Doctors looking at hallucinogens as treatment for depression
41 replies, posted
[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/science/12psychedelics.html?scp=1&sq=hallucinogen&st=cse[/url]
[release]As a retired clinical psychologist, Clark Martin was well acquainted with traditional treatments for depression, but his own case seemed untreatable as he struggled through chemotherapy and other grueling regimens for kidney cancer. Counseling seemed futile to him. So did the antidepressant pills he tried.
Nothing had any lasting effect until, at the age of 65, he had his first psychedelic experience. He left his home in Vancouver, Wash., to take part in an experiment at Johns Hopkins medical school involving psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient found in certain mushrooms.
Scientists are taking a new look at hallucinogens, which became taboo among regulators after enthusiasts like Timothy Leary promoted them in the 1960s with the slogan “Turn on, tune in, drop out.” Now, using rigorous protocols and safeguards, scientists have won permission to study once again the drugs’ potential for treating mental problems and illuminating the nature of consciousness.
After taking the hallucinogen, Dr. Martin put on an eye mask and headphones, and lay on a couch listening to classical music as he contemplated the universe.
“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.”
Today, more than a year later, Dr. Martin credits that six-hour experience with helping him overcome his depression and profoundly transforming his relationships with his daughter and friends. 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.
Researchers from around the world are gathering this week in San Jose, Calif., for the largest conference on psychedelic science held in the United States in four decades. They plan to discuss studies of psilocybin and other psychedelics for treating depression in cancer patients, obsessive-compulsive disorder, end-of-life anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction to drugs or alcohol.
The results so far are encouraging but also preliminary, and researchers caution against reading too much into these small-scale studies. They do not want to repeat the mistakes of the 1960s, when some scientists-turned-evangelists exaggerated their understanding of the drugs’ risks and benefits.[/release]
:lsd:
What if they have bad trips?
Yeah, wasn't there a story a while ago about a study where LSD was used to treat PTSD? If I recall corrently, it had pretty positive results.
:smith:
:unsmith:
I would be highly cautious of this. A bad trip will end up causing more damage than healing.
[QUOTE=The golden;21315546]Yeah, fuck therapy and psychological help! Just pump people full of risky drugs![/QUOTE]
Yea fuck research, lets stick to the old ways and burn them witches!
Oh for fuck's sake, why did I have to miss out on the cool treatment?
[QUOTE=The golden;21315546]Yeah, fuck therapy and psychological help! Just pump people full of risky drugs![/QUOTE]
One is easier and funner than the other, so why not?
...
Awesome
End-of-life anxiety? Can't say I've ever heard of that before.
Hopefully the findings are good and they tend to be from the documentaries I've seen. LSD can be used for cluster headaches. Why should we restrict potential medications because of a large portion of society's opinion on it?
A while back doctors in mental hospitals used LSD to understand their patients with schizophrenia more, because they don't really have any idea what they're going through, and it was thought that LSD recreated what they felt.
Haven't they been doing this for a while now?
[QUOTE=Panda X;21316134]Haven't they been doing this for a while now?[/QUOTE]
Yeah that's what I thought. There are ongoing studies on using drugs as antidepressants (with positive results).
[QUOTE=phill977;21316068]A while back doctors in mental hospitals used LSD to understand their patients with schizophrenia more, because they don't really have any idea what they're going through, and it was thought that LSD recreated what they felt.[/QUOTE]
That's because it does create a lot of the same effects of it. They actually use LSD to induce schizophrenia like symptoms in rats.
NICE. I'm depressed, give me some good shit.
fuck yeah, i'm being evaluated for depression before i get treated, so maybe this will come out so i can trip balls.
Hmm, I've always thought that any form of hallucinating is not good for your brain; since in my eyes, any way of altering what your brain inputs into something completely imaginary, but it seeming real, seems like it is damaging your brain in some way.
Anyone know if it's necessarily true or not?
[QUOTE=The golden;21315546]Yeah, fuck therapy and psychological help! Just pump people full of risky drugs![/QUOTE]
Risky...? Yeah, there's not thousands and thousands and thousands of tests that have been done in a huge ranges of uses on all illegal drugs.
[editline]06:30PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=phill977;21317631]Hmm, I've always thought that any form of hallucinating is not good for your brain; since in my eyes, any way of altering what your brain inputs into something completely imaginary, but it seeming real, seems like it is damaging your brain in some way.
