The study was just published in the most prestigious medical journal in the world [1].<p>Whatever you think of the study, this is rather significant. If you told me even 2 years ago there would be a randomised trial of magic mushrooms in NEJM, I would not have believed it for even a second.<p>One point not to miss is that they screened 1000 patients to come up with the study population of 59.<p>Nevertheless, I consider the study result quite promising, considering patients only had 2 doses of psilocybin.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2032994" rel="nofollow">https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2032994</a>
I have a friend who has experienced magic mushrooms recreationally about half a dozen times in her 20s. After each trip she reported feeling clear headed and more mindful - she described it as though her mind's harddrive had been defragmented.<p>Fast forward 10 years and that same friend felt low during lockdown over the past 12 months. After reading up online she decided to try microdosing mushrooms rather than the mainstream route her doctor would prescribe - anti depressants.<p>She has been taking a tiny dose every other day and feels immeasurably better. More optimistic about the future. More energy. More focus. Less sad.<p>To say it's frustrating to read these official press releases about the positive impact of mushrooms nearly 20 years after she discovered them for the first time is the understatement of a lifetime.<p>I'm convinced we'll look back at this era as a form of prohibition on drugs that governments threw down as a wide blanket and ultimately society was worse off for.
I think the people behind drug prohibition need reckoning. They have caused untold suffering, especially by preventing people from accessing medication they needed.
There is no justification for drug prohibition to continue. If anyone thinks otherwise, then it only means they have not educated themselves enough about the topic, they profit from the current status quo or simply they take pleasure in causing suffering to other people.
I was not able to speak to my father, let alone staying in the same room were he was, for about 26 years (~18yr old till recently ~44yr).<p>The background for this was my choice of leaving an ultra orthodox jewish community and going on my own.<p>I recently tried that (after 3 years of hesitation) and the magic happened. It affected my structure of feelings in several ways indeed, but in the context of this one, I would say that, at least for me, it was not like "I forgive you", "you owe me, but I let go". Not at all, in my case, it simply earased the "load", the hard feelings, completely.<p>Beyond the magic psychadelic affects, the trip is an emotional journey that one takes, a journey that you come back with compassion, understanding and rock solid outlook over the world.
I see articles about curing depression from time to time and I have hope but not much. I have lived most of my life as a depressed kid. The most jolting realization that I had as an adult was that around sixth grade I was contemplating suicide without knowing what that word meant. Since then, life has been like a long, slow death march. If you asked most of my friends they'd likely tell you that I'm really happy, funny, quirky, and eccentric but inside I battle the demons of my own mind. I've let those demons shape my understanding of the world before and each day they don't these days is a choice. I've used cognitive behavioral therapy as a tool to do battle against them, I take daily melatonin, and I take long vacations but those things are coping mechanisms. The days I am hit with depression that wants to keep me anchored to my bed are the days I really go to war. I have to keep my mouth shut more because whatever I say on those days will almost assuredly be tainted with tinges of, <i>I hate myself and am discontented with the world</i> tones. I have to pressure myself to focus. When the day is over I throw myself on the couch and hope that tomorrow that veil is lifted.
It also has an extremely good therapeutic index of 641 [0], compared to aspirin at 19 and alcohol at 10, where higher is better [1].<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin#Toxicity" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin#Toxicity</a><p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_index" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therapeutic_index</a>
It seems the design of this study is questionable.<p>Since they couldn't blind the psylocybin group from the effect, they gave 1mg daily to the SSRI group.<p>Basically it's a study that compares psylocybin with SSRI + psylocybin micro dosing.<p>They claim that the micro dose don't have an effect, but there is not a large body of evidence to support that claim.
I feel like there will also people that have way too many prejudices towards these kinds of "drugs" because that's simply how we learned it. "Don't take drugs kids".<p>These studies are very helpful especially when shared over general media, but the consumption has to be supervised and controlled to not have overdoses and ruin the whole reputation again. It should be treated like any other anti-depressant, since they are just "drugs" in the end
Due to recent decriminalizations and booming medical research, there are also some publicly traded companies one can invest in:<p><a href="https://psychedelicinvest.com/index/" rel="nofollow">https://psychedelicinvest.com/index/</a><p><a href="https://www.horizonsetfs.com/etf/psyk" rel="nofollow">https://www.horizonsetfs.com/etf/psyk</a><p>(disclaimer: I own shares in many of these companies)
> In a phase 2, <i>double-blind</i>, randomized, controlled trial<p>It seems like you <i>can't</i> blind the participants in this case? It should be obvious if you're getting the treatment because psilocybin is a hallucinogen, unless they're giving such a small dose that it reliably doesn't cause any hallucinations?<p>This is important because most (70-80%) of the effect of existing anti-depressants is known to be placebo, and there's already concern that you can't blind in regular anti-depressant trials because the participant might know they receive treatment due to feeling the side effects of the drug (e.g. insomnia). The problem of being unable to blind participants would seem to be magnified in a psilocybin trial.
