’s also signed a handful of new clients, including Tushy, which makes bidets, and Daybreaker, a company that hosts sober morning dance parties.

“The commonality is they, I hope, care about the wellbeing of their employees and want to do something to help their employees’ mental health, and just that says a lot,” Rais said.

Once employers decide to offer the therapy as a benefit, employees can search the list of nearby in-network providers. The provider they pick assesses them and sends the information to Enthea, which determines if the patient is eligible for treatment. Though ketamine hasn’t been approved by the FDA for any mental health condition, Enthea authorizes ketamine treatment for eight conditions, though Rais said employers can narrow that list. The conditions include treatment-resistant depression, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, substance use disorder, and adjustment disorder.

Esketamine has been approved only for treatment of depression.

One safety concern with use of psychedelics for unapproved conditions is that the vast majority of clinical trials of psychedelics exclude participants with a risk of psychosis — including those who have a relative with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia — out of fear that psychedelics could trigger psychosis.

“Ketamine and bipolar is a potentially dangerous combination,” said Boris Heifets, a neuroscience researcher at Stanford University who studies psychedelics. “I don’t think it’s well enough researched to administer ketamine to bipolar patients, especially someone who recently had a manic episode.”

The lack of data around the connection to psychosis makes treatment of bipolar disorder with ketamine particularly uncertain; of the studies that exist, some try to minimize the likelihood of a switch to mania by requiring participants to be on a mood stabilizer. A 2021 review of psychedelic literature identified 17 cases of adverse events that seemed to involve mania, and researchers last year found high-dose ketamine triggered hypomania in at least one participant with a bipolar II diagnosis.

Rais said Enthea includes bipolar disorder among its covered conditions because research suggests ketamine-assisted therapy can be “quite effective” during the condition’s depressive phase. She said the company would discuss possible risks with the prescribing clinician before treatment and “would not authorize treatment for patients where we believed there was risk of mania or psychosis.”

Ketamine treatments cost an average of $8,000 among the providers Enthea has spoken with, Rais said. That includes medical and psychiatric evaluations, one to three prep sessions, four to six medication sessions, and six to eight integration sessions, which refers to therapy to process the ketamine experiences.

Employers decide for themselves how much of the treatment they want to cover versus how much workers cover. Dr. Bronner’s, for example, is covering 100% of the treatment cost, but others might choose to cover 75%, Rais said. Enthea charges an 8% fee for its services.

Enthea says it plans to expand to other psychedelics, including MDMA and psilocybin, if those become FDA-approved.

Marik Hazan, managing partner with Tabula Rasa Ventures, the psychedelic-focused venture capital firm that led Enthea’s seed fund raise, agrees securing insurance coverage is crucial, but he thinks Enthea’s approach of starting with employers is an important first step. It’ll allow the company to collect data on how well the therapy works and whether it’s cost-effective.

“It’s hard for me to imagine an opportunity that will be as impactful to people’s abilities to access psychedelic therapy in the future than a company like Enthea,” Hazan said.

Realistically, a relatively small number of people will benefit from what Enthea’s offering, said Elliot Marseille, director of the University of California, Berkeley’s Global Initiative for Psychedelic Science Economics. His research has found MDMA treatments for PTSD patients could save health insurers millions of dollars, mostly because chronic medical conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular disease tend to improve as PTSD improves.

Natalie Gukasyan, a psychiatrist and post-doctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins University who’s researching the feasibility and efficacy of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, agreed that this kind of insurance plan seems unlikely to be widely used.

“Who’s going to sign up for a super specialized insurance company, apart from people who think they need a lot of psychedelic therapy?” she said.

Magic Mushrooms Do The Opposite of Anti-Depressants, But That May Be Why They Work

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“I felt so much lighter, like something had been released.”

 

psychedelic therapy is going through something of a revival right now, and we may now know how one such hallucinogenic drug is seemingly able to alleviate symptoms of depression.

 

Psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, has long been known to deliver therapeutic effects to people with depression, and researchers think this is because the drug helps to revive emotional responsiveness in the brain.

What’s so remarkable is this kind of mechanism is actually the opposite effect of a major class of antidepressants used to treat the condition, called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

“Psilocybin-assisted therapy might mitigate depression by increasing emotional connection,” neuroscientist Leor Roseman from Imperial College London explained to PsyPost.

