by mushroomdoctor | Jul 28, 2022 | Mental Health
Recent research results uncover the capability of psilocybin to reestablish sub-atomic circuits in the mind and pitch into a decrease of relapses in liquor reliance. This could prompt new restorative methodologies.
Alcoholism is quite possibly the most widely recognized neuropsychiatric illness. The results are serious physical and mental torment and a high death rate. The average life expectancy of those impacted is diminished by over 22 years.
Regardless of the seriousness of the illness, whose persistent course is described by repeating relapses into uncontrolled alcohol consumption, we have barely any familiarity with what happens in the mind.
Cortical mGluR2 shortfall as an obsessive sub-atomic component of modified conduct in compulsion
Mental cycles that control actions, attention, and feelings are known as executive functions. In numerous mental illnesses, the capacity to control one’s own ideas and undertakings and to direct feelings are disrupted, for instance, in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, schizophrenia, borderline syndrome, and furthermore in addiction.
In a multidisciplinary, international collaboration supervised by Dr. Marcus Meinhardt, Prof. Dr. Rainer Spanagel, and Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Sommer (all at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim), the sub-atomic component of modified chief capacities and expanded backslides was in liquor reliance have been examined.
The exploration centers around the job of the metabotropic glutamate receptor 2 (mGluR2). In the cerebrum, this receptor functions as a radio wire for the synapse glutamate and manages its delivery in different mind regions. In their flow work, which has now been distributed in the publication Science Advances.
The exploration group shows a causal connection between a diminished mGluR2 work inside the cerebrum district of the prefrontal cortex in liquor subordinate rodents and a disabled leader control as well as longing for liquor. mGluR2 enactment has consequently been distinguished as a likely restorative component in liquor reliance.
Psilocybin reestablishes the development of mGluR2
Psychedelics like psilocybin — the dynamic fixing in the supposed enchantment mushrooms — or LSD follow up on serotonin 2A receptors (5-HT2AR) in the cerebrum. These receptors are available in huge numbers in the prefrontal cortex. Past exploration has demonstrated the way that 5-HT2AR and mGluR2 can frame a utilitarian complex.
This complex has been connected to the system of activity of hallucinogens, yet the subatomic elements of this complex in fixation were beforehand obscure.
“We were able to show that psilocybin can restore mGluR2 levels which leads to a reduction in relapses to alcohol,” says Marcus Meinhardt.
Consequently, this examination opens up the chance of growing new helpful methodologies that emphasize psilocybin as a driver of mGluR2.
by mushroomdoctor | Jul 14, 2022 | Mental Health, Microdosing
Psychedelics, based on their relationship with hippy culture, have a possibility of being the treatment for depression and anxiety.
Psilocybin is a powerful component that commonly appears in psychoactive or “magic” mushrooms”.
Dr. Alana Roy, a clinician, and scholastic and Psychological Services Practice Manager at Melbourne’s Mind Medicine Institute, states that psilocybin shows favorable outcomes when utilized in hallucinogenic-aided psychotherapy.
As Alana says, “the current research into psilocybin shows that if it’s taken in a clinical setting, it’s safe, non-toxic, and non-addictive.”
“We know from the results there are so many benefits from looking at psilocybin with cluster headaches and migraines, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anorexia. We’re looking at now [treating] addictions such as alcoholism and smoking—anxiety and depression.”
The science behind psychedelics
“The research”, Alana mentions, “shows that psilocybin promotes neuroplasticity.” (This is the sensory system’s capacity to alter its movement based on external stimuli). Likewise, it’s been displayed to develop levels of compassion, social conduct, and attachment to ourselves, others, and our general surroundings.
That’s quite groundbreaking. Be that as it may, what’s generally exhilarating for Alana and her associates is the manner by which transformative hallucinogenic-aided psychotherapy can be to address the underlying cause of a client’s psychological problems.
“We know from the neuroscience and brain imagery that when the default mode network in our brain, which hosts our rumination, our personal stories, our ego, our trauma—the things that keep us locked in rigid ways of thinking—when that’s deactivated through high doses of psilocybin, it opens people up to a whole range of phenomena and this is where the healing with the psychotherapy occurs,” says Alana.
Natural medicine
Although it sounds innovative, it’s not exactly new. Researchers proceeded from where they left off almost fifty years ago.