Anyone know if it's necessarily true or not?[/QUOTE]
It's really not true. Hallucinations can help as much as hurt. they aren't damaging, not necessarily.
[editline]06:31PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Bassplaya7;21313853]Yeah, wasn't there a story a while ago about a study where LSD was used to treat PTSD? If I recall corrently, it had pretty positive results.[/QUOTE]
Not LSD, MDMA or E. LSD would be a bad trip experience for most people with PTSD probably.
[editline]06:33PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=phill977;21316068]A while back doctors in mental hospitals used LSD to understand their patients with schizophrenia more, because they don't really have any idea what they're going through, and it was thought that LSD recreated what they felt.[/QUOTE]
LSD isn't really like Schizofrenia. That implies a degree of insanity, LSD won't just make you insane. If they tried to simulate it like that, they'd probably not get very far in my experience, then again, it's a very personal experience each time.
[QUOTE=phill977;21317631]Hmm, I've always thought that any form of hallucinating is not good for your brain; since in my eyes, any way of altering what your brain inputs into something completely imaginary, but it seeming real, seems like it is damaging your brain in some way.
Anyone know if it's necessarily true or not?[/QUOTE]
What you are implying is that your brain doesn't already alter the inputs. Ever really think you see something just to find it isn't there? Do people you hate tend to appear more annoying than people you like? Just trying to provide some examples to get you thinking.
Can it damage the brain? Well depends, some people, mainly heavy users get some hallucinations at times even when not tripping. But typically, people only hallucinate badly when they are meant to be.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;21317648]Risky...? Yeah, there's not thousands and thousands and thousands of tests that have been done in a huge ranges of uses on all illegal drugs.
[editline]06:30PM[/editline]
It's really not true. Hallucinations can help as much as hurt. they aren't damaging, not necessarily.
[editline]06:31PM[/editline]
Not LSD, MDMA or E. LSD would be a bad trip experience for most people with PTSD probably.
[editline]06:33PM[/editline]
LSD isn't really like Schizofrenia. That implies a degree of insanity, LSD won't just make you insane. If they tried to simulate it like that, they'd probably not get very far in my experience, then again, it's a very personal experience each time.[/QUOTE]
schizofrenia lol
why use hallucinogens for depression? it's been studied for the use of it on headaches/migraines or similar conditions, and most of the results have proved that it's an effective treatment for headaches and the like.
[QUOTE=Bassplaya7;21313853]Yeah, wasn't there a story a while ago about a study where LSD was used to treat PTSD? If I recall corrently, it had pretty positive results.[/QUOTE]
That's mdma, the stuff is really crazy, makes you feel like everything is right in the world and you figured out the meaning to life
[QUOTE=phill977;21317631]Hmm, I've always thought that any form of hallucinating is not good for your brain; since in my eyes, any way of altering what your brain inputs into something completely imaginary, but it seeming real, seems like it is damaging your brain in some way.
Anyone know if it's necessarily true or not?[/QUOTE]
Not true at all. It is only changing how it perceives for as long as the chemicals are bound to the receptors. They aren't changing the receptors in any way. Think of it like putting a pair of wacky sunglasses on, except instead of your eyes, you are putting them on your brain.
it might work just as well as pulsing the ports
Well, I do know that LSD has a 51% chance of curing alcoholism, opposed to AA meetings with a chance of only 10%.
Also, :pcgaming:
[QUOTE=Dr. Fishtastic;21320411]Well, I do know that LSD has a 51% chance of curing alcoholism, opposed to AA meetings with a chance of only 10%.[/QUOTE]
That's because LSD provides a mind-opening experience, which makes people realise what's morally right and how they should pursue the world in a better way.
But if they started using LSD for an alcoholism cure, the same thing that happened in the '60s may happen again.
[QUOTE=phill977;21320654]That's because LSD provides a mind-opening experience, which makes people realise what's morally right and how they should pursue the world in a better way.
But if they started using LSD for an alcoholism cure, the same thing that happened in the '60s may happen again.[/QUOTE]
The Grateful Dead?
People started taking it as a recreational thing in the late '50s (since it was new and legal) and then they quit their jobs and started become hippies because they realised how pointless life in society was.
It was practically the downfall of society, a lot of people where against the government after realising how humane and ignorant they are.
That's what I learnt from watching a documentary though, I wasn't there, so correct me if you wish.
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