“[T]his is unlike SSRI antidepressants which are criticised for creating in many people a general emotional blunting.”

The new study examined 20 patients diagnosed with moderate-to-severe treatment-resistant depression, to investigate what kinds of effects psilocybin would have on their brain activity and depressive symptoms.

A previous study by some of the same researchers had shown that the drug seems to ‘reset’ brain circuits in depressed people, with patient-reported benefits lasting up to five weeks after treatment.

This time around, the team wanted to examine what impact psilocybin might have on the amygdala – the part of our brain that helps process emotional reactions, including fear – in addition to its effects on participants’ depression.

Before taking the drug, the participants underwent fMRI brain scans, then, in two separate sessions one week apart, they took doses of psilocybin, before again being scanned via fMRI the morning after receiving the second dose.

During the fMRI scans, the group were shown images of faces with either fearful, happy, or neutral expressions, and the researchers wanted to investigate what effect these faces had on the participants’ amygdala after taking psilocybin.

After the experiment, the majority of patients reported that the psilocybin had eased their depressive symptoms, with almost half the group still seeing benefits from the treatment five weeks later – in line with the kinds of benefits other depression studies using the drug have shown.

More intriguingly, the fMRI scans showed the drug heightened activity in the right amygdala, with increased responses to both fearful and happy faces – and the increases to fearful faces were predictive of clinical improvements in depressive symptoms one week after the experiment.

What’s striking is the alleviation of depression occurs from emotional receptivity being enhanced – the opposite of SSRI antidepressants.

“It has been proposed that decreased amygdala responsiveness to negative emotional stimuli under SSRIs is a key component of their therapeutic action,” the researchers explain, “but the present study’s findings suggest that this model does not extend to the therapeutic action of psilocybin for [treatment-resistant depression].”

The researchers don’t know for sure why that is, but after the experiment the patients reported “a greater willingness to accept all emotions post-treatment (including negative ones)” (original emphasis), whereas they felt their previous depression treatments worked to “reinforce emotional avoidance and disconnection.”

“I felt so much lighter, like something had been released, it was an emotional purging, the weight and anxiety and depression had been lifted,” one participant said.

“I have felt a sense of acceptance; more acceptance of agony, boredom, loneliness,” commented another.

“[A] willingness to try to accept the negative times – but also an appreciation of the wonderful times.”

The team acknowledges their study has a number of limitations, including a small sample size, and a lack of controls – including one for SSRIs.

But they say their next trial will try to address those shortcomings, as well as looking further into how this mysterious compound alleviates depression – while seemingly forcing people to confront their emotions, whether good or bad.

“I believe that psychedelics hold a potential to cure deep psychological wounds,” Roseman told PsyPost.

“[A]nd I believe that by investigating their neuropsychopharmacological mechanism, we can learn to understand this potential.”

The Dose Will See You Now: The Astonishing Life-Saving Potential of Psychedelic Therapy in Modern Medicine

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What is your impression after reading the results of this recent study on the potential of a promising new treatment for depression?

‘The main takeaway is that the effects are well-tolerated in this population, and not just that—the antidepressant potential of the treatment seems to be pretty considerable,’ […] ‘All 12 of the patients reported a reduction in the severity of their depression for one week after the psilocybin experience, and for most this was true after three months. At week one, eight patients met standard criteria for remission, with five remaining in remission at three months.’

Encouraging results, no? On the surface, it seems like more people could benefit from a treatment like this.

Unfortunately, at this point in time, they can’t. They’d be considered criminals, for the chosen treatment in this study is currently illegal. In fact, it’s a Schedule 1 substance as classified by the DEA, with “no accepted medical value,” “a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision,” and “a high potential for abuse”.

The study was conducted using psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, when given to patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression.

Despite seeing encouraging results such as the above study more frequently, psychedelic therapy remains a taboo topic in both general society and the medical community at large, partially due to the many myths still surrounding the psychedelic experience.

Why is this the case? Let’s dig deeper.

What Is Psychedelic Therapy?

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy offers us an unparalleled medical opportunity. Currently, it is typically reserved for ‘treatment-resistant’ illnesses (when standard methods of therapy or medical treatment have previously proven unsuccessful).

The term ‘psychedelic’ comes from a Greek term, essentially translating to ‘mind-revealing’. For anyone suffering from unfamiliar mental illness or trauma, the definition is seemingly self-explanatory.

