Einstein Quote

"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us, "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.

This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security." Albert Einstein - (1879-1955)
Psilocybin should only be taken with a spiritual mindset in a supportive environment.
Be sure to continue reading with "Older Posts" at bottom of page.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

New Yorker article by Michael Pollan hits home

The Trip Treatment
By Michael Pollan
The New Yorker 9 February 2015

Michael Pollan's poignant article really hit home for me as it follows a cancer patient's healing journey with his diagnosis following psilocybin treatment as part of a Clinical Trial at New York University.  54 year old Patrick Mettes participated in the research at NYU after battling bile duct cancer for 3 years.  The experience with the therapeutic use of psilocybin was obviously beneficial to Patrick and offered him something no current drug in any doctors arsenal could have provided.  That this simple fungus that grows out in the real world is illegal for any patient is unfathomable.

The importance of this article and the psilocybin research for patients battling cancer can not be over-stated as a new report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (02/03/2015) indicates suffering at the end of life (pain and depression) has increased significantly since the last study 15 years ago by the Institute of Medicine.

Our daughter also fought a courageous battle with cancer and was accepted into a similar Clinical Trial at Johns Hopkins.  Unfortunately she was offered her first professional position at the same time which made for a very difficult decision on her part.  With reservation, she choose to accept the position only to have her neoplasm return 4 months later.  Had she participated in the Hopkins study, her passing may be been easier, as it was for Patrick.

Michael's article not only provides an compassionate account of Patrick Mettes therapeutic experience with psilocybin at N.Y.U. but also provides a detailed history of the early studies involving the therapeutic use of psychedelics but also the background and motivations of the current researchers in this field.  Since this is a very comprehensive article, I will attempt to summarize what were, for me, some key points:
  • The therapeutic sessions took place in a very safe, controlled environment with supportive staff available if needed.  Set and setting are key.
  • In the 1950's and 60's, some of the best minds in Psychiatry conducted studies on the therapeutic potential of psychedelics with government funding.
  • Cancer patients receiving just a single dose of psilocybin experienced immediate and dramatic reductions in anxiety and depression, improvements that were sustained for at least six months. People who had been palpably scared of death—they lost their fear. The fact that a drug given once can have such an effect for so long is an unprecedented finding. We have never had anything like it in the psychiatric field.”
  • “We ended up demonizing these compounds. Can you think of another area of science regarded as so dangerous and taboo that all research gets shut down for decades? It’s unprecedented in modern science.”
  • Griffiths (Dr. Roland Griffiths from Johns Hopkins) believes that the long-term effectiveness of the drug is due to its ability to occasion such a transformative experience, but not by changing the brain’s long-term chemistry, as a conventional psychiatric drug like Prozac does.
  • Griffiths likens the therapeutic experience of psilocybin to a kind of “inverse P.T.S.D.”—“a discrete event that produces persisting positive changes in attitudes, moods, and behavior, and presumably in the brain.”
  • Existential distress at the end of life bears many of the psychological hallmarks of a hyperactive default-mode network, including excessive self-reflection and an inability to jump the deepening grooves of negative thought. The ego, faced with the prospect of its own dissolution, becomes hypervigilant, withdrawing its investment in the world and other people. It is striking that a single psychedelic experience—an intervention that Carhart-Harris calls “shaking the snow globe”—should have the power to alter these patterns in a lasting way.
  • “If we limit psychedelics just to the patient, we’re sticking with the old medical model,” she said. “But psychedelics are so much more radical than that. I get nervous when people say they should only be prescribed by a doctor.”
  • “This culture has a fear of death, a fear of transcendence, and a fear of the unknown, all of which are embodied in this work.” Psychedelics may be too disruptive for our society and institutions ever to embrace them.
  • “We still had our arguments,” Lisa (Patrick's wife) recalled. “And we had a very trying summer,” as they endured a calamitous apartment renovation. But Patrick “had a sense of patience he had never had before, and with me he had real joy about things,” she said. “It was as if he had been relieved of the duty of caring about the details of life. Now it was about being with people, enjoying his sandwich and the walk on the promenade. It was as if we lived a lifetime in a year.”
  • “We are all terminal,” Griffiths said. “We’re all dealing with death. This will be far too valuable to limit to sick people.”
The article by Michael Pollan above was followed up by an article in The Week:

