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Psilocybin for major depression granted Breakthrough Therapy by FDA
- sails 7y agoA great intro into the history and current status of psychedelics is How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan [0]. > It chronicles the long and storied history of psychedelic drugs, from their turbulent 1960s heyday to the resulting countermovement and backlash. Through his coverage of the recent resurgence in this field of research, as well as his own personal use of psychedelics via a "mental travelogue", Pollan seeks to illuminate not only the mechanics of the drugs themselves, but also the inner workings of the human mind and consciousness. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Change_Your_Mind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Change_Your_Mind
- jcims 7y agoI wonder if this would be useful for folks dealing with cancer and other illnesses that leave your future uncertain.
- jacek 7y agoIt has been proven to significantly reduce depression and anxiety in cancer patients [1]. This has been one of the most famous studies on psychedelics in recent years. However, set (patient's mindset, intentions, psychological preparation) and setting (environment, support of the sitter) have huge impact on the outcome. That's because psychedelics are not a switch that change your brain chemistry forever, they are a tool that allow you to enter, understand and reshuffle your mind. [1] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269881116675513 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0269881116675513
- jcims 7y agoThank you
- t34543 7y agoIt should be standard to offer this and marijuana in hospice. It can bring peace to those who are ill and their loved ones.
- jacek 7y agoI agree. But unlike cannabis, you are most likely to get positive results when you work with a right therapist/guide.
- jcranberry 7y agoPsychedelics shouldn't be viewed as palliative. They help you to bring about changes to your self. For some people trips can be very frightening or even traumatizing.
- t34543 7y agoOne of my family members was dying and extremely anxious in hospice. The person reflected on their life and wanted to make amends with some people. I believe something like a psychedelic would’ve provided clarity. It could’ve been traumatizing, but it could’ve worked too. Patients should have a choice to accept the risk.
- munkiefish 7y agoAtlast
- brenden2 7y agoI've been reading a book called "How to Change Your Mind"[1] which contains a collection of history, anecdotes, trip reports, and some of the science behind these types of drugs. The book mostly discusses psilocybin and LSD, but it also touches on some of the other related drugs. If you're curious and want to learn more, it's worth a read. The one thing I'll say is that it seems like these drugs affect the brain in a way that's more akin to a super-placebo, rather than being therapeutic on their own. In other words, you would need to use the drugs in combination with therapy to obtain good results. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Change_Your_Mind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Change_Your_Mind
- jrowley 7y agoI definitely would not consider them to be in the class of drugs as a traditional placebo, in the sense that they drastically alter your sense of consciousness and reality, but you are getting at important component which is that these drugs should be coupled with pre-trip planning therapy and post-trip integration therapy in clinical settings. Great book btw. I highly recommend it anyone who is curious about the subject.
- moretai 7y agoHow do you know that the shift in consciousness/reality is not just an illusion?
- brenden2 7y agoIt is an illusion, but at the same time it's not. It's 100% real to the person perceiving the shift, and in the case of treating mental illness that's all that really counts. It's not so much about how it works or why it works, it's mostly about the result.
- dwaltrip 7y agoThey have measured very distinct changes in brain functioning.
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- dsalzman 7y agohttps://overcast.fm/+KebsDhWec https://overcast.fm/+KebsDhWec Great Tim Ferris podcast with Michael Pollan that goes into the details on this subject.
- andy_ppp 7y agoI think Tim Ferris has been helping fund some of the research... https://www.businessinsider.com/tim-ferriss-first-psychedelic-research-center-launches-imperial-london-2019-4?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com/tim-ferriss-first-psychedeli...
- dwaltrip 7y agoThis and other developments make me very hopeful for the future of mental health. Lots of hard work ahead, but it seems like a corner has finally been turned.
- fjabre 7y agoCheck out rTMS (repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation). Brain stimulation has come a long way.
- jaypeg25 7y agoHow do you even control for a placebo in a trial like this? I gotta imagine you're either going to know you're on mushrooms or you're not.
