Research
shows psychedelics may create a mystical experience centered on peace,
love, gratitude and open-mindedness that make humans feel more connected
with the universe
Psychedelics,
including LSD and psilocybin, have been shown effective in the
treatment of anxiety, depression and fear of death in cancer patients
Scientists say psychedelics align the four universal intelligences: the mind, heart, intuition (gut) and body wisdom
Ninety percent of the world’s cultures use psychedelics for healing and spiritual maturation and understanding
Psychedelics
help unveil the depths of the human psyche, allowing access to parts of
the mind that are normally hidden and inaccessible
By Dr. Mercola
Peace. Love. Happiness. We, as human beings, sometimes spend our
entire lives trying to fulfill an innate yearning for these deep-rooted
emotions, which provide a unique feeling of interconnectedness that
makes us feel one with nature and the universe as a whole.
Unfortunately, Western culture is largely characterized by materialism,
unrealistic demands from both our personal and professional lives and
constant overstimulation, i.e., the need to be “plugged in” at all
times.
These misguided forms of energy often lead to debilitating health conditions such as unmanageable worry, anxiety and depression.
But what if there were something in nature that could help us escape
from these unnatural distractions and the pain and discomfort that so
often follows? Some scientists say there is, and that that something
lies in the realm of psychedelics.
The featured video, “Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Project,” is a
documentary produced for the Psychoactive Substances Research
Collection1
at Purdue University’s library archive, which was established in 2006
through a generous gift from the Betsy Gordon Foundation.
The purpose of the research collection is to record “the history of
psychoactive substances and their applications for medicine and
healing.” The collection includes materials such as research notes,
photographs and firsthand accounts from research participants that
document “the lives and work of researchers in the field.”
"Materials for this collection are typically acquired from chemists,
pharmacologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists and other researchers
who have worked firsthand with psychedelic substances," says Stephanie
Schmitz, the France A. Córdova archivist.
Psychedelics and Their Benefits to Medicine and Healing
So, what exactly are psychedelics? Psychedelics, also called
psychoactive substances or classic hallucinogens, include LSD
(blotter), psilocybin
(mushrooms), DMT (toad) and mescaline (peyote cactus). While these
substances have been demonized in many Western cultures, research shows
that psychedelics — when used appropriately — offer incredible
medicinal benefits, including the ability to and, in some cases,
permanently alleviate anxiety and depression.
Psychedelics have also shown to be helpful in reducing fear of death and anxiety in cancer patients.2
When we think of important milestones in our lives, we think about
falling in love, getting married or having kids, and for those who have
tried it, taking LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) can be one of life’s
most pivotal moments, says David E. Nichols, Ph.D., former
pharmacology professor and distinguished chair in pharmacology at
Purdue University.
Nichols, who retired in 2012, is considered one of the world’s
leading experts on psychedelics. LSD diffuses into your brain for three
to four hours, and it diffuses out — leading some to never see the
world the same way again, says Nichols. This proved true for Frances
Vaughan, who under carefully controlled conditions, was given a high
dose of LSD. Her experience was so powerful that it changed her life
forever, and in a good way.
Transcendence of Time and Space
In 1965, looking for adventure and exploration, Vaughan and her
husband participated in early research in psychedelics at the
International Foundation for Advanced Study in Menlo Park. After
passing all of the screening tests, they were given a high dose of LSD
under the care of researchers. Vaughan says she’s able to discuss the
memory of the experience, but struggles to put into words what it was
actually like.
For Vaughan, taking LSD was a deep mystical experience that
dissolved the boundaries between self and other, allowing her to feel
one with everything. The self was no longer a separate entity, she
says, adding that she came to a realization that truth takes many forms
of expression, but in some way all traditions point to the same deep
underlying reality. “I felt deep insight into several clichés, such as
God is love; the truth will set you free; and love is at the heart of
the universe,” she says.
