5/30/2023 0 Comments Hallucination mushroom![]() ![]() ![]() “People’s brains appear to be able to kind of tailor the effects of the experience, depending on what they come to the situation with and what they need out of the experience.” “Everyone’s experience is different,” Bogenschutz said. How psilocybin may rewire the brainĪfter the first two sessions, the 93 participants were offered sessions of psilocybin - either third doses or the first ones for the control group - and additional therapy. Participants who received psilocybin two times within the 12 weeks reported meaningful experiences or visions that changed their relationships with addiction. One person dropped out of the trial after having found the first experience too difficult. If there were no adverse reactions, the second psilocybin sessions involved higher doses of both drugs and more therapy. Blood pressure and heart rates were regularly monitored.įour additional therapy sessions followed the first dosing. The drug sessions lasted eight hours with therapists in the room. NBC NewsĪs part of the trial, participants underwent four psychotherapy sessions before they took the first pill, which contained an amount of psilocybin based on body weight, or the antihistamine. They were also asked to state intentions, such as finding inner peace, before they took the pills. At the beginning of the first dose sessions, participants were given eye masks and headphones that played classical music. “You take the pills to wipe it out, and it’s gone,” said Kostas, who has stayed sober since the trial and founded a nonprofit organization for psychedelic mental health research. He compares his experience with psilocybin-assisted therapy to taking an antibiotic for strep throat. In the third, he envisioned scaling a mountain, a symbol of overcoming his unhealthy relationship with alcohol. In 2015, Jon Kostas of New York City signed up as one of the first participants after his mother told him about the trial.ĭuring the second session, he saw himself being cut with a sword, which he interpreted as killing his addiction. “It’s really in line with accumulating evidence that psilocybin and other psychedelics that work in a very similar way in the brain can be effective in treating different types of addiction,” said Matthew Johnson, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University, who wasn’t involved in the trial. Bogenschutz and his team specifically set out to test whether or not psilocybin, in addition to sessions of therapy, could cut cravings and help people with alcohol use disorder stay sober.Įarlier research from institutions around the world has indicated that psilocybin has the potential to treat a variety of addiction disorders, including alcohol use disorder, opioid use disorder and addiction to smoking. The new research is part of a global movement exploring whether psychedelic-assisted therapy - including therapy using ketamine and psilocybin, the active component in magic mushrooms - can be a more effective alternative to addiction and mental health treatments. ![]() NYU Langone Health led the trial, which began recruiting in 2014, with researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of New Mexico. During sessions, the therapists encouraged participants to lie on a couch wearing eye masks and headphones. At the end of the trial, half of those who received psilocybin had quit drinking altogether, compared to about one-quarter of those who were given the antihistamine. More than 80% of those who were given the psychedelic treatment had drastically reduced their drinking eight months after the study started, compared to just over 50% in the antihistamine control group, according to results published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry. They all also participated in 12 psychotherapy sessions.Īll of the volunteers were averaging seven alcoholic drinks at a time before the trial. During the eight-month trial, 93 men and women ages 25 to 65 were chosen to receive either two psilocybin doses or antihistamine pills, which the researchers used as a placebo. ![]()
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