- Quarrelsome 7y agoyou'd be surprised, people can be super suggestable and think they're high when they're not, especially when they don't have any former experience of the substance.
- gbrown 7y agoYou don't - you compare it to "standard of care" (antidepressants, CBT, etc.). If we can compare an inferior treatment to placebo, and we can compare a breakthrough treatment to this established standard, we can evaluate the new treatment.
- bantheads 7y agoIn the Good Friday Experiment they used niacin for the control group. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsh_Chapel_Experiment https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marsh_Chapel_Experiment
- AnthonBerg 7y agoThe published papers are probably excellent reading material :)
- kpennell 7y agoRead the studies. They definitely use placebos.
- givinguflac 7y agoWhile this is a great step forward, it's still going to take years for this to be even remotely accessible. I've been in therapy and taking various medications for years and haven't found anything that really works, at least for more than a brief period. Don't forget esketamine was also granted breakthrough treatment status recently, but I have yet to find a doctor willing to try it because it's "so new". On top of that, it's still outrageously expensive even with insurance, if insurance will even cover it at all because it's "so new" and I haven't yet exhausted every compound that's ever existed. Sigh.
- tempsy 7y agoNot to be facetious but why is the legal status of these drugs preventing you from trying them? Ketamine, LSD, shrooms are all accessible, and recreational varieties are not expensive.
- tyri_kai_psomi 7y agoMost people don't like to intentionally break the law.
- fabiomaia 7y agoMost people intentionally stream movies illegally. The moral aspect of breaking the law is not a very strong argument here. I think the bigger moral issue with buying street drugs is that you are essentially funding organized crime.
- tyri_kai_psomi 7y agoYou mistakenly assume I mean strictly from a moral perspective. Assume a cost:benefit analysis, where the factors are, depending on the person, some combination of morality, desire to not face consequences (legal system, job, family), and perceived risk:reward ratio.
- collyw 7y agoI would be surprised if there were a driver out there who hadn't gone above the speed limit.
- fjabre 7y agoAnother new and novel treatment for MDD is called rTMS or repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. Its effects are probably more durable than Magic Mushrooms from the literature, up to a year or more in some cases from a single round of treatment. A quick search in pubmed will bring 1000s of articles on its efficacy. Any loss for big pharma is a big win for consumers.
- Mortiffer 7y agoHere's the actual trial https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03866174 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03866174
- foobar_ 7y agoPeople who are a bit afraid of the drugs should try floatation tank together with lucia light therapy. It's the best spiritually rejuvenating experience I have had in my life and I've done them all. Floating tanks come with proper set and setting so you don't have to worry about your safety. All plants are medicinal. The thing is if you use them like processed sugar you are fucked just like junk food that kills.
- Mortiffer 7y agoDoes anyone know a 25 mg oral dose of pure psilocybin compares to typical grams of dried mushrooms people eat ?
- KingMachiavelli 7y agoIt seems to be in the typical range for a medium to strong dose. A simple glance at the wikipedia page suggests that Psilocybe cubensis is ~1% pysoactive ingrediants (psilocin and psilocybin) so, working backwords, 25mg psilocybin would be about 2.5g worth of mushrooms. I haven't taken into account how psilocin & psilocybin are different or if there is typically degredation of the psychoactive compounds typically prior to ingestion (during transportation, handeling, etc.)
- not_math 7y agoFrom Wikipedia: "The concentration of active psilocybin mushroom compounds varies not only from species to species, but also from mushroom to mushroom inside a given species, subspecies or variety. The same holds true even for different parts of the same mushroom. In the species Psilocybe samuiensis, the dried cap of the mushroom contains the most psilocybin at about 0.23%–0.90%. The mycelium contains about 0.24%–0.32%." So for 3.5g ≈ [8.05mg ; 31.5mg] And for 2.5g ≈ [5.75mg ; 22.5mg]
- kingkawn 7y agoSeems entirely reasonable, at least for depression linked to overwhelming emotional events, that a positive overwhelming emotional event would be helpful.