During the 1950s and 60s, psilocybin and other psychedelics were utilized in research and in therapeutical care. They showed a guarantee in those days as well.
Then, at that point, the American-led battle on drugs during the 1970s and 80s came, which essentially shut down everything — up until the present.
In the current times, tech bros in Silicon Valley resort to microdosing to lessen anxiety and to further develop their imagination and concentration. (Indeed, even Bill Gates and Steve Jobs tested with LSD in the past).
Recently, there’s been an interest in the medical advantages of all types of medicinal mushrooms, upheld by a growing collection of proof.
A new point of view required
Alana says possibly, the greatest variable is the result of the psychological well-being from the COVID-19 pandemic, joined with little development in drug-based treatments since antidepressants were made fifty years ago.
Current medication-based treatments don’t work for everybody and are frequently expensive.
“What we know is that antidepressants, although effective for some, often have significant side effects and don’t always give the results our clients deserve,” Alana says.
Psilocybin can possibly be a permanent solution for depression and anxiety, without requiring long-term medicines or solutions.
“However, there’s the opportunity for a medicine to be actually empowering, as opposed to a medicine that suppresses or minimizes distress. We can empower people to really transform their suffering.”
Enabling individuals to get better
In her job at the Mind Medicine Institute, Alana offers psychotherapeutic help for hallucinogens research participants, involving an impending review in cooperation with Monarch.
As a component of the review, 100 healthy members will be given a portion of psilocybin and another 100 will get a portion of MDMA.
“The primary purpose of this project is to determine whether there are any changes in the brain, following either of these medicines,” says Alana, “and also to track any changes in mood, personality, beliefs, social engagement, and how these substances might relate to the neural changes in the brain.”
Likewise, there is nearing clinical advancement possibly anticipated for Western Australia.
Sydney-based Woke Pharma, whose fellow benefactor and CEO are Perth-based Nick Woolf, is arranging two psilocybin trials.
The primary trial of 260 members, an organization with the main college in New South Wales, will look at microdosing (1 milligram) on moderate depression with no psychotherapeutic help.
The second trial of 100 members is in the organization with Imperial College London and Drug Science UK. This preliminary will have research destinations across Australia, possibly including one at UWA. It will take a gander at treatment-resistant depression with a remedial portion (25 milligrams) and incorporate psychotherapy.
The two examinations will utilize standard wretchedness rating scales and other mental and neuropsychological measures, for example, neuroimaging.
No mushrooms were injured
The researchers utilize manufactured psilocybin, not naturally developed mushrooms.
Nick says there are various explanations behind this, particularly while attempting to persuade government regulators to endorse it for use in Australia.
Fabricating psilocybin works on the medication’s strength and consistency, says Nick, while speeding up it’s delivered into the body. It additionally makes it patentable, which requests drug organizations like Nick’s.
Then again, says Nick, it may not be essentially as powerful as the regular stuff. “If you take a natural product, it might have other potential actives in there,” he says.
“But from a regulatory perspective, we want to ensure as smooth a path as possible.”
by mushroomdoctor | Jun 23, 2022 | Macrodosing, Mental Health, Microdosing
Jada Pinkett Smith and her son Jaden talked genuinely about their significant encounters with plant medication on a new psychedelics-themed episode of the Smith family’s Facebook Watch series Red Table Talk.
Jada started the episode by informing the audience that she has battled with “crippling depression” for almost 10 years before effectively defeating it using a mushroom regimen. “The thing about plant medicine is not only doing it help you feel better but it helps you solve the problems of how you got there in the first place,” the 49-year-old producer and “Matrix Resurrections” actress described.
Jada isn’t the initial individual from her popular family to drill down into mind-altering encounters with plant medication. Her famous actor spouse Will Smith announced that he discovered a “taste of freedom” from joining ayahuasca. Their son Jaden, who is 23 years old, also has not avoided the psychedelic limelight. The actor and artist not long ago released a mixtape inspired by psychedelics.
Stepping in for his sister Willow Smith on Wednesday’s Red Table Talk, Jaden uncovered unequivocally what drew him toward plant medication. “It started as pure curiosity, not believing that mushrooms could make you feel any sort of way – but then I had an experience,” he told his mom and grandma, co-host Adrienne Banfield-Norris.
