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I found this to be a very interesting post with the recent laws being passed in Denver in terms of the legalization of psilocybin for therapeutic use. I personally am in support of the use clinically for treatments that you described above. It did spark a worry in me that there may not be enough clinically trained psilocybin personnel for the demand as it becomes legal to treat this way. There will be a growing demand for patients wanting this treatment and the burden shifts to the people that are allowed/able to prescribe them. I also have read that the prescribing personnel does not often “guide” the psilocybin experience (Pilecki, 2021). I think the use of a harm reduction approach is a great baseline for care when it comes to using psychedelics, but I fear with the increased use in the population there will be harmful outliers that could cloud the overwhelming positive benefits. It is the responsibility of the trained clinician to educate themselves and better prepare themselves for the possible risks (Pilecki, 2021). With new laws come unforeseen risks and consequences and I hope the education will increase with the legalizing of psychedelic therapy.
ReplyDeleteCitation:
Pilecki, B., Luoma, J. B., Bathje, G. J., Rhea, J., & Narloch, V. F. (2021). Ethical and legal issues in psychedelic harm reduction and integration therapy. Harm Reduction Journal, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-021-00489-1
Great content Anneliese!
ReplyDeleteOne of the most shocking things about psilocybin being Schedule I substance is that it is the least addictive drug compared to Schedule II substances (Milkman et al., 2019). Fortunately, psilocybin has been decriminalized and researchers can continue to find beneficial evidence for medicinal use in psychiatries. In addition to the therapeutic effects for anxiety and depression, research has proposed psilocybin to offer therapeutic effects for alcohol use disorder and tobacco use disorder (Bogenschutz et al., 2018). It may be controversial for psychedelics to be used as treatment for substance use disorders such that one may argue treating SUD with another drug is paradoxical. You mentioned before about the action of “resetting” the brain after having been treated with psilocybin. That is similar to why psychedelics are being used as a treatment for SUD— to essentially rewire the neural circuitry (Bogenschutz et al., 2018). Participants who were recruited for a study to research effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy for Alcohol Use Disorder reported decreased cravings, alcohol-associated problems, anxiety, and depression (Bogenschutz et al., 2018). Moreover, Indigenous cultures have been used psychedelics in general for centuries for religious and medicinal purposes (Ens, 2021). I think that if researchers in the 1900s didn't silence the history of indigenous psychedelic use, psilocybin treatment for psychiatric patients would be much more advanced contemporarily.
Morgan, C., McAndrew, A., Stevens, T., Nutt, D., & Lawn, W. (2017). Tripping up addiction: the use of psychedelic drugs in the treatment of problematic drug and alcohol use. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 13, 71–76. https://doi-org.dml.regis.edu/10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.10.009
Andrea Ens (2021) Silencing indigenous pasts: critical Indigenous theory and the history of psychedelics, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 34:10, 904-914, DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2021.1942297
Milkman, H. B., Sunderwirth, S. G., & Hill, K. G. (2019). Craving for ecstasy and natural highs: A positive approach to mood alteration (Second). Cognella Academic Publishing.