- kossTKR 7y agoI am reminding myself to be a little critical of this future domain of psychadelics used as mood stabilizers for the masses. While human history is rich with tales of alchemy and mind altering substances, the usage was often ritualised and functioning in a "sacred" or communal context. I personally experimented with some of these substances, and i intuitively see them as a potential great leap forward compared to the potential horror of opiates, benzodiazepines or life long SSRI use - but i also feel a vague dark undercurrent running through this newfound mainstream appreciation of psychedelics just as Mindfulness has become a utility or a tool removed from its context or even it's original meaning whatever that may be. My own struggle with living a healthy life in 21. century "technocapitalist society" or whatever has led me to believe that most depression is not "just a chemical imbalance", "a lack of appreciation or gratitude" or a "lazy mindset" - instead depression is _often not always_ closer to an evolutionary mechanism telling you that "something is wrong" and you need to take radical steps to remove yourself from X situation whether it be social, about lifestyle or about geographic location - the opposite can also be true, that you need to be accepted by a tribe, reach out for guidance or establish new relationships. Modern humans are in general pretty lonely, skin hungry, lack communal connection, touch, intimacy, a good proper diet, connection with nature, meaning/spirituality in a social context, have bad posture, are stressed out, have horrible sleep patterns etc. compared to our evolutionary blueprint or just compared to the societies of a few decades ago - without romanticising too much. In other words; it's not weird that people are depressed in this day and age spending so much time inside, not being close to friends / family, not moving about enough . And i am not convinced that mainstream palliative care is sufficient or even the right approach the problem. It's about restructuring local community, our cities and our daily lives. Anyway i currently se this as being very promising, and a am still endlessly fascinated by the philosophy and science of consciousness, meditative praxis and psychedelics, so i am not against that aspect but critical of the utilitarian mindset behind this type of use. EDIT: I can see that i receive quite a lot of downvotes. Can anyone elaborate?
- WhompingWindows 7y agoHow is it not a "natural" way of life to imbibe natural compounds from plants and fungi that have been imbibed for tens of thousands of years? THC, CBD, and psilocybin, as well as many other compounds like coffee, tea, chocolate, caffeine, etc. have been part of human diets for countless generations. There are even biological theories that state that these plants and humans co-evolved, with humans spreading around the plants intentionally and unintentionally, and selecting those plants with "positive" effects and thus co-evolution occurred.
- dynjo 7y agoI love how all these “terrible illegal drugs” turn out to be helping people in so many different ways. Remind me again, which illnesses alcohol cures?
- yummypaint 7y agoMethanol poisoning, but that's it
- hornbaker 7y agoAlso ethylene glycol poisoning (antifreeze).
- fpgaminer 7y agoHere's a great youtube video which documents a case of methanol poisoning and how it was treated (it goes into a good amount of interesting details): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DQUrg0Yhu4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DQUrg0Yhu4
- skyyler 7y agoAnd there are other drugs that work better for methanol and antifreeze poisoning. Like fomepizole.
- cgrealy 7y agoBoredom :) But yeah, the war on drugs is, was and always will be a fundamentally stupid idea.
- seppin 7y agoYou ever been to a bar sober? It's very needed to prop up an entire industry.
- isodude 7y agoGoing to a bar sober is fine, just start talking about philosophy with people until they stop leaving, sit down with that person and chat for the rest of the night. I wrote poems and drank milk, worked out fine. Being normal is for wimps!