“For the first time, I had like an ego dissolution and that was the moment that really changed me,” he proceeded. “You get to a place where you’re blocked by something-whether it’s trauma, whether it’s your emotions, your ego, not being able to express yourself – and I feel like psychedelics are a way to tear down that wall and see what’s behind it.”
Jada and her son were not the only ones in particular who imparted their psychedelic encounters. Red Table Talk’s full list of big-name personalities included investigative journalist Lisa Ling and her better half Dr. Paul Song, billionaire entrepreneur turned psychedelic fan Bob Parsons, and psychedelics specialist and best-selling author Michael Pollan.
As an oncologist, Dr. Song was quite cynical about psychedelics and their healing capabilities for a number of years. This until issues at home persuaded him to try a guided ayahuasca ceremony. “It was everything and more,” Dr. Song said, making sense of how plant medication-assisted him with finding peace with his multi-generational family trauma and fashioned a more profound relationship with his significant other and kids.
“It’s been transformative, it really has,” Ling concurred.
Parsons’ story included an alternate sort of healing. The GoDaddy and PXG Golf pioneer served with the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. He then returned home with an extreme instance of post-traumatic stress disorder. Even though his tactical preparation gave him the abilities and certainty he needed to build a couple of his multi-million dollar companies, PTSD negatively affected his welfare. “I had a short temper. It for sure cost me two marriages,” he explained to Jada.
All that evolved after he got a copy of Pollan’s “life-changing” book How to Change Your Mind, which investigates the study of psychedelics. It wasn’t some time before Parsons started adjusting his own perspective with psilocybin and ayahuasca. “I felt like being with people again. I felt like going out. My temper didn’t bother me again,” he mentioned. “I was kind of like how I was before the war – I finally came home.”
Jada, Jaden, and the guests in their series concluded the show with a conversation on the absence of variety inside the psychedelic communities and the underrepresentation of Black individuals in clinical preliminaries concentrating on plant medication’s therapeutic capacities.
“The psychedelic world in the United States has been very white,” Pollan said, making sense that African Americans utilize fewer hallucinogens than white individuals. He had a few guesses as to why including the reality, that plant medication was still technically unlawful and the nation has a terrible history of enforcing drug regulations differently among the Black individuals. In any case, taking into account how empowering the clinical preliminaries for psilocybin had been hitherto, Pollan hypothesized that it wouldn’t be long until the FDA would open the entryway for therapists to begin legitimately prescribing psychedelics to their patients.
Jada Pinkett Smith loved her guest’s positivity.
“Plant medicine completely rehabilitated me from debilitating depression and it’s changed my life for the better,” she mentioned. “So, I’m really hoping that we find a way that African Americans can have access to these plant medicines safely.”
by mushroomdoctor | Jun 15, 2022 | Macrodosing, Mental Health
Every member of the Mushroom Doctor team is a Veteran whose mission is to see those who suffer from PTSD find healing and freedom from the debilitating effects. But we also know that PTSD is not reserved for Veterans alone. In fact, nearly everyone suffers from some form of trauma or another.
If you’ve ever read the book, “The Body Keeps The Score”, you would discover that the author’s assertions from years of study are that trauma is saved like a record in the unconscious mind that we refer to as the body. Trauma can be absorbed at the molecular level and healing can not be found from Talk Therapy alone.
Statistics reveal to us that an average of 22 Veterans commit suicide each day due to PTSD, and many of those were prescribed psychotropic medication with little to no effect. In recent years, many Veterans who suffer from the deteriorating effects of PTSD are finding healing in the arms of Psychedelic Assisted Therapy.
Studies are revealing a rapid decline in PTSD in subjects that work with psychedelic plant medicine on occasional macro-dose or daily micro-dose levels. The exciting news is that they are finding this modality is not only saving lives but has zero side effects that one might find in prescribed medication.
You don’t have to be a veteran to understand the debilitating nature of PTSD, and you don’t have to continue living with the mental or emotional affliction it brings to your relationships, work, or overall well-being.
There is a solution and it’s found in nature. “Let Nature Be Your Doctor”
by mushroomdoctor | Jun 9, 2022 | Mental Health, News
When combined with therapy, psilocybin, the hallucinogenic element found in magic mushrooms, has traditionally been thought to be useful in the treatment of mental illnesses. Most prominently, entheogens are widely used as antidepressant drugs. However, study into the element’s ability to heal does not halt there; there is additional research into whether the drug can remedy PTSD, Alcohol Use Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and other disorders.
