Psychedelics

Neuroplasticity: it’s what our brains do. We alter our minds when we engage with the world and with the people in it. But, of course, when we think of “mind altering drugs” we refer to something else. That there might be a shortcut, a wormhole, a portal to some new and improved state of mind has long held our fascination. Yes, that includes alcohol, but while alcohol can affect mood and anxiety and augment sociability, there is something especially appealing about opening a window onto a whole new view of reality itself. Hence the new question born in the 1960’s: “are you experienced?’.

Psychedelics have been featured and feared, romanticized and reviled, lauded and suspected since the earliest epochs of human history. In many tribal ceremonies certain substances with “mind expanding” properties were invoked as communal invitations toward the transcendent. In battle, various plants, herbs, and potions were reputed to make warriors assassins, berserkers, or heroes.

From Greek roots meaning “mind manifesting,” psychedelic refers to a range of mind, mood, and consciousness altering effects – cognitive, perceptual, emotional, and behavioral – deriving from a varied array of compounds. Following the 60’s “turn on, tune in, drop out” popularity of recreational psychedelics, by the early 1970’s it was the risks associated with psychedelics that gained a hold on popular opinion and on the research community.

Times are a changing. With renewed interest, medical research is now exploring psychedelics for the treatment of mental illness, pain management and mental soothing in terminal states. With care given to providing a safe physical space and emotional support throughout, psychedelics can create feelings of union and of breaking free from time and space, often accompanied by visual hallucinations, illusions, and synesthesia. But, in “micro-doses,” doses too low to bring on a “trip,” hallucinogens are now being studied and in some instances found to ameliorate the suffering of PTSD patients, to treat obsessive-compulsive symptoms, body dysmorphic disorder, anorexia nervosa, headache, and substance abuse.

Medical alchemists believed their mixtures could act as poison or panacea. From communal traditions and now clinical research, hope is emerging that there is something in psychedelics that can help to sooth suffering souls and provide safe and effective treatment of some neuropsychiatric disorders.