The doors of perception were not only cleansed, but they disappeared
altogether, says Vaughan. She also reported a feeling of transcendence
of time and space, a sense of interconnectedness with all things, gratitude, peace, love and the opening of her heart.
Vaughan was so moved by the experience that she went on to become a pioneer in the field of transpersonal psychology,3
a practice characterized as an attempt to understand the different
states of consciousness (and varying views of reality) that were
revealed through experimentation with psychedelics. She went back to
school to study psychology and become a psychotherapist before writing a
book on intuition, titled “Awakening Intuition,”4 — a publication considered breakthrough research at the time it was published in 1979.
Most of the World’s Cultures Use Psychedelics for Healing and Spiritual Maturation
Arguably, one of the biggest downfalls in Western medicine, and
Western culture in general, is its over-concentrated focus on the
ordinary, waking state. Western medicine pays essentially no attention
to altered states, says Dr. Roger Walsh, psychiatrist, professor and
co-editor of the book “Higher Wisdom.”5
Our culture is rare cross-culturally in that it doesn’t use
psychedelics for healing and spiritual purposes, he adds. Meanwhile, up
to 90 percent of the world’s cultures use altered states of
consciousness and psychedelics for healing and spiritual maturation and
understanding.
Angeles Arrien, Ph.D., cultural anthropologist and author of “The Four-Fold Way,”6
agrees. “Indigenous cultures have worked with plant medicines since the
beginning of time,” says Arrien, adding that the drugs allow you to
unveil aspects of mind that are typically hidden and inaccessible to
us.
Some researchers say psychedelics align the four universal
intelligences: the mind, heart, intuition or the gut and body wisdom.
Others say the substances act as amplifiers, meaning they amplify your
current state. James Fadiman, Ph.D., author of “The Psychedelic
Explorer’s Guide,”7
experienced this amplification firsthand. Like Vaughan, Fadiman came
into his work after having a powerful, mystical experience with
psychedelics.
He was a graduate student at Stanford University when he took a
course with professor Willis Harman, who was working with the
International Foundation for Advanced Study in Menlo Park. Harman
invited Fadiman to participate in a study during which he was given 200
mcg of LSD.
“I put on some eye shades, laid down on the couch and listened to
music,” says Fadiman. “My disinterest in spiritual things was as valid
as a 10-year-old’s disinterest in sex,” he says. In other words, “it
came out of a total unawareness of what the rest of the world was built
on.”
During the experience, Fadiman says he went to a place where there
was total aloneness and separation from the universe. But at the peak
of his experience, Fadiman felt what many others have reported:
feelings of gratitude, enlightenment and a new-found sense of belonging
in the world.
‘LSD Wanted to Tell Me Something’ — Albert Hofmann
The story of how LSD was first discovered is quite remarkable. It
all began with Albert Hofmann, one of the greatest pharmacologists of
the 20th century. Hofmann discovered and synthesized tens of thousands
of substances. When he first tested LSD — created from ergot, a fungus
that forms on rye — on animals, it produced uninteresting results,
causing only mild irritation in the animal.
But in 1943, Hofmann reported having a very curious feeling about
the chemical, so he resynthesized it. A few hours later, Hofmann said
he had an usual experience and assumed he must have somehow been
exposed to the substance. But he wasn’t sure how because he knew if he
was exposed, it was to a very minuscule amount.
To find out if his symptoms were caused by this particular
substance, Hofmann synthesized another batch and deliberately took 250
mcg, which today we understand is a massive dose of psychedelics. It
was then that he found himself having the world’s first psychedelic
trip.
Hofmann proceeded to ride his bicycle home. He was feeling very
unusual and at one point even thought he was dying, so a friend called a
doctor, who said Hofmann’s blood pressure was a little high and his
eyes dilated, but other than that was fine. Strangely, Hofmann’s
experience, which was initially painful and terrifying, turned into a
wonderful one.
