• Varyk
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    23
    arrow-down
    6
    ·
    6 months ago

    Just use magic mushrooms.

    Totally safe, effective against PTSD,

    Endorsed twice as a “breakthrough drug” by the FDA.

    • treefrog@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      24
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      6 months ago

      MDMA is better for PTSD.

      And I love mushrooms. It’s wheelhouse isn’t PTSD though.

      Both should be useable as medicine.

      • Varyk
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        4
        ·
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        One perfectly safe dose of psilocybin instantly treats depression, anxiety and PTSD for more than 6 months at 80% efficacy, improving sociability, open-mindedness, resetting traumatic patterns, what are the numbers for MDMA, which is more physiologically dangerous and more difficult to apply in therapy?

        https://med.nyu.edu/departments-institutes/population-health/divisions-sections-centers/medical-ethics/education/high-school-bioethics-project/learning-scenarios/ptsd-treatment-psychedelics

        • treefrog@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          18
          ·
          edit-2
          6 months ago

          I love mushrooms and I have PTSD. It’s helpful. But, MDMA deconditions the fear response in most people far more effectively.

          I’ve seen this first hand again and again and again. I grew up in the rave scene. Still in the burner scene. Still in the psychedelic scene.

          MDMA promotes a sense of safety that’s integral to treating PTSD. Your link is to a class summary? It doesn’t support the numbers you just cited, as far as I could see. Unless you’re referring to that one linked animal model study.

          https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/txessentials/psychedelics_assisted_therapy.asp

          Here’s a review of both. While psilocybin is of interest in treating PTSD, studies so far have been minimal.

          As I said, MDMA is the gold standard for treating PTSD. That’s why MAPS has invested so heavily into it.

          Psilocybin is excellent for treating other things. End of life anxiety and depression, for example. John’s Hopkins has invested a lot in research here.

          I know the landscape. So, do the therapists and researchers who are studying and investing their time into it. MAPS put their money on MDMA for PTSD because they’ve seen it work better than other psychedelics. Rick Doblin is the protégé of Stanislov Grof, who was a leading LSD researcher before it was criminalized. These aren’t shots in the dark or even educated guesses. But a painstaking effort to prove to the Feds that these drugs (both of them) need to be usable legally in psychiatry.

          • Varyk
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            6 months ago

            Okay, you can be personally excited about therapeutic MDMA possibilities without making up a "gold standard’.

            The study I’ve linked to above is specifically for psilocybin treating PTSD with an 80% efficacy rate after one entirely safe dose for 6 to 12 months.

            The link you’ve supplied, as far as I can tell, does not report conclusive results for MDMA treating PTSD.

            MDMA is not a gold standard, it’s one non-standardized psychedelic therapeutic possibility that is physiologically more dangerous with fewer studies, more risks and more time commitment, therapeutic prerequisites and necessary conditions than psilocybin, without the resulting necessary controlled and conclusive clinical trials providing evidence of effective treatment.

            I stand by my original point of seeing little reason to focus on more dangerous, less effective therapies when we already have a completely safe, simpler and so far more effective therapy according to conclusive controlled studies and patient testimony.

            • treefrog@lemm.ee
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              6 months ago

              I went back and carefully read what you linked I suggest you do too.

              The number you are citing matches end of life anxiety studies. This is not PTSD and especially not chronic PTSD or complex PTSD such as my own, which I’m telling you from decades of anecdotal experience being in the psychedelic scene as well as research into the pharmacology of these medications, that MDMA is the gold standard for PTSD treatment.

              That doesn’t mean better treatments won’t be developed or better drugs won’t be developed in the future. Or that psilocybin and LSD don’t have some efficacy in treating PTSD. But MDMA works better for the majority of people because it helps to relax the fear response in a way that classical psychedelics do not.

              If I was to invest personal time and money into a classical psychedelic for PTSD treatment it would be mescaline. Which coincidentally is in the same class of chemical as MDMA.

              And if I was to use psilocybin to treat PTSD I would do it at the tail end of an MDMA roll. Or as an adjunct to therapy. Depending on the PTSD, I would expect this to take multiple sessions and not be one and good for six months like in anxiety depression treatments.

              PTSD, especially CPTSD from child abuse etc, is very difficult to treat. The success rates in anxiety and depression studies aren’t necessarily applicable.

              • Varyk
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                2
                ·
                edit-2
                6 months ago

                I’m glad you read that article closely, although they specifically mentioned that the scientists chose terminally ill cancer patients because the symptoms are identical to the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and some of the patients in that study had comorbid PTSD.

                There are studies going on right now with victims of domestic violence and veterans with PTSD.

                https://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?url=https://psyarxiv.com/t6k9b/download%3Fformat%3Dpdf&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0VZbZqyMM5--6rQP8ZCGMA&scisig=AFWwaebv_6yDRogfHBRZDmA5TMvP&oi=scholarr

                https://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?url=https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/13/5/e068884.full.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0VZbZqyMM5--6rQP8ZCGMA&scisig=AFWwaeYIYvNPeVNtPh_PlbCu_YN_&oi=scholarr

                I like all the drugs you’re suggesting, and I think people should be able to choose, although I maintain that the logical therapeutic focus should be on the one completely safe, easily administered and controlled drug proven to be effective in treating depression, anxiety, and especially the traumatic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

                People should do whatever drugs they want, but that doesn’t make whatever drug they want the best choice for therapy right now.

                We have a safe drug for that already. Psilocybin. It has passed every test so far, and it’s completely non-toxic.

                • treefrog@lemm.ee
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  6 months ago

                  I’m for research into both. I outlined why MAPS is focusing on it for PTSD. Because they’ve been using it for this in closed circles for decades and it works well in more cases.

                  I’ve died and been reborn on tryptamines a few times. I get how healing they are.

                  But navigating attachment disorders and trauma triggers in this life is much different, regardless of the symptomatology being similar on the depression/anxiety scale.

                  I’ll read the papers you sent though. I do believe psilocybin can help with cptsd with the right set and setting and integration. I just don’t believe the current therapy models and studies support the conclusions you’re making about current efficacy.

                  Personally, I would take the risk with molly if it was available in psychotherapy. I’ll save the mushrooms for personal exploration, enjoying nature, and other traditional medicine spaces. Where they work quite well and again we’re just showing the feds Nixon was an asshole, ultimately. Because this is stuff psychotherapists have known for a generation.

                  • Varyk
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    6 months ago

                    Again, I’m all for anecdotal advocacy and the use of any drugs people prefer

                    I still don’t see the point of focusing on more dangerous, less effective drugs as therapy when we have a perfectly safe, effective therapy available.

                    Maybe I’m missing something from what you’re saying, because I didn’t see any outline for why maps is focusing on Molly specifically for PTSD.

                    The proposed benefits you’re talking about using Molly are already known benefits of taking psilocybin, athough psilocybin has a lower physiological risk and simpler therapy scheduling.

                    No problem with researching both, this is more a case of diagnosing a problem, having the solution, but making people wait by purposefully diverting our attention elsewhere while there is a more effective, risk-free solution available.

                    It seems at best a waste of time and at worst cruel to tell people we might decide to help them soon If they wait for unknown years while we look into different solutions instead of helping them directly at no risk with the safe, effective solution we have.