- bjt2n3904 7y agoI can't help but wonder if instead of confronting the source of our depression, we're simply drugging ourselves to the point we can't feel it anymore--especially that people are now looking to psilocybin as a means of treating depression. Perhaps the depression is a symptom of something bigger, a lack of purpose or meaning in life. Someone I know was on medication for anxiety, and they remarked how they'd go to see a movie at the theater, and would simply have no emotional reaction to it. A character sacrificing their life for a friend would have the same reaction as tomatoes being sliced for a hamburger. The medication had an INCREDIBLE affect on them, and it really helped them out of a bad place. But the huge thing is they learned to identify the source of their anxiety and confront it, and no longer depend on the medication. I just make circuits. Don't take this as medical advice.
- thenewwazoo 7y agoWith all respect to you as someone who is likely commenting in good faith, you clearly have no idea what you're talking about. I have mental health problems that are all but solved by the medication I take, and I also have extensive experience with hallucinogens. Without the medication, I am as you describe: anhedonic, with a flat affect and little patience for, well, life. Hallucinogens also have exactly zero dulling effect, and the "glow" aftereffect from them is not a numbing, either. On the contrary, it's a deep and abiding understanding of place in the universe and sense of self. YMMV, obviously.
- BiteCode_dev 7y agoI can attest to that. Micro-dosing is only a bonus. In fact, I regularly stop taking them when I don't feel like it, and I'm just back to my normal self, not lower. No negative side effect, no dependencies, and it helps taking care of yourself: eating better, sleeping more, etc. But OP is right on one thing: it is not a substance the body needs. It's an artificially induced condition, and it's why it's important to take days off. Sometimes I take a week, not just the 1/2 days of the most popular protocols. This way you can see if you are improving deep inside, and that it's not just the drug saying you are fine. Plus those substance allow it: no hard in stopping cold turkey. It's beautiful how positive this stuff is. Up to now, I can attest than, yes, even when I'm not taking it, I'm better. Mostly because when I take it, I live a better life.
- Freegile 7y agoI often wonder if Depression really is a "disorder" that you either have or don't have. And that can be "cured". Unlike having a broken leg or having the flu, depression seems to be something everybody has to a certain degree. Is there any research on this available?
- izzydata 7y agoI've taken meds for it before and found it to be an awful experience. Being depressed in my opinion feels more like a systemic issue that can't be solved with any kind of drug. If you lose people in your life and everything you ever loved is now gone for whatever reason then how can you do anything to yourself physically to stop being depressed? You would need spend time rebuilding your physical world so that you can rebuild your mental health. Although the definition of "disorder" seems to imply a spectrum of behavior and once it gets to a threshold where it starts causing you significant daily difficulties they call it a disorder. That doesn't mean it is fake. Just that the environment you are trying to interact with doesn't lend itself to the behaviors you are exhibiting.
- bpodgursky 7y agoEveryone has blood pressure, and it's on a spectrum, but 'Hypertension' is still an actionable and curable disorder.
- brianpan 7y agoLabeling it as a disorder means it will be studied, medicines might be developed, people who benefit from some therapies might get help. You don't take aspirin for a headache because it cures you. You take it so that you can function and do the things to want to do that day. You also don't need to take medicine or do anything different just because you're sick. But it's worth studying and understanding what's going on.
- kp98 7y agoSeems no one has mentioned it, but I wonder how easy it would be to prescribe this as a solution to those with mental illness. For example, when I smoked weed for the first and only time I had the worst panic attack of my life that made it 5 hours of hell, so I promised myself I'd never do it again. I didn't suffer from mental illness previously, except for some basic anxiety, but these drugs can trigger major panic attacks and even psychosis. The risk of triggering an episode goes up the more severe your illness; ie. I remember reading that someone who previously suffered panic disorder has a 500% higher chance than the average person of a panic attack when smoking weed and if you are depressed or schizophrenic the numbers get worse. Combine that with the fact that guys like Joe rogan tell those with mental illness not to try hallucinogens, and it makes me wonder how will these solutions affect the brain chemistry of the mentally ill in the long run? What are the potential side effects and how does a pre-existing condition outside of depression change your risk factors?