A new battleground in the psychedelic fight against mental health concerns has emerged: eating disorders and obesity.
NeonMind Biosciences (CSE: NEON) (OTCQB: NMDBF) reported findings from preclinical animal research that indicated “the efficacy of psilocybin in lowering weight gain in obese individuals.” Previously, the company performed a study on healthy animal responders, which revealed that psychedelics reduced weight gain.
Importantly, NeonMind discovered that psilocybin, specifically the company’s version of psilocybin, could target visceral fat. This is significant since “more visceral fat is associated with poorer cardiometabolic health, and reduction in this type of fat is vital in weight loss and better overall health outcomes.” This is as per NeonMind.
In their most recent investigation on overweight animals, NeonMind revealed a slew of new findings:
When compared with the control group, there was a measurable difference in both absolute and relative weight gain; efficacy was evident within days of administration; food consumption was minimized, and there were no negative safety indications.
This meant that psilocybin is seen in animal studies to be a secure and effective medication for weight loss. We will have to wait until all of the data is presented before we can make conclusions. A paper “has been submitted to a famous industry peer-reviewed journal” and is now being reviewed for publication, as per NeonMind.
Animal testing is the first step. Human trials must be designed as a result of optimistic results. According to NeonMind, the results of this research will aid in the advancement of two versions of psilocybin, NEO-001, and NEO-002. At some point, one or both of these medications should enter Phase 1 clinical trials.
Other organizations and research institutions are also experimenting with using psilocybin or other psychedelics to treat eating disorders. Compass Pathways (Nasdaq: CMPS), for instance, is pursuing a Phase 2 trial to treat Anorexia Nervosa using their patented Comp-360 psilocybin.
Likewise, Tryp Therapeutics (CSE: TRYP) (OTCQB: TRYPF) has begun recruiting for their Phase 2 trial, which specializes in treating Binge Eating Disorder with TRP-8802, a type of psilocybin. “The fundamental purpose of this clinical trial is to confirm that the neuroplasticity qualities of psilocybin can assist develop healthy neural connections that address the problematic eating patterns of individuals with binge eating disorders,” as explained by Jim Gilligan, their interim CEO.
And, as highlighted last week by Psychedelic Spotlight, the non-profit MAPS is attempting to use MDMA to treat a variety of eating problems. The institution has conducted research on the reduction of eating problem symptoms in PTSD patients treated with MDMA therapy. While the study’s findings were encouraging, they were far from definitive. This year, MAPS plans to launch an open-label Phase 2 study to treat eating disorders with MDMA-assisted therapy.
Given the critical need for an eating disorder therapy, these trials should yield favorable results. Eating disorders are the second-deadliest mental illness, following only opioid addiction. The issue is significant, with 9 percent of Americans expecting to encounter one at some time in their life. Sadly, 26% of Americans with eating disorders attempt suicide each year, with 10,200 prevailing. This equates to one death every 52 minutes.
If psilocybin and other psychedelics can be utilized as efficient medicines to treat various psychological conditions, millions of people throughout the world may have hope.
by mushroomdoctor | Jun 1, 2022 | Mental Health, Microdosing
The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders estimates that 9% of the world’s population has an eating disorder.
Women increasingly share how psychedelics have helped them break free of a cycle of dissatisfaction, body dysmorphia, anxiety, despair, and tension. They describe how psychedelics helped them heal from eating disorders and increase their self-esteem.
Despite the lack of large-scale investigations, anecdotal evidence of these developments is strong.
A hero’s dose of magic mushrooms taught me I could let go of my eating problem once and for all, says Francesca Rose, an eating disorder recovery advocate. “It hit me: my eating disorder was not me. Not even mine. Everything clicked. My eating disorder was gone. Food or body control no longer made me feel safe or worthy.” This psychedelic-assisted transformation is part of what led her to add her current work; aiding other women with eating disorders on their healing journeys.
Many women still consider talking about insecurities taboo, weak, or shameful. Embedded experiences, including psychedelic ones, can help one heal. Rose also teaches yoga and conscious dance. Destroying stigmas through empowering women to speak up and reconnect with their bodies.
