
Psychedelic drugs may revolutionize mental health care - vimota
https://fortune.com/longform/psychedelic-drugs-business-mental-health/
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PragmaticPulp
I'm very appreciative that we're researching psychedelics again. There is
clearly some degree of therapeutic potential for these compounds as _adjuncts_
to traditional therapy programs.

However, I'm also worried that the media glamorization of psychedelics will
sink this trend before it has a chance to gain a foothold. I get worried when
Fortune is consulting with tech-age gurus like Tim Ferriss instead of
reporting on the underlying research.

Psychedelics show promise in controlled trials when embedded in the middle of
intense therapy sessions, administered by trained professionals. Participants
in these sessions, such as the author of the article, are generally drawn to
the psychedelic treatment with a strong pre-conceived notion that the
treatment will "work". In other words, it currently self-selects for true
believers almost perfectly. The placebo component is very real.

Psychedelic treatment also doesn't work miracles the way that Tim Ferriss and
other gurus tend to hype it. In the article, Tim compares a single psychedelic
sessions to "a decade of highly-effective talk therapy", which is a red flag
for anyone remotely familiar with psychedelics or talk therapy. He also
glosses over the fact that he frequently took psychedelics as a younger person
yet still suffered from depression.

Depressed patients are a notoriously vulnerable population, often desperate
for any form of relief. Dangling psychedelics as an easy-button miracle cure
is dangerously irresponsible. Yes, I know Tim technically recommends that his
listeners don't self-experiment at home (wink wink) but do you really expect
depressed patients reading this hyperbolic article that doesn't bother
explaining the limitations or downsides to come to the same conclusion?