However, for the uninitiated, it’s helpful to refer to N. Crowley’s definition of ‘psychedelics’ as noted in The British Journal of Psychiatry (“A role for psychedelics in psychiatry?”):

The difference between psychedelics (entheogens) and other psychotropic drugs is that entheogens work as ‘non-specific amplifiers of the psyche,’ inducing an altered or non-ordinary state of consciousness (Grof, 2000). The content and nature of the experiences are not thought to be artificial products of their pharmacological interaction with the brain (‘toxic psychoses’) but authentic expressions of the psyche revealing its functioning on levels not ordinarily available for observation and study.

Psychedelic therapy combines traditional psychotherapy sessions with a trained practitioner, and injects selected sessions with a measured, monitored dose of a psychoactive substance. A placebo is used for some sessions if necessary, and not all sessions are paired with a psychedelic experience.

As with all entheogenic experiences, preparation and post-experience integration are just as, if not more important, than the experience itself.

A typical treatment may look like:

  1. 2-3 regular therapeutic sessions with the doctor.
  2. Preparation (discussion or low-dose introduction) for the experience.
  3. 1 session with a measured dose, under medical supervision/guidance with therapeutic discussion using points derived from preparation stage.
  4. Post-experience discussion and integration.
  5. The cycle of psychedelic session > integration session, can continue as necessary based on the therapist’s recommendation. This is also called psycholytic therapy.
  6. Post-treatment follow-up and monitoring of habits/insights integrated into daily life afterward.

The value of psychedelic therapy is that it can induce in patients a state of being where they can make genuine progress with their struggles. That might mean being able to discuss deep-rooted trauma without judgment or fear, feeling self-compassion for the first time, or removing the general anxieties associated with mental illness.

Remember that at this point in time, these treatments are being used only on patients who have already resisted all other forms of treatments, such as medication, therapy, or some combination thereof.

Psychedelic therapy is proving itself to provide effective treatment for patients who have already been deemed untreatable.

Many patients of these experiences have rated them “the most important [of their lives], or if not, in the top 5 most important experiences of their lives.”

The Unorthodox State of Psychedelic Therapy In Modern Medicine

The state of psychedelic therapy in modern medicine can best be summarized in one word: Taboo.

Taboo as defined as ‘a social or religious custom prohibiting or forbidding discussion of a particular practice or forbidding association with a particular person, place, or thing.’

In many countries around the world, particularly North America, entheogens are classified as a ‘Schedule 1’ substance. This means that they are considered “highly dangerous to user/society” and have “no applicable medical value”.

As we’ll continue to see, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, studies have shown that psychedelics are not linked to the development of mental health issues or suicidal behavior.

As a result, it’s deceptively difficult to begin studies into any potentially applicable values. Scientists, doctors, and therapists, excitedly exploring these treatments, can be ostracized, shunned, disbanded, or fired.

Without valid study opportunities, psychedelic therapy cannot move away from its current taboo state into a more socially and medically viable option to increase a patient’s overall quality of life.

As a result, previous work has happened in the shadows—in therapists’ homes for private, under-the-table sessions.

This coercion to the outer edges paints psychedelic therapy as a dark art, akin to voodoo from witch doctors, instead of the valid and tangible treatment it should be recognized as.

Recently, however, psychedelic therapy has begun to move out of the shadows and into the spotlight. Recognition from notable figures and interest from major institutions like John Hopkins Universityhave started to emerge. One organization at the forefront of these efforts is MAPS (The Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies), which is spearheading fundraising and medically-valid studies into the value and treatment of entheogens as a whole. The New York Times, Vice, The Guardian, and many others have begun to openly analyze the practice, and a more general discussion is emerging.

Early-stage results have come to fruition from initial studies, with outstanding results. Treatments are being shown as successful, and patients are retaining the benefits long-term.

Patients are getting their lives back.

No accepted medical value?

The successful treatment of ‘treatment-resistant’ patients should be considered outstanding medical value.

Of course, the psychedelic community at large has been saying this for years. Impressive anecdotal reports can be found by the hundreds from psychonauts online and in-person. Users who have effectively combatted depression, OCD, and persistent negative thought patterns.

So what exactly are these entheogens patients are using? How are they administered, and what do they address? The following are some of the substances being studied or advocated for in the psychedelic community currently.

