Introduction
The use of consciousness-shifting psychedelics in medical practice has been coined as holistic for decades. Psilocybin treatment is a relatively new method curated to treat the symptoms that come with some mental illnesses and substance abuse cases. The research on this type of treatment is becoming more vast each day, subsequently bringing more findings than ever before on how exactly psilocybin and psychedelic treatments are beneficial or not to mental ailments and sometimes even cancer-related symptom studies. Controlled treatment trials of patients using psilocybin methodology have been conducted by various research groups who have compiled their data and presented it regarding whether or not these psychedelic treatments are more effective or long-lasting than traditional treatments. These interventional trial sessions have been conducted on patients suffering from depression to observe their depressive symptoms, cancer patients to observe their quality of life while partaking in the treatment, and as a complement to traditional treatment to aid alcohol use disorders (AUDs) and are presented in journal articles.
Summary
Presenting the research that psilocybin can decrease depressive symptoms and activity is an article written by Robin L Carhart-Harris, from the Imperial College London, Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression: fMRI-measured Brain Mechanisms, which introduces psychedelic treatments of a specific mushroom genus, psilocybe. A study conducted in a similar manner to the aforementioned case is the focus of the article Psychedelic Therapy as a Complementary Treatment Approach for Alcohol Use Disorders, written by Peter Eischens, from the John Hopkins School of Medicine. The last study conducted, presented in Cancer at the Dinner Table: Experiences of Psilocybin-Assisted Psychotherapy for the Treatment of Cancer-Related Distress by Thomas C. Swift, focuses, using similar methods as the past two experiments, on the way psilocybin treatments affect cancer patients’ emotional and cognitive responses to their conditions.
Cognitive Effects
While it cannot be said that psilocybin treatments serve as a cure to any of these mental illnesses, it is important to recognize the effects they can have, and how these effects can be beneficial in a multitude of medical settings. Psilocybin does not physically aid a patient, instead it “activates a subtype of serotonin receptor [known as S-HT2A], which mediates perception, attitude, and emotion regulation” (Swift 2017). In each session, patients experienced shifts in their consciousness; they were able to perceive themselves and their lives in a different way that had been previously inhibited by their preexisting mental illnesses. After each trial session, patients would experience a period of mental improvements and overall stress relief. This time period is coined by researchers as the “after-glow” of psychedelic treatments because the release of serotonin allows for an alteration in patient’s mindsets regarding their illnesses, and allows for long-term periods of altered thinking (Carhart-Harris 2007). These psychedelic treatments are useful in a plethora of medical practices because many stressors and negative stimulants reside in the patient’s perceptions of their own problems. For patients whose minds can only see a tunnel-vision of downsides, psychedelic treatment “can promote non-judgemental attitudes toward experiences and objection separate from difficult thoughts and emotions” (Eischens 2018). Psilocybin treatments allow patients to perceive their conditions in a less critical way, a benefit that is vital to the quality of life of patients who suffer from a multitude of mental illnesses.
Universality
Illnesses are often studied from a tangible point of view, wherein the symptoms of an illness are primarily regarded over the way an illness, especially one as life-threatening as cancer, affects the patient’s consciousness. It is, however, just as necessary to consider both aspects. In doing so, researchers have made parallel discoveries in a multitude of illnesses, all being treatable effectively and perpetually regardless of how distinct the cases are. Often, medical illnesses arouse feelings of inability and hopelessness in patients, which stems from certain anxieties and branches of depression. For example, cancer patients are often plagued with such stressors, which, “in conjunction with psychotherapy,” were treated using psilocybin treatments, and led to “large clinical benefits, including robust anxiolytic and anti- depressant effects, improvements in physical, psychological, and psychoso- cial well-being, and an increased sense of meaning and peace” (Swift 2007). On a cognitive scale, this particular type of psychedelic treatment influxes the brain with serotonin, allowing for a new mentality to arise, one in which the patient’s traumatic experiences and negative connotations with their illnesses can be disregarded. For patients suffering with substance abuse, psilocybin treatments are often “associated with potential protection against psychological stress and suicidality” (Eischens 2018). Although temporary, the longevity of these psychedelic treatments are often more prevalent than other treatments towards depression and anxieties regarding a variety of health issues. This is because these treatments are the only method that allows the patient to enter a new mind state, while simultaneously disintegrating their prior one (Carhart-Harris 2007).
Results
Universally, the results of the psilocybin treatments were beneficial among patients; there are points on inconclusivity regarding the exact longevity of its effects, but it is also unanimous that in a permanent respect, treatments would be much more far apart than traditional ones. These research groups found a commonality in the antidepressant action of [traditional antidepressant] treatments and psilocybin (Carhart-Harris 2007). Psilocybin treatments also allow for patients to come to terms with their conditions, and for some, such as substance abusers, allows them to understand the risk they are putting themselves in by resisting change. Psychedelics can serve interventional purposes because of the fact that they can drastically alter a patient’s mind and allow for self-examination and realizations, “[encouraging] formalized treatments earlier in the recovery process” (Eischens 2018). In more extreme cases, psychedelics helped patients resonate with realizations of death, intensity of cases, and an emotional disconnection between them and their terminal illness, improving their quality of life (Swift 2017). Psychedelic treatments are a modern response to a large aspect of medicine that had not been considered for many decades, allowing for not only a solution to some mental illnesses, but an improvement for the mentalities of some patients suffering more than others.
Conclusion
Psychedelic treatments, specifically those strained from the mushroom genus “psilocybe,” have a multitude of beneficial effects on a patient’s cognitive processes. These effects correlate directly with traditional treatment methods, but are arguably more beneficial due to their ability to alter a patient’s consciousness, removing the negative connotations they have with their condition. Psilocybin treatments change the perceptions of patients, and result in long-lasting psychological benefits, along with improvements towards quality of life.
Works Cited
Carhart-Harris, Robin L, et al. “Psilocybin for Treatment-Resistant Depression:
FMRI-Measured Brain Mechanisms.” Scientific Reports, vol. 7, no. 1, 2017,
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-13282-7/
Eischens, Peter, and William Leigh Atherton. “Psychedelic Therapy as a Complementary
Treatment Approach for Alcohol Use Disorders.” Journal of Psychedelic Studies,
vol. 2, no. 1, 2018, pp. 36–44,
https://akademiai.com/doi/full/10.1556/2054.2018.005
Swift, Thomas C., et al. “Cancer at the Dinner Table: Experiences of Psilocybin-Assisted
Psychotherapy for the Treatment of Cancer-Related Distress.” Journal of
Humanistic Psychology, vol. 57, no. 5, 2017, pp. 488–519.,
