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Hallucinogens Help With Depression

According to the NY Times article above, a 65 year old man suffering from depression due to cancer was recently given a concentrated form of psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient found in certain mushrooms. 


The man was given the drug and proceeded to lay down with and eye mask on and classical music playing as he started to drift into the cosmos. 


“All of a sudden, everything familiar started evaporating,” he recalled. “Imagine you fall off a boat out in the open ocean, and you turn around, and the boat is gone. And then the water’s gone. And then you’re gone.”


The 'trip' only last a short 6 hours, the typical running time for most hallucinogen drugs, but the implications he feels helped exponentially. When asked about the experience he ranks it among the most meaningful events of his life, which makes him a fairly typical member of a growing club of experimental subjects. 


This week many researchers are gathering to discuss the future experiments that hallucinogens can be involved in to help combat certain things such as cancer patients, obsessive-compulsive disorder, end-of-life anxiety,post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction to drugs or alcohol.


--In one of Dr. Griffiths’s first studies, involving 36 people with no serious physical or emotional problems, he and colleagues found that psilocybin could induce what the experimental subjects described as a profound spiritual experience with lasting positive effects for most of them. None had had any previous experience with hallucinogens, and none were even sure what drug was being administered.-- (taken from the article)


MY OPINION


I feel this is a step in the right direction, which is away from pumping individual full of drugs that chemical change your body. Taking anti-depressants for extended periods of time can have adverse reactions to many people, often times resulting in addictions to the medicine. 

I have had experiences with mushrooms and from what I have witnessed through friends and through my own experiences, when I was on them, I was at peace, happy, stable, calm, and just had an overall euphoria that could not be explained otherwise. This feeling stayed with me after the effects wore off simply because my mind had been altered for the better. I thought more clearly, logical, and overall just felt better about myself. My confidence grew and I became more self-assured after just one night of the experience.


I do understand that results may vary, and that this is a dangerous and illegal drug, however, I can not get over that when I drink alcohol I feel less happy with myself the next day and sometimes even during my drink. But I have yet to feel negatively towards any experience I have had with hallucinogens. 


With control and hopefully medical supervision, these type drugs will become more popular and widespread. Allowing people to take 'trips' in their mind and see what they are blocked from seeing and feeling otherwise.