Psychedelic Therapy

The Psychedelic Family and Their Therapeutic Applications

There are a plethora of entheogens with promising practical applications. The entheogens in point include psilocybin, ibogaine, LSD, and ayahuasca.

There are other, less prominent, psychedelics also being looked into on a smaller scale. These include DMT, mescaline, and 2C-B.

As each substance is unique in its biochemical composition, it fits that they each have their own neuropsychological effects. We can take a closer look at the proposed or proven benefits of each psychedelic in its therapeutic context.

Psilocybin

Psilocybin is the active ingredient in magic mushrooms. It is quickly claiming its stake as one of the most important substances to pair with traditional therapeutic techniques, due to its proven success at tackling treatment-resistant cases.

 Promising scientific and anecdotal evidence is emerging promoting the ability of psilocybin to alleviate or lessen the symptoms of depression, general anxiety, end-of-life anxiety, and trauma.

Coincidentally, psilocybin can also be effective in the context of couples therapy. It may be possible to save a marriage, or provide a deeper connection to your loved one if this was re-scheduled and introduced to society properly.

Who knew, magic mushrooms might just save your marriage!

Psilocybin is the focus of many emerging studies, and the results are beyond promising (see image below). The quote shared at the beginning of this article was in reference to terminal patients who had undergone their first treatment sessions with psilocybin.

Many ranked it as their most important life experience to date, with some putting on the same level or above the birth of their own child.

Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy has helped to reduce symptoms and onset of chronic depression, with the effects for most patients lasting between 6-12 months after the experience. This can be extended with effective post-experience integration techniques and follow-up sessions.

Ibogaine

Ibogaine hasn’t had it’s big break yet. It remains on the outer edges to this day, even in the psychedelic community. However, ibogaine is shaping up to be one of the most promising treatments available for patients suffering from opiate addiction or withdrawals.

A single treatment of ibogaine can eradicate the addiction completely, with little to no withdrawal symptoms.

This is something no medical treatment or pharmacological approach has been able to replicate to date.

Ibogaine outperforms any approach to intense addiction currently known to modern science.

And yet it remains a Schedule 1 drug.

Let that sink in.

Despite its unparalleled efficacy, the persistent unpopularity of ibogaine may be due to the fact that the experience is intense. A visceral, multi-day exploration that surfaces key decisions and moments of an addict’s life can be profoundly jarring; it is not something to be taken lightly.

This isn’t your average club drug or even a casual full-day trip in the forest with your friends.

Specifics of the trip aside, the profound efficacy of ibogaine should not be passed up, and fortunately, there are a few organizations (here and here) around the world working to surface these incredible results. Ibogaine is not illegal around the world and is, in fact, a right of passage for some youth in select African countries.

With effective post-experience integration and therapy, addicts who just a few weeks ago had succumbed to the sensual allure of serious drugs are now able to move forward successfully and reclaim the life they may have lost.

Ibogaine can help a user take their lives back from the deathly, devilish clutches of addiction.

LSD

LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), more commonly referred to as acid, has been in the spotlight for some time. Known to most people as a substance that brings beautiful visual benefits and a deep sense of interconnectedness, when applied in a therapeutic setting, LSD can overhaul cemented opinion structures, altering the individual’s outlook on life and the potential they have in the future.

Due to the incredible introspection, openness, and lucidity LSD provides, there are a plethora of illnesses or vindications that LSD-assisted psychotherapy can effectively combat.

Among these illnesses are: alcoholism, quitting smoking, depression, and general/end-of-life anxiety.

As with the aforementioned substances, LSD is proving both in scientific studies and anecdotal reports to offer profound, life-altering benefits to the user.

Follow the white rabbit, reclaim your life.

A pretty good trade-off if you ask me.

A common report of LSD is its ability to offer a ‘third-person’ perspective on yourself. To sit outside of yourself as a spectator, rather than exist as the voice inside your head. Viewing life from this perspective can pull you away from self-destructive patterns, open your eyes to new ways of living, and bring about a level of acceptance you may not have experienced before.

To dismiss psychedelic experiences as childish, or without practical medical applications, is to say that reclaiming a firm hold on your life has no value.

All life has value. We should enable everyone to take hold of it again.

Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca is finding its footing now in modern culture. This ‘jungle juice’ has been growing in popularity amongst psychonauts, consciousness explorers, or even just the ever-explorative startup employee on their vacation to South America.

The active ingredient in Ayahuasca is DMT, commonly referred to as the ‘God molecule.’ In a similar fashion to the ibogaine experience we discussed earlier, Ayahuasca teleports users back to critical moments in their lives, often in their formative years of childhood, to come to terms with and face highly traumatic or unresolved issues in their lives.

In being able to approach highly traumatic experiences with love, sensibility, and receptiveness, patients can quite literally change their past.

What does this mean?

Jason Silva does a great job at explaining this. Your past, your personality, your life story, are made up of two things: the memories you have, and the language you use to describe them.

Ayahuasca, and the psychedelic experience in general, allows you to revisit experiences of your past and change the internal dialogue of these moments. In re-framing trauma as a catalyst for growth, or being able to view abuse as misdirected love, patients can heal deep-seated wounds that they could not tackle through traditional therapy.

Why are users able to do this in psychedelic therapy, but not in traditional sessions? Because the experiences are often blocked off, regressed, or the individual is hesitant to reopen these wounds through discussion. They are unable to arrive at an appropriate emotional state to effectively re-frame the problem and re-direct these misplaced emotions. Through no fault of the individual or the therapy structure, this is just a limitation we as a society face.

Psychedelics offer us a solution.

By inducing a state of profound love and tolerance, incredibly damaging experiences can be reframed and addressed at a level significant enough to allow for true therapeutic breakthroughs to occur.

This is the value of Ayahuasca, and this is why it is quickly becoming so popular in Western psychonautic culture. As a result, Ayahuasca is being studied in the treatment of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), persistent negative thought patterns, and chronic depression/suicidal tendencies.

Being able to re-frame personal problems and come to a place of unconditional self-acceptance is a goal of most therapy. Why then, are entheogens that are being proven to allow this, still so taboo in modern and medical culture?

Everyday Improvement: The Magic of Micro-dosing

Closely related to the value of psychedelic therapy are the potential upsides presented by micro-dosing.

 Micro-dosing is the act of taking sub-perceptual doses of a psychedelic substance on a recurring schedule to promote overall vitality and quality of life. You can read more on micro-dosing here.

Just as important, if not more important than the experience itself, is being able to integrate the learning and progress made on the psychedelic journey into everyday life.

One of the incredible potential upsides to psychedelic therapy is that unlike modern pharmacological approaches, the user need not take a daily pill or participate in the experience on a recurring schedule.

One or two single experiences can provide enough revelatory insight to fundamentally change the habits and performance of the patient.

There is, however, a way to derive the profound benefits of the psychedelic experience on a smaller scale in everyday life: micro-dosing.

Simply, micro-dosing is taking a sub-perceptual dose and going about your day as normal. Sub-perceptual means the experience does not cross the threshold of conscious perception. Though you experience the benefits of the substance, you do not ‘feel’ different than your default state.

The benefits of micro-dosing are endless; you can read some of the effects on users here.

Reports from users who have been micro-dosing on a set schedule indicate elevated mood, increased strength, a deeper connection to others, increased endurance, lessened anxiety/fear, and improved communication, just to name a few benefits. Although the direct experience is sub-perceptual, its benefits find their way into everyday life when applied correctly.

Micro-dosing is incredibly important because it can help maintain euthymia or what is known as ‘normal mood’ in the medical community.

In addition to micro-dosing, meditation and mindfulness training can help you maintain a regular, consistent mood. For patients suffering from mental illness, reaching a normal, functional state is the end goal of therapy and treatment, as depression and anxiety are negative deviations from this norm.

Once again, post-experience integration and maintenance are just as important as the experience itself, micro-dosing can be a valuable tool for self-regulation and sustaining the benefits derived from psychedelic therapy.

MDMA: A Notable, Non-Psychedelic Opportunity

As we know, “psychedelic” refers to the altered state of consciousness reached by ingesting or imbibing these different entheogens. MDMA does not fall into the psychedelic category, as it only amplifies existing characteristics, behaviors, and biochemical levels. It is often included by many publications as a psychedelic, but renowned psychedelic explorer James Fadiman, when speaking with Tim Ferriss, offers a succinct differentiation here:

It’s not exactly a psychedelic because you don’t leave your identity behind, but it is the single best way to overcome intractable post-traumatic stress disorder.