- wallace_f 7y agoEveryone prosecuted by the government for using this deserves compensation. In fact, why do we give government such authority over us in the first place?
- sdegutis 7y agoUsing pills to solve a moral problem is as ineffective and illogical as using food to solve sadness.
- andybak 7y agoWhat do you mean by "a moral problem"?
- collyw 7y agoPsilocibin can be found in mushrooms. And Turmeric has been shown to treat depression reasonably effectively. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28236605 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28236605
- tasty_freeze 7y agoYou think having depression is a moral failure? Do you know, or perhaps even love, someone with clinical depression? I do; we've been married more then 20 years, so I see it up close every day. It isn't a problem of morals or character. To see her suffering and struggle daily and to have some internet expert claim she has a moral deficit is more than a little aggravating. Something has gone wrong in the control loops that keep her a healthy balance point. The brain/body connection is real, not some new age woo.
- sdegutis 7y agoHaving depression is not a moral failure. But often it is caused by a lack of knowing how to handle moral dilemmas properly. The brain is just a conduit for the soul and this connection is called the mind.
- tasty_freeze 7y ago> The brain is just a conduit for the soul OK, you are arguing a religious belief, and are ignoring the measurable biochemical anomalies in my wife's physical body. Please list some of these moral dilemmas that my wife is unable to handle that caused this condition, and why I should discount the decades of chronic pain caused by a genetic problem (EDS), the wrestling match with cancer, the familial disposition towards depression, the debilitating effects of living in a house affected by black mold, etc.
- romaaeterna 7y agoI saw a stately "Family Practice" last week, that had been around for a few years, but now had a big new street sign to the effect of "get your marijuana here!" out front. I don't believe that I have ever seen that sort of thing for other prescription drugs.
- ftvy 7y agoExcept for the myriad of prescription drugs advertised on television, radio, websites, in magazines... do I need to go on?
- carapace 7y agoEntire "pain management" stores...
- romaaeterna 7y agoI've just never seen a street sign for one before. But you buttress my point. A certain number of doctors are normal human beings after all, and are perfectly willing to push pills if it makes them money. Entertainment/luxury drugs are at the highest risk for this sort of behavior.
- beepboopbeep 7y agoThe worst part about the psychedelic renaissance is the comment section.
- davebryand 7y agoNailed it. It surprises me how few in this crowd has had first-hand experience.
- carapace 7y agoSet and setting. I believe it's important to realize that the "magic" is not in the mushroom. > "Of course, the drug dose does not produce the transcendent experience. It merely acts as a chemical key — it opens the mind, frees the nervous system of its ordinary patterns and structures. The nature of the experience depends almost entirely on set and setting. Set denotes the preparation of the individual, including his personality structure and his mood at the time. Setting is physical — the weather, the room's atmosphere; social — feelings of persons present towards one another; and cultural — prevailing views as to what is real. It is for this reason that manuals or guide-books are necessary. Their purpose is to enable a person to understand the new realities of the expanded consciousness, to serve as road maps for new interior territories which modern science has made accessible." ~ Timothy Leary, The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_and_setting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Set_and_setting Drugs like LSD and psilocybin are the chemical equivalent of banging on the side of the box to make the TV work. With proper set and setting you can get profound effects from e.g. a sweat lodge, or even just hyperventilation (I'm referring to Leonard Orr's Rebirthing breathwork. I would normally link to the wikipedia article on it but that's been defaced by capital-S Skeptics and reduced to a note crapping on the whole thing as "discredited". My dad actually worked for Leonard Orr for a bit and what he was doing was pretty profound whatever it was.) On the one hand, it's great that the vindictive hysteria around psychedelic drugs is calming down, on the other hand I wish the scientific establishment had a little more epistemological sophistication when it came to investigating the inner world. To sum up, the cure is not in the pill, it's in the set and setting. The pill just gives you an excuse. You can also use e.g. hypnosis, prayer, drumming, dancing, sweat lodges, or weird breathing, to effect the change you want, just to name a small sampling of the available modalities.