For those curious: you can cultivate your own at home. It’s 100% legal to purchase psilocybin spores online in many states.<p>I just had to throw out a grow due to contamination - super frustrating setback - but I’m determined to produce a healthy harvest.
Me and my girlfriend are microdosing LSD for the past couple of weeks. We both are very outgoing persons, but due to Corona, our life is really boring which makes our mental state not as positive as it was. We notice that we have more acceptance to the Corona situation. Especially the “bad” days, the microdosis makes the day much more acceptable.. I’m aware that this is a very brief explanation. If you are very interested in this, please let me know, happy to chat or call about it.
Japan had magic mushroom vending machines until they were banned in 2002. The Japanese were concerned about what image they display to the world ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2002, which led to this ban.<p>Many different explanations are possible, but I do wonder whether there is any connection to their increased rates of depression after 2000. Antidepressants were not accepted in Japan for long time.<p>To verify it would be good to see some statistics on their usage prior to that. Checking out Super Marios game mechanics, it seems they were in the nations discourse at least ;)
I have had many psychedelics experience during the last 2 years but I've only had the opportunity to try mushrooms once.<p>They definitely are powerful and healing, however I believe the only safe path shrooms will take in our society is national legalization for use in therapy and not recreational use.<p>My main argument is the following: legalization for recreational use will trivialize the image of psilocybin in the eyes of the population, and we will start to see an increase in "bad experiences" due to people using it without having a trip sitter or preparation. Therefore, legalizing it only for therapy use will be more beneficial for the general population.<p>Decriminalization is an option, but legalization ehhh.
It emotionally attaches you to this world, which you belong in. You feel a connection to the eb and flow of the world, which I think depressed people lose. They get caught in their sole perception of their world, caused by neuroticism and past traumas. The brain pathways are hit hard every day, so it's tough for them to get out of it. This substance can be like a tsunami that washes it all away.
What kind of dose are the individuals being given? It says 2 high-level doses over a 6 week period. Are we thinking the antidepressant effects aren't from the trip itself, but from the aftereffects? That's sort of what's being discovered w/r/t ketamine therapy for depression.
There's been some promising progress on migraine/cluster-headache treatments with psilocybin microdosing. Really happy to see that humanity is slowly starting to realize that blanket bans aren't always the best idea ..
The confidence intervals don't seem to imply that Psilocybin is "promising" given that for a subset of patients, there were worse effects.
I don’t want to live in a world where the solution to depression (caused by governments, politicians, or general existence in the modern capitalist world) is a drug. Not a good idea.<p>Instead, figure out <i>why</i> depression has increased so dramatically in the last ~century and address that.
On the one hand, HN is terrified of brain-computer interfaces manipulating our brains and emotions, on the other hand, they're totally psyched about using mushrooms to do the same thing.
Are psychedelics connected to dreaming? I mean, maybe dreams are supposed to somehow reset or recalibrate brains, but on some people it's not working for some reason. Also, there's a connection of what you eat and what you dream, so my wild hypothesis is that gut bacteria is responsible for recalibrating your brain during sleep. There's also quite strong evidence for correlation between gut bacteria and mental health. Somehow these are connected. Also, exercise, especially running has a mental health effect. Maybe it just mixes your gut bacteria.
I don't believe drugs whether prescribed or recreational can cure Mental disorders. yes they may alleviate the symptoms but they don't really work on the root cause which are basically ones mental tendencies, thought patterns or habits acquired over a period of time. here[0] is a different take on what depression is and gives a high level road map to come out of it, for more details this [1] is a book by the same author and for testing out if those methods work here is an app [2] again from the same monk.<p>p.s i have followed all three & i must say the quality of life has improved considerably<p>[0] <a href="https://os.me/depression-definition-cause-and-cure/" rel="nofollow">https://os.me/depression-definition-cause-and-cure/</a>
[1] <a href="https://www.amazon.in/When-All-Not-Well-Perspective-ebook/dp/B01FTU7ED6" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.in/When-All-Not-Well-Perspective-ebook/dp...</a>
[2] <a href="https://www.blacklotus.app/" rel="nofollow">https://www.blacklotus.app/</a>
Judging by studies on long term use of other mind-altering drugs, I would expect psilocybin to similarly cause decline in cognitive abilities after prolonged use.<p>Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I could not find studies on effect of specifically psilocybin on cognitive abilities.<p>And please, don't bring up EmoIQ and other non-reasoning related stuff. This is not what the concern is about.
Here in Europe someone gave politicians the idea that they could control a virus. So now we have arbitrary sets of restrictions applied when case numbers of coronavirus go up. If case numbers go down again, they get relaxed. If they go up, add more restrictions are added until they go down. The restrictions are follow the case numbers, but we have convinced ourselves it is the other way around. It's a modern day witchcraft.