Can Psychedelic Drugs Help Treat Mental Illness?
Can Psychedelic Drugs Help Treat Mental Illness?
Mental health disorders are the elephant in the room of modern day society. An estimated 8.3 million Americans suffer from chronic stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and related psychological conditions, and those numbers are on the rise. In addition to that, nearly 24 million Americans are addicted to alcohol or drugs, and even with the best of intentions they face a long struggle and steep odds to get clean and address the underlying issues at the heart of their destructive patterns. The good news is that thanks to a resurgence in the study of psychedelic-assisted therapy, we are on the verge of adopting a whole new set of incredibly powerful medicines that seem to be tailor-made to deal with this epidemic of mental illness and addiction. Psychedelic treatment and psychedelic-assisted therapy are proving to be some of the most potent and successful treatments for addiction and psychological distress that we have ever seen.
How to Find Treatment
Psychedelic therapy is still illegal in the US, but thanks to the efforts of organizations like the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), psychedelics like MDMA are on track to become a FDA-approved prescription medicine within a few years, and others such as psilocybin may not be far behind. There are some psychedelic-assisted clinical trials happening at prominent hospitals and universities, but the number of participants admitted to these studies are quite low.
Generally speaking, if you want to find psychedelic treatment in the the near future, you will have to travel outside of the US to places like Mexico, Brazil, and Costa Rica. A simple Google search will uncover dozens of psychedelic healing centers around the world, but we strongly recommend speaking with the facilitators and people who have been there to properly investigate and “gut-check” any center. Almost everyone in this field will recommend that you use a combination of due diligence investigation and your intuition when choosing a location. We have featured a few of these retreat centers in previous articles, which you can find here:
The Tradition of Ayahuasca in the Amazon: Creating the Temple of the Way of Light
Shamanic Iboga Treatment in Costa Rica: Interview with Gary Cook of Iboga Wellness Center
At the Crossroads of Ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT: An Interview with Dr. Martin Polanco
Entheogen-assisted Healing
Taking entheogens can be like air travel: people do it all the time, it’s usually fine, but when it’s not fine, it’s sometimes very bad. We’ve been there. And that’s where an experienced GUIDE can make the difference in the outcome.
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