“LSD wanted to tell me something. It gave me an inner joy, an open
mindedness, a gratefulness, open eyes and an internal sensitivity for
miracles of creation,” said Hofmann. Incredibly, out of the tens of
thousands of compounds Hofmann synthesized, there was only one that
failed animal testing that he resynthesized, and that was LSD. Hofmann
lived to be 102 years old, passing away in 2008 just 10 days after the
55th anniversary of his first acid trip.8
Using Psychedelics to Alleviate Fear of Death in Cancer Patients
Another pioneer in the field of psychedelics is Stanislav Grof, a
psychiatrist from Czechoslovakia who treated mentally disturbed
patients with mystical experiences to improve mental health. He was
also one of the firsts to use psychedelic medicine for the dying. The
New York Times reports:9
“Grof kept careful notes of his many psychedelic sessions, and
in his various papers and books derived from those sessions, he
described cancer patients clenched with fear who, under the influence
of LSD or DPT, experienced relief from the terror of dying — and not
just during their psychedelic sessions but for weeks and months
afterward.
Grof continued his investigations into psychedelics for the
dying until the culture caught up with him — the recreational use of
drugs and the reaction against them leading to harsh antidrug laws.”
Grof conducted more experiments than anyone else, conducting trials
with more than 1,000 subjects. He also helped create a new
understanding of the human psyche by synthesizing reports from
thousands of people from around the world. Grof created a new map of
the human mind pointing to its many layers and the fact that
psychedelics are unique in their ability to unveil the depths of the
human psyche.
Research into the health effects of psychedelics began in the 1950s,
but came to an abrupt stop in the 1970s, mainly due to the media’s
focus on the substances’ damaging, rather than the positive, effects.
However, as noted in the film, the demonization also had a political
and cultural dimension to it.
People who took psychedelics had a major shift in their values. In
some ways, the shifts ran counter to society’s obsession with
materialism and capitalism, calling those values into question, which
the government perceived as a threat. Overnight, all legitimate
research was shut down, and only recently have labs received approval
to start it back up again. As Fadiman puts it:
“It’s turning around because the generation that passed all
these repressive laws (banning psychedelic research) that sent people
to jail for working on their own minds, are passing away or out of
power. And the people coming into power are part of the 23 million
people who experienced psychedelics. They are no longer preventing
medicine and science and psychology from exploring these materials
because they personally are no longer frightened.”
Before the research was halted in the 1970s, Harman pursued his
belief that psychedelics could be used to focus the part of the mind
that’s interested in hard-nose scientific problem-solving, not
mysticism or psychotherapy, just science. Harman conducted a study of
scientists, who in order to receive approval to participate in the
study, had to have a problem they cared about deeply but could not
solve, despite working on it for several months.
The participants were given a lower dose than those who had mystical
experiences. The results from the first group showed that it had
worked — most of the participants felt that they had made a huge step
forward, developed a new way of looking at the problem or had a
solution. Some even went on to have their products developed.
The study seemed to yield successful results, but during the seventh
or eighth trial, Harman and his team received a letter from the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration saying the research had been canceled. The
scientists were shocked. The government had shut down all research in
the U.S., which at that time included about 60 projects, according to
the film.
Studies Support Controlled, Clinical Use of Psilocybin
In addition to LSD, psilocybin or magic mushrooms have also been
found to alleviate anxiety, depression and fear of death in cancer
patients. Unfortunately, psilocybin, like marijuana and LSD, is
classified as a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances
Act.10
The mushrooms are typically ingested in their fresh or dried form, or
can be made into tea. Large doses have been known to induce panic
and/or psychosis. On the other hand, research shows it can also have
the opposite effect — providing long-lasting relief from anxiety and
depression. Unfortunately, being a Schedule 1 drug, obtaining
scientific support for its medicinal use is extremely difficult and
costly.