Known on the street as the ‘love drug’, MDMA can put users into an unconditional state of love and respect for themselves and for others. Legalization could be a pivotal moment. As we noted with Ayahuasca, this can be instrumental when working to address traumatic experiences, from depression, to rape, to PTSD.

MAPS is also funding research into MDMA, and it is currently moving into Stage 3 trials. Successful Stage 3 trials allow the drug to be administered by credentialed parties, a monumental leap for patients and therapists alike. This is incredibly promising, and users who have participated in the early trial studies came out with remarkable results.

Integrating Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy Into Current Psychiatric Care

We’ve shown that there are multiple entheogens available today that are proving, under scientific scrutiny, that they provide value and effective treatment to patients and situations that have already been deemed ‘treatment-resistant.’

According to the authoritative definition of “Schedule 1 drug,”, these experiences have “no applicable medical value.”

Really?

Do we, as a society, consider the effective treatment of treatment-resistant illnesses lacking any practical value?

At the very least, this should be up for discussion and intelligent debate in academia and modern psychiatric care.

Now, of course, we aren’t advocating to make these available at every corner store in each major city. No, not at all. We are discussing psychedelic therapy, and the use of psychedelics to augment therapeutic treatment when administered by an accredited, accomplished therapist or doctor.

In these environments, studies are showing that psychedelic therapy can be incredibly effective, and in the case of ibogaine, able to accomplish things previously unseen in the medical community.

If it is worth giving psychedelics their well-deserved shot in society, how do we go about doing this? MAPS can point you in the right direction here. What we need is for psychedelics to be re-scheduled away a Schedule 1 substance. This indicates that there are applicable medical values. This is similar to what is happening with marijuana across various states right now.

Additionally, we need entheogens to enter the rigorous scientific study and scrutiny that all other therapeutic treatments and drugs receive.

Why?

We need to validate and replicate the original studies that are happening now and move them along the stages of scientific and medical study to the point where they can be prescribed and administered by the appropriate parties. Just like you can be prescribed Lithium if you are diagnosed with depression, we should move entheogens to the point where you can be prescribed MDMA-assisted psychotherapy if you are diagnosed with PTSD.

To make a tangible impact in these initiatives, you can refer to the resources at MAPS, make a donation, and even consider hosting your own psychedelic dinner!

We must move quickly to bring the medical community up to speed, and to be able to provide patients with the care that could truly save their lives.

Being a superhero isn’t difficult. Sometimes it’s as simple as correcting a mistake that has been made in the past. Helping the past to catch up with the present.

Source:highexistence.com

Psychedelic therapy re-emerging for anxiety, PTSD and addiction

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psychedelic autum colors

Renewed medical interest in the use of psychedelic drugs for anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and addiction has resulted in small research studies that show some success with the controlled use of these drugs, according to an analysis published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

Psychedelic drugs are substances that have a strong effect on one’s “conscious experience,” such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), psilocybin, found in “magic mushrooms,” dimethyltryptamine (DMT), mescaline and methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).

“The re-emerging paradigm of psychedelic medicine may open clinical doors and therapeutic doors long closed,” writes Dr. Evan Wood, Professor of Medicine and Canada Research Chair, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, and coauthors.

One small randomized controlled trial indicates that LSD-assisted psychotherapy might help reduce anxiety from terminal illness. Another small study, in which the active molecule in “magic mushrooms” was used as part of therapy for alcohol addiction, shows a significant reduction in the number of days alcohol was used as well as in the amount. A small US study of the drug MDMA shows a reduction in PTSD symptoms in people with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD.

“Continued medical research and scientific inquiry into psychedelic drugs may offer new ways to treat mental illness and addiction in patients who do not benefit from currently available treatments,” write the authors.

Learnings from research conducted in the 1950s and 1960s, in which there were challenges to conducting studies and ethical breaches, is helping inform current research in the field.

“Although methodological and political challenges remain to some degree, recent clinical studies have shown that studies on psychedelics as therapeutic agents can conform to the rigorous scientific, ethical and safety standards expected of contemporary medical research,” the authors write.

Canadian researchers are leading studies that are looking at psychedelic drugs as treatment for addiction and PTSD.

The authors emphasize that the studies included in their analysis are small and the results preliminary; further research is needed to determine if there is widespread clinical application.