Psilocybin is not addicting. It can be used to treat addictions such as tobacco abuse.

A small pilot study at Johns Hopkins enable 12 of 15 (80%) subjects to remain tobacco free for 6 months as has been discussed in the press.  Prescription medications such as Chantix, the most potent aid for smoking cessation, have a success rate of about 35% at six months.  There are currently 2 other Clinical Trials utilizing psilocybin to treat addiction disorders: one for alcohol dependence and one for cocaine addiction.

• Magic mushrooms help smokers kick habit in small study (Bloomberg)
  All the volunteers returned two weeks later for another round with a higher dose of the drug. They were all offered a third experience, though several declined, Johnson said. The treatment doesn’t involve swapping one drug for another, said Johnson, who pointed out that hallucinogens aren’t addictive.

• Want to Quit Smoking? Eat a Magic Mushroom, New Study Says (Time)
  “Quitting smoking isn’t a simple biological reaction to psilocybin, as with other medications that directly affect nicotine receptors.” Instead, Johnson said, it was the subjective experience the smokers had when taking the psilocybin that changed them— more like a religious conversion than getting a shot of penicillin to cure an infection.

Below is the study from the Journal of Psychopharmacology:

Pilot study of the 5-HT2AR agonist psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco addiction
Abstract: Biomarkers assessing smoking status, and self-report measures of smoking behavior demonstrated that 12 of 15 participants (80%) showed seven-day point prevalence abstinence at 6-month follow-up. The observed smoking cessation rate substantially exceeds rates commonly reported for other behavioral and/or pharmacological therapies (typically < 35%).
Johansen PØ, Krebs TS. 
J Psychopharmacol. 2015 Mar;29(3):270-9.  Epub 2015 Mar 5. 
PMID: 25744618 
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Perhaps by more than plain chance, the article below was released on the same day in a different journal by different researchers.  Yet it helps explain how psilocybin works to break addictive habits.

Brain Regions Affected by Impaired Control Modulate Responses to Alcohol and Smoking Cues.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and right posterior insula, each playing a role in the salience network, are affected significantly by impaired control for alcohol and in turn influence brain responses to not only alcohol but also smoking cues, providing insight to neuronal mechanisms for concurrent use or comorbidity of alcohol and nicotine dependence.
Liu J, Claus ED, Calhoun VD, Hutchison KE.  
J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2014 Sep;75(5):808-816. 
PMID: 25208199

Psilocybin works to decrease the positive coupling between the medial pre-frontal cortex (mPFC) and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC,) both part of the the default mode network. (source)

A recent article in The Pharmaceutical Journal, 27 OCT 2014, Psychedelics: entering a new age of addiction therapy,  provides a good overview of the potential of psychedelics for various addictions, the effects of psilocybin on the brain, and the history of current upsurge in psilocybin research.  This is cutting edge research that shows great promise.

A 2014 article in the Journal of Psychopharmacology titled Hallucinogen use predicts reduced recidivism among substance-involved offenders under community corrections supervision concludes that naturistic hallucinogen use predicted a reduced likelihood of supervision failure (e.g. noncompliance with legal requirements including alcohol and other drug use) and suggests that hallucinogens may promote alcohol and other drug abstinence and prosocial behavior in a population with high rates of recidivism.
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A 2015 article in The British Journal of Psychiatry from researchers at Johns Hopkins states "After a 40-year hiatus there is now a revisiting of psychedelic drug therapy throughout psychiatry, with studies examining the drugs psilocybin, ketamine, ibogaine and ayahuasca in the treatment of drug dependence. Limitations to these therapies are both clinical and legal, but the possibility of improving outcomes for patients with substance dependency imposes an obligation to research this area."
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New article in Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry 14 March 2015 titled "Classic hallucinogens in the treatment of addictions"
Highlights
•We review the use of classic hallucinogens in the treatment of addiction.
•Controlled trials support the efficacy of high-dose LSD for alcoholism.
•Pilot studies of psilocybin for nicotine and alcohol dependence suggested benefit.
•Definitive studies of efficacy and therapeutic mechanisms remain to be done.

The realities of psychedelic research in today's political milieu

My interest in psychedelic research primarily involves the use of natural plants and fungus that have been used for millennia in a spiritual context.  However, the comments in the articles below are germane for anyone considering the use of psychedelic substances.

