>. Beyond the importance of controlling the placebo effect, I am worried that a lot of the drug-depression research is overlooking an important possibility: tha

>. Beyond the importance of controlling the placebo effect, I am worried that a lot of the drug-depression research is overlooking an important possibility: that the thing about ketamine/psilocybin/etc that is helping with depression is not some latent property of the molecule, but rather the actual transcendent experience of the trip. In other words, the trip is the point, not the mechanistic neuro-tinkering. I remember the first time I ever tried a benzodiazepine. I then realized I am anxious most times, that that default state is not ""normal" and that you can actually change it. And for brief periods of times I was able to re-create the effects of it at will. Also just having a xanax pill in my wallet cured my panic attacks. My hypothesis is that even "temporary" positive psychological experiences can have profound effects on the brain, show it there is a better state and in certain conditions the brain will figure a path. I don't know when I learnt to move my ears, twist my tongue sideways or when I self learnt "voluntary tubal opening", but without going into mumbo-jumbo, I think there's a lot more we can control about our brains and bodies than we think.