Women can reconnect with their bodies and create a softer relationship with themselves by intentionally using psychedelics. “An eating disorder is used unknowingly to feel protected in the world and give a feeling of meaning and identity,” Rose explains. The eating disorder is a strategy to mend the internal world, even if it is unsustainable. Psychedelic traveling and post-journey integration can help people reduce their reliance on eating disorders because they feel more at ease in the world and more internally whole. We can reconnect with our intrinsic values, belonging, dignity, and divinity. Psychedelics can help us feel proud and accepted, and we can experience love and connect to it.”
Understanding Obesity
To comprehend these conditions, we must first understand body image. Most women don’t just like or dislike their bodies. Body image is a complicated mix of thoughts, ideas, and perceptions of how our bodies appear to us and others, what they can do, and their estimated size.
Body image concerns can develop at age 5. Puberty-induced physical changes might exacerbate discontent. Culture also shapes our self-perception. Gender, complexion and hair color, and many other factors might influence how people perceive their physical appearance.
This psychiatric illness causes people to overvalue minor flaws or even imagine flaws in their bodies. Difficulty accepting your own body image. It can cause eating disorders and social, professional, and personal concerns. Body dysmorphia and eating disorders affect both men and women. However, women are three times more likely to be affected.
Around 30 million Americans have an eating disorder, and 70 percent of these 30 million people are unaided. As a result, anorexia nervosa has one of the highest death rates among mental health illnesses at 5.9%.
Psychedelics and Positive Body Image
Eating disorders are notoriously difficult to cure. Traditional treatments like CBT have a remission rate of around 45 percent, a return rate of about 30 percent within a year, and are difficult to track. Now, some professionals and researchers are looking at the benefits of psychedelic therapy as an alternative.
“Eating disorders generally develop as maladaptive coping techniques when internal resourcing is overwhelmed by life events,” explains Lauren Taus, a therapist in California who uses ketamine. According to Taus and other therapists interviewed for this piece, psychedelic treatment can relieve symptoms of certain disorders, such as sadness and anxiety, in ways that standard therapy cannot. It can reduce symptoms related to serotonergic signaling and cognitive inflexibility and induce beneficial brain states that may speed up therapeutic processes, according to Dr. Adele Lafrance in this EdCatalogue article.
“My encounter with empathogens has invited me to understand how much conflict was waging inside me,” Taus said. I observed my personal suffering and the pain of my family system. These psychedelics essentially invited me to process what was beneath the surface. I felt immense anguish, fury, and fear while also feeling deep love and compassion for myself and others. I could forgive my parents because I understood their decisions. Also, I found the will and strength to fight for myself and my life.”
So, what is it about psychedelics that allows for great epiphanies like Taus’? They can help the Default Mode Network (DMN), which conducts inter-brain communication. This area appears to be hyperactive in depression, anxiety, and OCD. Also, poor cognitive flexibility in anorexia nervosa patients may be linked to an overactive DMN. Studies such as “Rethinking Therapeutic Strategies for Anorexia Nervosa: Insights From Psychedelic Medicine and Animal Models” indicate that psychedelics lower the activity in this area and, by doing so, allow us to create new thought patterns, giving us a fresh perspective on life, the world, and ourselves.
Psychedelic psychotherapy can also assist a person in identifying the true basis of their frustration. According to a 2013 study, a patient’s resistance derives from the disorder’s “ego-syntonic” nature. Many of the disorder’s behaviors, feelings, and ideals are ego-syntonic. Psychedelic chemicals can enable a brief dissolution of the ego, providing the possibility of transformation, healing, and reform of specific habits, thought patterns, or addictions.
Taus explains that “traditional psychotherapy frequently stays in the sphere of cognition and intellect.” In treatment, a person may learn about their patterns but struggle to change them.” For example, a woman may realize that purging is unhealthy and causes humiliation. She may know precisely why and when it started, but she can’t stop. Psychoactive drugs can induce internalized and sustained behavioral change. The therapist’s role is to provide a safe space for exploration and a supportive relationship for people to make sense of their experiences and find meaning in them.
Psychedelics are not a cure-all and must be used in conjunction with psychotherapy and/or other therapeutic methods such as journaling and yoga. Women with eating problems and body dysmorphia benefit most from a holistic approach.
So far, research
Most recent research on psychedelics for treating eating disorders has focused on ketamine, Ayahuasca, MDMA, and psilocybin. Let’s see how they can help with eating disorders:
Ketamine:
Ketamine is a non-classical psychedelic that can temporarily alter consciousness. Severe depression, PTSD, and OCD have all been treated with this synthetic chemical.