- justanotherjoe 7y agoThe pill is just an excuse? To do what? To chant and dance around? I don't think you know what psilocybin does to people.
- carapace 7y ago> The pill is just an excuse? To do what? To heal. > I don't think you know what psilocybin does to people. I think I do.
- zaroth 7y agoWith all the beautiful anecdotes on this page, HN is going to be driving a lot of dark market traffic today.
- abd1 7y agovery informative post i liked thanks for sharing post
- mirimir 7y agoI wonder what doses they're using. During my 20s-30s, I tripped with about 0.5 mg LSD more or less once month. It at least kept bipolar depression at bay. But now I use lamotrigine/modafinil. Which is less fun, but also more effective and less disruptive.
- uoaei 7y agoThat's 500ug, or about 5x the standard "introductory" dose.
- hi5eyes 7y agoaround a half strip a month sounds pretty fucked even for wooks
- mirimir 7y agoI guess. I did that once a week, for a few years ;)
- platoscubicle 7y agoSounds mild for a wook. Normally their tolerance is so shot they will eat a strip and be unphased.
- mirimir 7y agoWhat can I say? I loved peaking. That is, total ego death. Just being there. And the visuals, of course. Totally internal, with the external world just gone. It was like dreaming, except far more intense. I would typically trip when the moon was full. I'd start in the late evening, with my usual beer or two and some marijuana. And then, just before falling asleep, I'd eat the LSD. So I'd wake up peaking. And then spend a few hours in bed, "meditating". Eventually, I'd come down enough to shower and dress. Have a mug of ginger tea. Maybe a snack. And then, a couple hours before dawn, I'd set out on my bicycle. Typically riding toward the setting Moon. I'd often end up at a small park on the west end of a large lake. So I could watch the Sun come up across the lake. Distant flocks of ducks made a trippy sight, skimming across the water. Then I'd come home, eat, and sleep for maybe 15 hours.
- jquery 7y agoI took psilocybin once, over a decade ago. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was suffering from mild depression. After the "trip", my mild depression was lifted for at least the following 5 years. Pretty potent stuff.
- shartshooter 7y agoPsilocybin doesn't stay in your body for years. The impact to you was likely due to the experience while tripping on psilocybin.
- jquery 7y agoOh, I know. I just mean it’s pretty impressive one dose of anything could have such long lasting curative effects on something as intractable as depression.
- in3d 7y agoNote that Ketamine is already available and it has had impressive results for depression based both on studies and on personal accounts.
- adultSwim 7y agoDisappointing graphic
- flattone 7y agoImteresting. . And immediately relevant to considering production... https://qz.com/1235963/scientists-who-want-to-study-psychedelic-mushrooms-have-to-pay-7000-per-gram/ https://qz.com/1235963/scientists-who-want-to-study-psychede...
- mikestaub 7y agoPeter Thiel is behind this, which is both good and bad. https://qz.com/1454785/a-millionaire-couple-is-threatening-to-create-a-magic-mushroom-monopoly/ https://qz.com/1454785/a-millionaire-couple-is-threatening-t...
- Craighead 7y agoBillionaire Fascist Vampire Peter Thiel?
- apqwer 7y agoI think it is good, he is a libertarian and providing freedom of choice is an ideal he would try to push for.
- stjohnswarts 7y agoHe has a poor record as a libertarian when it conflicts with his personal interests
- found_the_vegan 7y agoNot according to that article. Sounds like he is using a charity to backdoor fund his own private investments in to the research. > “From generations of practitioners and researchers before us, we have received knowledge about these substances, their risks, and ways to use them constructively,” reads the statement. “In turn, we accept the call to use that knowledge for the common good and to share freely whatever related knowledge we may discover or develop.” > It has been signed by 104 individual scientists, scholars, and practitioners, 21 research and service organizations, including MAPS, Heffter, Usona, and 12 psychedelic societies and integration circles. Compass has not signed. Given Thiel's track record I think it's not very likely he is doing this for a "freedom of choice" but more as "Opportunity to get richer".
