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First Major Clinical Trials Show Magic Mushrooms Heal Mental Illness like a ‘Surgical Intervention’
In June 2015 we reported on the re-emerging field of using psychedelics to treat mental illness, with psilocybin, in particular, showing great promise for chronic anxiety and depression. Western medicine began realizing its potential in the 1940s, but medical research was stamped out with the War on Drugs.
Now, as the injustice of the drug war is fully exposed, research is again turning to the amazing, natural power of psilocybin. William Richards at Johns Hopkins University has been dosing people with psilocybin for 15 years, and in 2006 published his first study demonstrating positive therapeutic results.
That study provided the impetus for a rapid expansion in psychedelic research. On December 1, results of the first two major clinical trials were published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology – showing yet again psilocybin’s remarkable effect on depression and end-of-life stress.
Rapid and sustained symptom reduction following psilocybin treatment for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer: a randomized controlled trial
Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer: A randomized double-blind trial
Authors of the first study summarize their results as follows:
“Prior to the crossover, psilocybin produced immediate, substantial, and sustained improvements in anxiety and depression and led to decreases in cancer-related demoralization and hopelessness, improved spiritual wellbeing, and increased quality of life. At the 6.5-month follow-up, psilocybin was associated with enduring anxiolytic and anti-depressant effects (approximately 60–80% of participants continued with clinically significant reductions in depression or anxiety), sustained benefits in existential distress and quality of life, as well as improved attitudes towards death. The psilocybin-induced mystical experience mediated the therapeutic effect of psilocybin on anxiety and depression.”
Philosophers stone – selected views from the boat http://philosophers-stone.co.uk
Source: http://www.phoenixisrisen.co.uk/?p=12314