Why the government should be funding mass scientific studies of Ecstasy, magic mushrooms, and LSD
By Ryan Cooper
The Week 5 Feb 2015

"In a sane world, with substances as promising as the above psychedelics, the government would simply fund the research itself and be done with it. Only an increasingly anachronistic brand of drug warrior politics stands in the way. But with something like 22 veterans per day committing suicide, any treatment with a potential 60+ percent long-tem cure rate for PTSD ought to be jammed through mass trials at the highest possible speed."

Cancer patients and those with PTSD can both experience a common psychological trauma which produces an existential distress (crisis).  Psilocybin's clinical effect most likely works to help heal this trauma.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Recent studies supporting Mindfulness Therapy for PTSD

As pointed out in a previous post, Mindfulness Meditation and psilocybin work on the same part of the brain, the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC).  The PCC is considered by some to be the hub of the ego. Quieting the PCC may lead to a greater sense of connectedness, more of the feeling of oneness with all things which is a common goal of Yoga which means "to unite".

An Overview of the Research on Mindfulness-Based Interventions for Treating Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Systematic Review
OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aimed to collate and evaluate the existing research for the use of mindfulness-based approaches to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Our primary objectives were to explore the effects of mindfulness-based approaches on PTSD symptoms and associated psychological distress, with secondary objectives to explore the attrition rate, adverse effects, resource implications, and long-term effects of such interventions.
METHOD: We systematically searched research databases, EMBASE, OVID MedLine, Psycinfo, CINAHL, and PILOTS, contacted relevant authors in the field, and conducted a hand search of relevant papers.
RESULTS: The search resulted in 12 studies that met eligibility criteria, many of which studies lacked methodological rigor. The majority of the studies indicated positive outcomes with improvements in PTSD symptoms, particularly in reducing avoidance.
CONCLUSIONS: The preliminary evidence for the use of mindfulness-based approaches to treat PTSD symptoms is encouraging, although further studies with a more robust research design are required.
Banks K, Newman E, Saleem J.
J Clin Psychol. 2015 Jul 20. doi: 10.1002/jclp.22200. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 26192755

Reductions in cortisol associated with primary care brief mindfulness program for veterans with PTSD.
Analyses revealed that significant changes in cortisol were associated with PCbMP treatment engagement and dosing (number of mindfulness program sessions completed). Veterans completing 4 mindfulness-based meditation sessions significantly reduced their cortisol awakening response (P≤0.05); and had significant changes in cortisol area under the curve increase compared with TAU participants (P≤0.05). Results indicate that PCbMP has a beneficial physiological impact on veterans with PTSD with a minimum of 4 weeks of practice.
Bergen-Cico D, Possemato K, Pigeon W.
Med Care. 2014 Dec;52(12 Suppl 5):S25-31. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000000224.
PMID: 25397819
Cited by (Google Scholar)

Mindful attention increases and mediates psychological outcomes following mantram repetition practice in veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder.
The MRP intervention and specifically, mantram practice, improved mindful attention in veterans with PTSD, yielding improved overall psychological well-being. MRP may be a beneficial adjunct to usual care in veterans with PTSD.
Bormann JE, Oman D, Walter KH, Johnson BD.
Med Care. 2014 Dec;52(12 Suppl 5):S13-8. doi: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000000200.
PMID: 25397817
Cited by (Google Scholar)

Examining mechanisms of change in a yoga intervention for women: the influence of mindfulness, psychological flexibility, and emotion regulation on PTSD symptoms.
Preliminary findings suggest that yoga may reduce expressive suppression and may improve PTSD symptoms by increasing psychological flexibility. More research is needed to replicate and extend these findings.
Dick AM, Niles BL, Street AE, DiMartino DM, Mitchell KS.
J Clin Psychol. 2014 Dec;70(12):1170-82. doi: 10.1002/jclp.22104. Epub 2014 May 28.
PMID: 24888209
Cited by (Google Scholar)