An Insight Into The Emerging Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy

How this unconventional method might become the next big thing in the mental-health industry

“The MDMA assisted therapy allowed me to communicate the truth of my experience while remaining connected to my therapist.” Those were the words of Elizabeth Matthews, in the MAPS Bulletin Annual Report, when she talked about her experience with dealing with a long-lasting PTSD. “Before MDMA,” she argued, “I couldn’t tell my story without being rocked for days by the shame that surfaced in the telling.”

Psychedelics have become a hot topic in the past few years. Due to this fact, today, dozens of personal stories and scientific studies about the effects, both negative and positive, of substances such as LSD, MDMA, DMT, psilocybin, and ayahuasca, have flooded the world of the Internet. Although national news outlets are still not really keen on such topics, people still get their hands on the information they need.

Hallucinogens are currently seen as something people should avoid at all costs. Psychedelics research started all the way back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, however, the efforts stopped in the early years of the ‘70s, as the media outlets back then deemed the substances as dangerous for the people. This all ultimately resulted in restrictive regulations and misperceptions of the actual effects.

Until recent years, they had been seen as extremely potent and unpredictable — thus dangerous — by the wide public. As these substances, in the past, were used mainly during “large gatherings of people, where everyone is as high as a kite” — as one of my friends prefers to put it — today, the situation has changed dramatically.

As information about psychedelics becomes more easily accessible, mainly because of the Internet, so does the knowledge of the people of it. More scientific studies by renowned bodies would mean that more and more insights into the substances’ actual effects. With more knowledge better understanding, hence more acceptance.

Psychedelics are no longer seen as something “shady.” Rather, many people have started realizing there is more to the drugs than their “party effects” — Psychedelics-Assisted Psychotherapies have started to emerge; and the forecast is that they are here to stay.

This year, a small group of Silicon Valley tech executives has pushed for new reforms in the psychedelics industry with the astounding donation of $30 million. This money then went to legal research, conducted by both the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelics Studies (MAPS) and the Psychedelics Science Funders Collaborative (PSFC). This campaign is called the Capstone Campaign.

The project is not finished yet though — there is an undergoing legal approval from the FDA for the usage of the drug to be implemented in the treatment of PTSD. Its approval will be a precedent as the first-ever legalized psychedelics-assisted therapy practice in the United States.

At the end of last year, the Johns Hopkins Medicine in Maryland, opened its new research center, which was devoted only to psychedelics research. The Center was aided by numerous donors with the huge sum of $17 million.

“Here, researchers will focus on how psychedelics affect behavior, mood, cognition, brain function, and biological markers for health.”

The researchers at the Center are now trying to create precision medicine treatments involved in the psychedelic-assisted therapies, that are tailored to the specific needs of individual patients who suffer from disorders and mental-illnesses, such as opioid addiction, PTSD, Alzheimer’s disease, anorexia nervosa, and alcohol use.

Patients who are diagnosed with PTSD, depression, substance abuse, or the like, and want to undergo a psychedelic-assisted therapy, need to have done meticulous preparations beforehand. They are usually being done with a therapist and include a complete medical history and comprehensive information about the hallucinogen that is to be taken.

Patients that suffer from psychosis are not usually allowed to participate in such a program because psychedelics are considered to enhance the effects of the condition. However, Elizabeth’s case was not one of those.

A Personal Insight Into the Therapy

Let’s get back to Elizabeth. At her interview for MAPS, she explained:

“I had worked diligently to attain mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being and it still eluded me. I needed help; I couldn’t do this by myself. The traditional methods were helping but not healing”

Apparently, the Xanax, Reiki, Chiropractic, Yoga, and Acupuncture hadn’t helped Elizabeth to get to the root of her PTSD and anxiety. She had to do something else, something bold and unconventional:

“After several weeks of 90-minute-therapy sessions, my first MDMA-assisted therapeutic journey was scheduled for a Friday.”

“The psychiatrist asked if I had an intention for my journey. I told him “I want to learn to love myself.” Then I lay on the couch, put on the eye shades and surrendered.”

*A side note: Elizabeth participated in a so-called clinical trial, as such therapies are still not entirely legal in the USA.

Then, the real experience began. Normally, your guide, the psychiatrist, would stay by your side while you hallucinate, encouraging you to go as deep and dark as you wish. There are no limits.

Scientists in the field of psychedelics, including the ones at Hopkins, argue that the research conducted on these substances will greatly aid to clarify the therapeutic effects of drugs, such as LSD, MDMA, and psilocybin, and reversely, their ill sides.

All the trials that are currently being done will shine some light on which hallucinogen is best for each mental-disease, and which one is ineffective and potentially dangerous.

The one hallucinogen that is now stealing the show is psilocybin — the active ingredient in Magic Mushrooms. Although currently, the Johns Hopkins is researching numerous mind-altering substances of the like, its primary focus remains psilocybin and its potential benefits for patients who suffers from chronic diseases, such as depression.

The scientific trials that have so far been conducted at the Center highlight psilocybin’s beneficial properties for helping patients deal with chronic depression and addiction. On the other hand, MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, is argued to help individuals that suffer from PTSD. The other two hallucinogens that have undergone trials are cannabis and LSD, however, the results were mixed, thus forcing researchers to conduct further investigations.

The Bottom Line

After three MDMA-assisted psychotherapies, Elizabeth started perceiving the world and herself in a new way. “I feel connected to my heart in a way I couldn’t have imagined prior to the treatment.”

The interesting thing is that Elizabeth’s case is not a precedent. There have also been dozens of others accounts of how patients who have undergone psychedelic-assisted therapy trial sessions, if not been cured, then at least experiencing at least some benefits out of it.

Surely, some people may argue that the fact that psychedelics are still not legalized speaks for itself. These drugs have long now been considered a taboo. However, the landscape is slowly changing. A big influence to the rise of substances such as LSD, DMT, and the like, have been celebrities.

Sting, the famous British musician, has been one of these celebrities who have already spoken about their experience with psychedelics:

“I realized for the first time that this is the only genuine religious experience I have ever had”

Tim Ferriss, the best-selling author of The 4-Hour Work Week, is currently one of the most renowned proponents of everything related to psychedelics, as he himself is one of the people that, through a psychedelic experience, has experienced “ego dissolution.” That is, as he says, “You become an observer of what you consider your “Self,” you’re able to really see the bugs in the software that have governed so many of your decisions and so much of your life. That can be incredibly powerful.”

Although hallucinogens are not yet fully understood and accepted by the wide public, new ground-breaking studies are being published at a rapid pace. All of the trials and personal stories that stem from them, shine some additional light on the actual effects these substances may have on our minds and bodies.

Anyway, no matter whether we like it or not, psychedelic-assisted therapies might be the next big thing, taking over the conventional methods of treatment. Of course, the latter one will always be there as an option, however, psychedelics could soon become its biggest ally.

Thank you for reading :)

Thank you for taking some time to read my article! If you wish to read more written by me, check my Medium page:

If you are further interested in psychedelics and mental-health, I recently wrote about whether smoking can damage your brain cells, and how psychedelics could become the “new weed.”