- anythingnonidin 7y agoNot true. Thiel backed COMPASS Pathways which got breakthrough status last year. The Usona Institute, which just got breakthrough status this month, also for a use of psilocybin, is to my knowledge not supported by Thiel. > Back in late 2018, the FDA granted Breakthrough Therapy status to the ongoing work from COMPASS Pathways investigating psilocybin, the key psychoactive compound in magic mushrooms, as a therapy for treatment-resistant depression. A large, multi-center Phase 2 trial spanning the US, UK and Europe is currently underway testing a variety of dosing strategies. > This new FDA Breakthrough Therapy approval focuses on a seven-site, Phase 2 trial currently underway in the United States. Coordinated by a non-profit research organization called the Usona Institute, the trial is exploring the antidepressant properties of a single psilocybin dose in treating patients with major depressive disorder.
- qwerty456127 7y agoI can't wait to see the faces of war on drug proponents when clinical practice will prove psylocibin has no adverse effects and no addiction potential.
- davesque 7y agoAre you assuming proponents of the war on drugs would be rationally motivated by facts?
- qwerty456127 7y agoAs far as I know it's already a scientific fact but this time it is going to become "official". You can deny what has been figured out in a laboratory on a humble group of people (let alone mice) but you have little choice but to shut up once thousands of people all over the country get cured this way without going nuts or "becoming prostitutes" ©.
- ericlnu 7y agoWow, that's awesome. Nature can heal, about time they recognize that.
- sjg007 7y agoFYI the single dose trials that lead to this were discussed here before as well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3055731 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3055731
- psalminen 7y agoUnrelated: I just saw Fantastic Fungi[1], a Louie Schwartzberg film, which discusses Psilocybin in depth. It is one of the most visually entertaining movies I've ever seen. Highly recommend! [1] https://fantasticfungi.com/ https://fantasticfungi.com/
- ericsoderstrom 7y ago> The Usona Phase 2 trial plans to enrol 80 subjects, randomized to receive either a single active dose of psilocybin or an active placebo containing niacin. Blind testing in this case seems silly. It’ll be obvious to both patient and doctor pretty quickly who got the high dose psychedelic and who got placebo
- vikramkr 7y agoAlways good to make sure, especially in psychology where placebo effects can be really really strong, especially if you're talking about microdosing psiliocybin. There's no reason not to be scientifically thorough and make sure you have a good control group to compare against
- phreack 7y agoIt's never silly! What if there's a chance the same effect can be recreated just by the setting and not the drug? Seems nearly impossible but I'd rather have control.
- will_pseudonym 7y agoAs someone who has treatment-resistant major depression and who uses comedy as a survival mechanism, and is greatly looking forward to being able to try this treatment out, I hope you'll permit me to share this humorous thought I had after reading this article: "Ask your doctor if tripping your nuts off is right for you."
- qwtel 7y agoI’d say that’s a pretty good joke. In fact, I had trouble keeping it together reading this in public.
- will_pseudonym 7y agoThanks for sharing that, mate. Causing someone to involuntarily laugh in public is one of my favorite things.
