Feelings About Hallucinogens Are Changing
Attitudes toward drugs are shifting dramatically. With this shift comes more widespread understanding and nuance that didn’t exist before. Marijuana use is being legalized for medical and adult use across the country. The broad abuse of opioid painkillers has become a public health issue rather than a law enforcement problem. Washington State has legalized the use of psilocybin for therapy. And some local governments across the country are decriminalizing psilocybin use.
While research on the therapeutic uses of these substances is in its relative infancy, hallucinogens are being called on to help with a variety of mental health issues.
Matthew Johnson, PhD, a research psychologist at Johns Hopkins University explains that, like most antidepressants, the hallucinogens affect how the brain uses serotonin -- a chemical related to mood, memory, and sleep. But, unlike antidepressants, hallucinogens appear to change how different parts of the brain communicate with each other.
Many people who take these plant medicines report “a radically altered sense of self” and a greater sense of open-mindedness.
Researchers are working to understand how lasting this effect is on the brain. There is hope that these substances can help with depression, anxiety, addiction, trauma, and other mental health issues.
"Combined with psychotherapy, some psychedelic drugs like MDMA, psilocybin and ayahuasca may improve symptoms of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder," said Cristina L. Magalhaes, PhD, of Alliant International University Los Angeles, and co-chair of a symposium on psychedelics and psychotherapy. "More research and discussion are needed to understand the possible benefits of these drugs, and psychologists can help navigate the clinical, ethical and cultural issues related to their use."
MDMA is one example. MDMA produces a euphoric effect, it increases emotional openness, connection and empathy as reported by Brad Burge, a spokesman for the California-based MAPS. When facing past traumas, these feelings can ease the constant hyper-arousal that PTSD patients deal with when working to address the traumas of their past.
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The importance of integration, talk therapy, and processing of feelings are all an integral part of successful therapies that are studying hallucinogenic use.
Those traits can help ease the state of “constant hyper-arousal” that PTSD patients have as they try to beat back memories of their trauma, he says.
Participants are “less afraid,” Burge says. The trauma “becomes something they can think about and talk about and process in a more open way. It’s not just an instantaneous cure in these experimental sessions, but follow-up sessions without MDMA are also important to making sure that people are able to take those lessons and really internalize them.”
MDMA also floods the brain’s receptors with serotonin and oxytocin, a hormone linked to reducing stress and improving trust, Burge says. It helps to calm their heightened fear responses, he says.
As more of these substances are researched, more healthy uses arise. As more healthy uses arise, more people will feel safe using the substances in therapies. As people feel safer using these substances in therapies, the perception of these substances will continue to change. Next steps include legalizing these substances and normalizing their use.
It is a good time to be alive.