New research for depression indicates promise of psilocybin-assisted therapy
The January 2018 issue of Neuropharmacology has provided the mental health community with a late gift this year:
Source Just my size! Socks are a pretty awesome gift to give around the holidays, but next time, won’t you consider gifting adequately-controlled, quantifiable research?
Increased amygdala responses to emotional faces after psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression
Researchers from Imanova’s Centre for Imaging Sciences and Psychadelic Research Group in London have released an early electronic full-text publication online (PDF file) of promising research for the application of psilocybin for people that have had difficulty managing their depression. The naturally-occurring psychedelic compound was administered, with constant psychological support provided, and its effects were observed via blood flow to identify neuronal activation (FMRIs). The participants’ amygdalae became more responsive to fearful faces, a predictor of positive clinical outcomes.
Unfamiliar with terms like psilocybin, amygdala and fMRI? I was impressed with the accuracy and wide accessibility of my friend @therightsideofup ‘s explanation in the post “The Science Behind the Trip”
Ma, 2015 collected imaging that indicates an untreated depressed brain is highly sensitive, amygdala region in particular, to negative emotions. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a class of medication that is typically used to manage depression and anxiety disorders and had been understood to decrease the over-sensitivity of the amygdala, but research indicates chronic use can lead to overall decreased response to all emotions indiscriminately. This has major indications for the outlook for quality of life for these patients, detached from the emotions that we spend our existences seeking to share with one another.
These results can serve to fortify the knowledge base of clinicians that regularly provide counseling to their patients about not only the benefits available from treatments including guided psychedelic-assisted therapy, but potential unintended consequences of more tranditional SSRI pharmacological treatment of depression. As with all good science, this study would benefit from further peer-review through reduplicated studies, to increase the evidence to support the results of this study. Legal implications, in particular, impact trusted scientific institutions ability to secure the funding necessary for pursuing experiments. The “cryptommunity” has provided staggering contributions to institutions like MAPS and these contributions will only have bigger impacts (if held ;)) as greater adoption of cryptocurrencies by the public is achieved.
And remember, the steem work makes the dream work! ;*
References for further reading
Drevets et al., 1992 W.C. Drevets, T.O. Videen, J.L. Price, S.H. Preskorn, S.T. Carmichael, M.E. Raichle. A functional anatomical study of unipolar depression. J. Neurosci., 12 (1992), pp. 3628–3641
Godlewska, R. Norbury, S. Selvaraj, P. Cowen, C. Harmer Short-term SSRI treatment normalises amygdala hyperactivity in depressed patients. Psychol. Med., 42 (2012), pp. 2609–2617
Ma, 2015 Y. Ma Neuropsychological mechanism underlying antidepressant effect: a systematic meta-analysis. Mol. Psychiatr., 20 (2015), pp. 311–319
Roseman, L., et al., Increased amygdala responses to emotional faces after psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression. Neuropharmacology (2017), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2017.12.041
I upvoted this and resteemed this so I can read this later when I can concentrate on it more. From the bit I read it sounds very interesting.
I appreciate the support. Please be sure to return to let us know what you thought upon closer review, I'd love to hear some reactions!
Done reading it and read some of the other article as well. I did see a TV show once where they talked about the healing effects of hallucinogenic mushrooms (as I know them). I forget what it was called. I would need to dig deeper into this to understand it better. If it can help people it should be legal. There are so many prescription drugs out there that are addicting and damage our bodies in other ways. These types of more natural medicines should be examined as alternative.
Thanks for returning with your opinion, I must agree that denying the benefit of substances for the sake of political power and financial kickbacks is abusive and shameful. I hope that you will pursue more information about who it can benefit as well as what aggressive and archaic policies are still being pushed today. Thanks for your time!
It seems that more institutions are taking note and doing more research. Hopefully soon it will become legal and mainstream. Upvoting and resteeming.
Thanks for the support! The resteem is killer, thanks. I hope that by sharing these articles and hopefully spurring good conversation in the comments, OUR community will see donation to causes that can provide the scientific evidence that will bring meaningful change that has been gaining public and anecdotal support.
SO cool to see more science being done on these things. I crowd funded some psychedelic research that the Beckley Foundation is doing. There's a lot to be said for low doses of psilocybin in my experience.
Agreed, it is wild the speed with which the community has been able to mobilize such critical research and roll out to patients that will benefit. There's not many shining lights in healthcare currently but I believe a proactive hollistic approach that emphasizes mind and body balance can help more people start to enjoy their rotations on this planet a bit more.
I appreciate your checking out my blog. If you check out my intro post, I will be posting about the science behind consciousness and mindfulness and am pursuing ways to become associated with such foundations in an academic capacity so I hope you check back!
I did follow you, look forward to seeing future posts!
The team at Imperial is doing fantastic work! Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks for checking out another post! I hope I can represent this global community accurately through my content, so I was glad to find such a fantastic UK study right as I'm kicking off!
Hey, thanks for the kudos @thedreamsteem! This post is EXCELLENT! I had come across this study, and well, I suppose it just goes along with everything we already know! This is how we'll change minds. With solid articles like this based on published studies and research. Looking forward to more.
Of course man, I told you I was impressed with your work on those terms!
And yes, in order to take down misinformed policy, we must make the evidence for the benefits impossible to ignore. I hope that giving exposure on this platform will convince some other folks from this community to consider donating to the cause. I hope to highlight as many unique facets of the family of psychedelics as possible, to help illustrate that we likely all know at least one person who could find hope where they couldn't before.
Everyday i deal with the death of my brother, i was in an emotional black hole, the only thing with the power to widsthand and overcome that is the wisdom of an ancient being, one has to let GO, embrace wisdom in nature, who are you fighting against?
its the EGO, Solve et Coagula, dissolve it in order to create a new healthy one, every f*cking day.
WE NEED HACKERS
Hack yourself !
Hack your mind!
Let's HACK this ego-capitalist -driven world.
Depression is a horrible creature, undermining all of the energy and ideas that we have to contribute to the world around us. By getting snared in the cognitive loop of the harmful messages, we can lose the ability to tap into what makes life meaningful for each of us. I am glad to hear that you have been able to find respite to make it possible to grow again. Thanks!
thank you, i love you.
Interesting. I was confused, it increased the fear response only?? Im too tired to look at the research...hahaaa its crazy but better than a lobotomy or zombie life!!