- artificialLimbs 7y agoErowid store massive amounts of information about drugs, including user stories. It's a great resource for beginning research, and has a section for psilocybin mushrooms. https://www.erowid.org/ https://www.erowid.org/
- vmurthy 7y agotl;dr The FDA will review on priority if the clinical trial (details here -> https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03866174 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03866174) succeeds. For people outside of the US (like me) who don't know what "Breakthrough Therapy" is : "Breakthrough therapy is a United States Food and Drug Administration designation that expedites drug development that was created by Congress under Section 902 of the 9 July 2012 Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act. he FDA's "breakthrough therapy" designation is not intended to imply that a drug is actually a "breakthrough" or that there is high-quality evidence of treatment efficacy for a particular condition; rather, it allows the FDA to grant priority review to drug candidates if preliminary clinical trials indicate that the therapy may offer substantial treatment advantages over existing options for patients with serious or life-threatening diseases" [1] [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_therapy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_therapy
- psibate 7y agoAfter several years of casual reading online and reading "How to Change Your Mind", I decided to experiment with psilocybin. What I did was borderline reckless. The substance is illegal. Using it outside the context of carefully designed interventions has no evidence of improving the well-being over the long run. Despite these clear detractors, I feel sharing my experience may help others in their search for happiness. My main concern was how to know if I was given the real thing or the right dose. I decided to go with dried, whole mushrooms and grind them up at home. For a month, I took around 150-250g every 3 days and took notes throughout the day. This helped me record how I was feeling (even on 'off' days) to assess how it was affecting how I felt. This could be considered microdosing, but not quite as somedays I noticed a difference: I was more aware of my emotions and what happened throughout my day. Intense anger, sadness, joy, beauty, the whole thing. I noticed details details I had never noticed in my daily commute. This could have been due to the journaling. My main objective was to see how the substance affected me. After concluding the trial a friend asked me 'so, are you happier now?'. That was not the point. My takeaway was that the exercise made me more aware of my feelings - something I realized would be useful if I wanted to get to know myself better. After this, I was still scared to do a 'full dose' and left it at that. After around 6 months, I decided to try it out. Felt I needed supervision but my close ones thought I was crazy for wanting to do this. Stupidly, I did something riskier and went on trying to find a 'healer' online. Luckily I found a nice lady (she had yelp reviews and all) who took care of me while I took 2g of dried shrooms. She didn't seem to do anything special, just make sure I had a nice/safe space to lie down while high. Again, the dosing was gradual: first 1g (4-5x what I had during the microdosing trial) then an extra one after a few hours. It felt like I had meditated for years. My deepest hour-long meditation does not come even close. Everything was peaceful. I felt all sorts of emotions, as if a color wheel and tried them out one by one and switched between them: deep sorrow, bliss, intense anger and many more as well as quick transitions and mixes I can't explain. My life changed after this. I am a more conscientious coworker and husband. I am present. I am there for my loved ones. I love myself and stopped shaming myself for not working. I understood that the point of my life is just living it: no further instructions or expectations. This is something I needed to internalize and the session helped me. After a few months I felt I had yet to discover more. Based on what I had read online, I knew the substance had the ability to make me feel other important things. I realized the lady just made me feel safe and I had already seen what 150mg-2g did to me, so I decided to do more on my own. I locked myself up in my apartment, gave my best friend the key and told him to drop by just in case to check up on me. I worked my way up 1g at a time to 7.5g. I felt what many mention online. A quick way to summarize it is 'we'. I felt what it feels to not be myself. My big conclusion was that the only thing I could do was be grateful. I have taken to this feeling daily after that session. To be clear: I already had a daily meditation practice and a habit of journaling my gratitudes before the trips. The conclusions under the substance may have just been things I had already been exposed and intensely prioritized in my life. But there's something about these experiences that made me feel more intensly and helped me internalize them - I 'felt' the conclusions, not just 'think' about them. I am scared of the consequences of suggesting others to try this out. The feelings I experienced, the results I have seen in my personal life and the literature we have about this substance make me conclude that the risk is worth taking. Basic precautions can help mitigate the downside: small/trial doses, safe environment and some reading about the substance worked for me. When I read what is happening with these trials, I can't help but hope we find a way to give this to everyone. I do not claim that what I did is safe or even desirable at scale. There's a chance if 100 people do what I did, some may accelerate or trigger some form of mental illness or harm themselves (I did think 'what if he kills himself?' (thinking about myself) and figured none of my loved ones would want to try shrooms if I did). A world with more people who can feel 'we' is filled with love and compassion. I believe psilocybin can help us.