
Will Psychedelic Therapy Transform Mental Health Care? - anythingnonidin
https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/will-psychedelic-therapy-transform-mental-health-care-ncna805466
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SolaceQuantum
This is presenting psychedelics as a kind of cure-all for a variety of things
that seem unrelated on its surface: anxiety, eating disorders, addiction,
trauma, depression, etc. I would argue we are treating symptoms and not
figuring out the causes behind these illnesses such that a single drug treats
all of them.

I would also note that there are glaring holes: There's no research on sensory
issues with psychedelic therapy, something that has co-morbidity with a
variety of these disorders which will make treatment more difficult. Psychotic
depression, bipolar whose manic symptoms enter psychosis, delusional thinking
common in anxiety/depression/eating disorders, and sensory distortions common
in PTSD/eating disorders...

I would temper my excitement about this until we can prove either why it works
or the specific situations it works in, which I suspect will be far less than
the cure-all it's being presented as here. It reminds me of immunotherapy,
stem cell treatment, etc.

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anythingnonidin
> I would argue we are treating symptoms and not figuring out the causes
> behind these illnesses such that a single drug treats all of them.

It's funny that you say that, because it seems that psychedelics may work for
a variety of things because they address some lower-level factor, rather than
just treating higher-level symptoms.

"In 6-month follow-up interviews, participants were asked: ‘Did this treatment
work for you, and if so how?’ and responses were analysed for consistent
themes (Watts et al. 2017). Of the 17 patients who endorsed the treatment’s
effectiveness, all made reference to one particular mediating factor: a
renewed sense of connection or connectedness. This factor was found to have
three distinguishable aspects: connection to (1) self, (2) others and (3) the
world in general (Watts et al. 2017)."

"In brief, we have proposed that brain serotonin 2A receptor signalling
mediates a state of rapid plasticity that is conducive to major change (e.g.
in outlook and/or behaviour)—when such change feels necessary (e.g. to aid
mental or physical survival). Such a function may be related to humans’ unique
capacity for adaptability."

Source/further reading:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28795211](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28795211)

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oceanghost
I was able to use a half dozen or so psychs, dissos and MDMA to address issues
the medical establishment can't/won't. I have official diagnosis of PTSD, GAD,
Major Depression, ADHD and OCD. I was in a very, very bad accident as a child.
While, I am "ok" with it in the Freudian sense, It just left me anxious all
the time.

These things made dramatic changes to my personality, I was weak, shy,
reserved. I'm now confident, self-actualized, empathetic. But they also did
trigger DID which had been dormant for a decade. For me, this was actually a
good thing. I made peace with those parts of me and I can call upon them when
needed.

You kind of hit a wall with self-growth-- You're going to realize a lot of
your friendships and relationships are unhealthy. You'll need to remove these
unhealthy things. My employer was massively abusive (had to end that), and my
wife, while not intentional puts massive amounts of stress on me due to some
issues she doesn't care to work on.

People who refuse to grow, or want to keep treating you negatively will label
your behavior crazy, and express concern for you when in reality they want to
continue the negative patterns you had previously participated in.

I've also gotten to some really scary places mentally, with meditation and
dissos achieved brief glimpses of "enlightenment". Which is far less
interesting than it sounds. Enlightenment is actually rather lonely. Imagine
your mind expanding into an infinite space, an infinite, empty space.

The hardest part has actually been my family. They don't recognize me because,
for the first time in their lives, I am not completely, utterly miserable.

~~~
eternauta3k
Re: enlightenment, you might find this subreddit useful. Even if you just want
help dealing with negative states produced by meditation.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/streamentry/](https://www.reddit.com/r/streamentry/)

~~~
oceanghost
Hi, thank you very much!