Ketamine can be injected, given orally, or insufflated (blown into a body cavity, such as the nasal passages). Assume that everyone metabolizes drugs differently. Ketamine is recognized for its dissociative effects, such as slowing down time or separating you from reality, as observed in this study.
“The dissociative sensation of ketamine can translate into higher joy in embodied experience. Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) helps eating disorders lose their grip on their belief systems. From a scientific standpoint, psychedelics break the default mode network, which affects self-image, memories, beliefs, and patterns.” says Taus. “The medicine allows the brain to be reorganized to promote healthy living. Ketamine also increases neuroplasticity, allowing for strong therapy treatment with clients 24–48 hours after a KAP encounter.
Ayahuasca:
Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), one of the most influential psychedelic substances, is found in Ayahuasca, a fermented herbal drink. The brew has been a sacred ceremony by numerous South American Indigenous cultures for at least 1000 years. It causes mystical and profound visions that lead to self-discovery.
The first-ever study of Ayahuasca’s ability to help patients recuperate from eating disorders was released in 2017, co-led by Dr. Adele Lafrance and Dr. Kenneth Tupper. The majority of the patients in the study claimed that Ayahuasca helped minimize their eating disorder symptoms and showed them the fundamental cause of the disorder. Participants could distinguish between an eating problem purge and an ayahuasca purge for the brew’s purging effects.
The ayahuasca experience has the power to favorably impact behavior, stimulating self-reflection and heightened awareness. Studies suggest that drinking can benefit the treatment of anxiety, addictions, and depression, as well as eating disorders, by also changing body views.
MDMA:
MDMA, a synthetic molecule, affects people’s behavior by increasing receptivity. MDMA raises serotonin levels while also raising oxytocin, dopamine, and other chemical mediators, resulting in feelings of empathy, trust, and compassion. It also has a long-lasting effect on how people process trauma and emotions.
In clinical settings, MDMA is administered orally in capsules. The patient starts with a full dose (75-125 mg) and can add a second dose 2 hours later. An MDMA session usually lasts 6-8 hours.
MDMA induces an increase in prefrontal cortex activity, which is necessary for information processing, and a slowdown in the amygdala, the area of the brain that is key in processing memories and emotions related to fear. The primary therapeutic effect of MDMA is its potential to excite the brain, allowing it to develop and store new memories. PATIENTS BECOME MORE EMOTIONALLY FLEXIBLE AND CAPABLE OF EXPLORING DIFFICULT MEMORY
Psilocybin:
Psilocybin is a compound found in over 100 mushroom species worldwide. Psilocybin has the best safety profile of any psychedelic. The fungi may help treat eating disorders by addressing the brain’s serotonin imbalance and moving away from symptom-focused treatment. This may affect self-esteem and self-compassion.
Another benefit of psilocybin therapy is that it can effectively treat OCD, a typical symptom of eating disorders.
Psychedelics and Body Reclaim
Psychedelics can help women recognize their eating disorders as a coping technique. Once they understand this, they can gradually replace negative habits with good, healthier, and kinder ones. They can change their inner story of lies and body-shaming beliefs.
In addition to other therapeutic methods and modalities, integration, connections, and a holistic approach must be emphasized. Change takes time, effort, and persistence, especially when deconditioning long-standing habits.
“Eating disorders and addiction are transformational experiences that carry enriching value,” Rose says when asked how long it takes for those changes to ultimately occur. Transform means to change or convert. Recovery is about allowing the behavior to alter and transform, taking us along for the ride so that our beliefs, feelings, thoughts, behavior, and action take on a new form. Ground-up, long-term reform takes time.”
“Recovery for me is about everyday, incremental personal and spiritual improvement. Eating disorders and addiction have taught me valuable lessons and made me more of who I am: alive, free, appreciative, and connected.
The positive outcomes we’re witnessing suggest that this is a worthy goal to pursue. Rose and Taus’ stories are only two of many other women who have had life-altering experiences from these substances.
“I no longer evaluate my body or try to master her,” says Taus. “My experiences with plant remedies have helped me see my body as a perfect part of nature, and I accept – even appreciate – the aspects of me I’ve historically struggled with.”
“Psychedelic-assisted therapy’s power is experiential,” she explains. We can reshape our lives and ourselves when knowledge meets with feeling and understanding.