Psychedelic Therapy: How It Can Help Depression and Anxiety
Top points
- Psychedelics like psilocybin, ketamine, and LSD have been shown to have positive effects on mental health conditions.
- Ketamine is a legal psychedelic that promotes synaptogenesis, the process of creating new pathways in the brain.
- Research demonstrates that ketamine is effective for many conditions, including PTSD and treatment-resistant depression.
Psychedelic therapy. Something that used to sound like a fringe, experimental endeavor touched by taboo is now considered by scientists to be an effective medical treatment for multiple mental health conditions.
We at Nue Life take inspiration from the long, historical benefits of psychedelics. The Native Americans’ ceremonial use of psychedelic plants has shown us the benefits of this type of treatment for centuries. Today, we’re going to take you on a walk into the world of psychedelic therapy, past and present. We believe this journey can help you find the treatment answers you’ve been looking for.
What Is Psychedelic Therapy?
Simply put, psychedelic-assisted therapy uses a psychedelic substance in a medically controlled environment to assist a patient in the treatment of their mental health conditions.
Various psychedelic studies have shown that this type of treatment can be helpful for a wide array of mental struggles. This treatment works primarily because psychedelics bind serotonin to a receptor in the brain, leading to a cascade of different effects. Once the psychedelic experience is over, normal brain patterns are restored, and immediate improvements are seen in the patient’s mental health symptoms.
Which Psychedelics Can Be Used for Therapy?
There have been several different psychedelics studied for therapeutic use. All of them have been shown to have positive effects on mental health conditions.
Psilocybin
One of the most well-studied psychedelics, psilocybin, has shown to have incredibly promising effects on mental health, particularly with anxiety.
Psilocybin is the active ingredient in what is commonly known as magic mushrooms. In a recreational context, it has been used in potentially harmful ways. When clinically administered, the effects are unmistakable with the correct dosage and care for the patient’s environment and mental state. Psilocybin has also been shown to reduce addiction in patients.
Patients with alcohol and cigarette addiction saw improvements in their substance use after treatment. Psilocybin can help with that root cause of mental suffering by weakening the addiction’s hold on the patient.
Ketamine
Ketamine is an incredibly powerful and effective psychedelic in the treatment of mental illness. In fact, ketamine was the first psychedelic drug approved by the FDA to be used for treatment-resistant depression in the form of a nasal spray called esketamine.
Ketamine can be administered in a variety of ways: IV, injection, or a simple pill.
This psychedelic works because of its effect on NMDA receptors in the brain. By blocking these receptors, releasing neurotransmitters, and activating AMPA receptors, ketamine promotes your brain’s ability to go through synaptogenesis, the process of creating new pathways in the brain.
The creation of these new neural pathways likely affects mood, thought patterns, and cognition. It also can potentially reduce inflammation in the brain and maintain communication between different parts of the brain.
This has been shown to immediately improve mental health symptoms in patients, potentially only hours after a single dose.
MDMA and LSD
LSD and MDMA are fairly well-known drugs in the recreational sense, but when used together in a medical context, they can positively affect mental health.
LSD on its own has positive effects on serotonin receptors, but there are some potentially negative side effects. LSD has been known to cause paranoia or loss of trust towards other people.
That’s where MDMA comes in. This psychedelic is known to induce a positive mood and feelings of trust.
By utilizing these two together, scientists theorize you can get significant mental health benefits without the risks that come with LSD. However, there is still more psychedelic research and clinical trials that need to be done to confirm this.
Peyote and Ayahuasca
Peyote and ayahuasca are the more traditional and historical psychedelics of the group. Derived from plants, these two traditional substances are considered to be novel psychoactive substances. While they have psychedelic effects, they work slightly differently than more modern creations.
DMT
DMT is chemically related to psilocybin. It is commonly found in plants and fungi, and it is one of the active ingredients in ayahuasca.
DMT has not been studied as much as certain other psychedelics, but it has been shown to improve substance addiction in participants who take it.
What Are Psychedelics Used To Treat?
Psychedelics have been used in the present day to treat various mental illnesses. Let’s take a look at what this form of medicine could help you with and how.
Depression
Depression plagues plenty of people around the world. And while there are lots of treatment options out there, common antidepressants are simply ineffective for many patients. In fact, SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), the most common form of antidepressant, are proven to be inadequate for about 40% of patients.
In cases of treatment-resistant depression, psychedelics like ketamine have been proven to be highly effective. In fact, ketamine was the first psychedelic to be FDA approved in 2019, and many people have been seeing an improved mood and a sense of freedom from the depression that affected them for so long.
Anxiety
]In the fast-paced, busy world we live in, it is not at all uncommon to struggle with anxiety at some point in your life. Psychedelics have been shown to ease these anxieties when used in a medical setting.
This is especially apparent in people who have anxiety related to terminal illness. Being diagnosed with and treating a terminal illness can be one of the most stressful things a person can go through.
But psychedelics have been shown to help significantly reduce state anxiety.
PTSD
Psychedelics have proven to be incredibly effective for people with post-traumatic stress disorder. Substances like MDMA and ketamine can cause a sustained reduction in PTSD symptoms with up to 83% effectiveness.
How Does Psychedelic Therapy Work?
At Nue Life, we seek to provide controlled, effective psychedelic therapies that help support your mental health. Our oral ketamine treatment can help alleviate symptoms of your mental health battle with the help of our doctors and medical staff. Here’s how we do it.
Consultation
First, you’ll go through a free consultation, guiding you through our oral ketamine program and what it looks like to have our treatment. After that, you’ll have a meeting with our expert medical team to find the right dosage for you.
Many of our patients have experienced comparable IV injections before. But this time, it’s right in the comfort of their own home.
Supervised Use
Once we establish the most effective dose for you, you’re ready to have your first psychedelic experience. But our support doesn’t stop there. Our client concierge team helps guide you through your experiences.
It’s essential to make the most of each experience, and we are here to guide you through that process. And if your dosage isn’t working for you, we can reevaluate your program and adjust it so that you can get the maximum benefits.
Integrating Meaning
Finally, we don’t just want to give you a quick solution or treatment and then let you fend for yourself. We want to guide you to the root causes of your depression and anxiety so you can heal them. We hope to give you the tools you need to fight your mental battles at their core to help you find sustainable peace.
That’s why we include integration sessions in each of our programs. Our team of clinicians will help guide you through your experiences to find meaningful insights that can bring further lasting change.
What Are The Risks?
Some side effects could potentially come with the use of ketamine. These effects include:
• Sudden rise in blood pressure
• Nausea and vomiting
• Perceptual disturbances
• Dissociation
However, these side effects are primarily seen when you take ketamine by injection of IV. The risk of side effects is reduced when you take it orally. But the chances are well worth the rewards for many people with debilitating mental disorders.
Conclusion
Psychedelic therapy has a long history of real and lasting benefits. It could be the difference-maker that you’ve been searching for.
Nue Life is committed to leveraging the breakthroughs that have been seen in psychedelic treatment alongside advances in precision medicine, thereby giving our patients whole-person care and ever-improving outcomes.
So consider our ketamine psychedelic therapy. If you’ve been wrestling with depression or another mental illness for a long time and haven’t found a solution, ketamine could be the right choice for you.
Sources:
Depression: How effective are antidepressants? | InformedHealth.org | NCBI Bookshelf
Ketamine for major depression: New tool, new questions | Harvard Health Publishing
Ketamine use in current clinical practice | National Institutes of Health
Psychedelic medicine: a re-emerging therapeutic paradigm | National Institutes of Health