In 2014, London-based psychiatrist James Rucker penned a commentary
in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), arguing for the reclassification
of LSD and magic mushrooms — which he notes are far less addictive and
harmful than heroin and cocaine — in order to make it easier to conduct
much needed medical research on them. According to Rucker:
"Hundreds of papers, involving tens of thousands of patients,
presented evidence for their use as psychotherapeutic catalysts of
mentally beneficial change in many psychiatric disorders, problems of
personality development, recidivistic behavior, and existential
anxiety."
Clinical Trials Demonstrate Remarkable Benefits of Magic Mushrooms
In a Time magazine article, Dinah Bazer recounts her personal
experience with psilocybin. A cancer survivor struggling with severe
anxiety (driven by her fear of a recurrence), Bazer agreed to
participate in a magic mushroom trial conducted at the NYU Langone
Medical Center. While fear gripped her when the drug first brought her
"tumbling through space," the experience ended up being a profoundly
healing one:
"I started to feel love. I felt like I was being bathed in love
and it was overwhelming, amazing, wonderful … The feeling of immense
love lingered for weeks, and four years later I still feel it at times.
My fear and anxiety were completely removed, and they haven't come
back …
The experience changed how I wanted to live my life. I used to
get up, grab a quick snack and eat it in the car. But I no longer want
to be in a hurry. Now I get up an hour early, make a real breakfast and
read my paper … I used to imagine what it would be like if the cancer
recurred, but I don't think about it the same way anymore. When I don't
feel well and thoughts of a recurrence creep into my mind, I lack fear
and simply think, 'Let's just see what happens.'"
As noted in the film, an appropriate setting is key for using mushrooms to treat anxiety and depression
in cancer patients. During studies at Johns Hopkins University,
volunteers remained in the presence of two guides throughout the
psilocybin session. They were also provided aftercare.
Participants came out of the study reporting a new feeling of
centeredness that allowed them to be more accepting of the fact that
they might be dying. Several participants went on to tell their loved
ones that everything was going to be OK — an immensely comforting
statement for caretakers of terminally ill cancer patients.
Treating Anxiety and Depression Naturally
While research supports the notion that psychedelics offer many
healing capabilities, the substances are not for everyone. People with
severe mental illness or those who are frightened or distrustful do not
make good candidates. Nevertheless, some 23 million Americans report
that they use or have used psychedelics. Because psychedelics are
illegal in the U.S., the substances are inaccessible for those
suffering from anxiety or depression. Fortunately, there are many other nontoxic remedies that are effective for treating these ailments.
In addition to the creation of new neurons, including those that
release the calming neurotransmitter GABA, exercise boosts levels of
potent brain chemicals like serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine,
which may help buffer some of the effects of stress. Many avid
exercisers also feel a sense of euphoria after a workout, sometimes
known as the "runner's high." It can be quite addictive, in a good way,
once you experience just how good it feels to get your heart rate up
and your body moving.
Other Antidepressive Lifestyle Strategies
Your gut also plays an important role in your mental state. Your gut
and brain work in tandem, each influencing the other. This is why your
intestinal health
can have such a profound influence on your mental health and vice
versa. It's also the reason why your diet is so closely linked to your
mental health.
Prior research has shown that the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus
had a marked effect on GABA levels in certain brain regions and
lowered the stress-induced hormone corticosterone, resulting in reduced
anxiety- and depression-related behavior. The probiotic known as
Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 has also been shown to normalize
anxiety-like behavior in mice with infectious colitis.
So, optimizing your gut flora with beneficial bacteria is a highly useful strategy. This is done by eliminating sugars and processed foods and eating plenty of non-starchy vegetables, avoiding processed vegetable oils, and using healthy fats. Additionally, eating plenty of fermented vegetables or taking a high-potency probiotic would be useful to re-establish healthy gut flora.
Your diet should also include a high-quality source of animal-based omega-3 fats, like anchovies, sardines, wild-caught Alaskan salmon or krill oil.
The omega-3 fats EPA and DHA play an important role in your emotional
well-being, and research has shown a dramatic 20 percent reduction in
anxiety among medical students taking omega-3s.
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