Dr Robin Carhart-Harris is the first scientist in over 40 years to test LSD on humans - and you're next
Laurence Phelan 
The Independent Sunday 17 August 2014

"Depression and addictions rest on reinforced patterns of brain activity, and a psychedelic will introduce a relative chaos. Patterns that have become reinforced disintegrate under the drug. I've used the metaphor of shaking a snowglobe. And there's some evidence that psychedelics induce plasticity, in terms of neural connections in the brain, such that there is a window of opportunity in which connections can either be broken or reinforced. New things can be learnt at the same time that old things can be unlearnt. It induces a kind of suppleness of mind."

"The dangers with psychedelics – and there are potential dangers," says the doctor, " arise when they are taken without the proper caution. The model for how the drugs are taken therapeutically is very different from how people might take them recreationally. People are in a particularly sensitive and vulnerable state on psychedelics, and I do think you need that professionalism and structure to have it done properly."

"It is absurd to treat LSD and psilocybin as more dangerous than heroin," he tells me. In a 2010 study published in The Lancet, following on from the work that led to his controversial sacking from the chair of the Government's Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs the year before, Professor Nutt ranked the 20 most commonly used drugs according to the evidence for the overall amount of harm they do to the users and to society. Psilocybin came last, with an overall harm score of six, and LSD came 18th with a score of seven, compared with alcohol's 72 and heroin's 55.

No wonder the Czech psychiatrist Stanislav Grof, in 1975, predicted that "psychedelics, used responsibly and with proper caution, would be for psychiatry what the microscope is for biology or the telescope is for astronomy". Unfortunately, the effective prohibition of LSD research meant it was not to be. Perhaps Professor Nutt has Grof in mind when he says: "I think it's the worst censorship of research since the Catholic Church banned the telescope." He continues: "There's a lot of evidence for LSD being an efficacious treatment for things such as addiction. But no one's done a study on it for 50 years. This is outrageous."

Is LSD about to return to polite society?
For 40 years, Amanda Feilding, Countess of Wemyss and March, has believed psychedelics are an effective treatment for depression and anxiety. Now a growing number of scientists agree.
Ed Cummings
The Guardian Sunday 26 April 2015

High Hopes - new article from Science Magazine

Science, also widely referred to as Science Magazine is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and is, along with the British journal Nature, one of the world's top scientific journals.  Having this article on the potential of psychedelic drugs to treat various illnesses in such a prestigious journal is very gratifying.

High Hopes (PDF)
Kai Kupferschmidt
Science 4 July 2014: 18-23.
Psychedelic drugs fell from grace in the 1960s. Now, scientists are rediscovering them as potential treatments for a range of illnesses.
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New article: the biological basis for magic mushroom 'mind expansion'

Enhanced repertoire of brain dynamical states during the psychedelic experience
(PDF)
Human Brain Mapping, 2014.
It has long been claimed that the psychedelic (translated “mind-revealing” [Huxley et al., 1977]) state is an expanded state of consciousness in which latent psychological material can emerge into consciousness [Cohen, 1967] and novel associations can form. Indeed, this was the original rationale for the use of LSD in psychotherapy [Busch and Johnson, 1950]. It has also been claimed that psychedelics may be able to assist the creative process, for example, by promoting divergent thinking and remote association [Fadiman, 2011]. Thus, the increased repertoire of metastable states observed here with psilocybin may be a mechanism by which these phenomena occur [see also Carhart-Harris et al., 2014].
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It is a spiritual endeavor. Neglecting this fact is why treatment of PTSD and other psychosocial disorders are often ineffective.

The use of psilocybin and mindfulness meditation both are in essence a spiritual quest which involves quieting the mind to decrease our sense of self in order to allow our larger sense of Self, which includes all of nature, to come to the forefront of our senses.  Below are are series of articles that point this out.

What is spirituality in relationship to our Western culture? This article in The Guardian puts that comparison in perspective. The articles highlights the views of Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, who has been dubbed the Dalai Lama of the Rainforest and is considered one of the most influential tribal leaders in Brazil.

#14Days: Psilocybin, where science meets spirituality (CBS News)
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic compound found in some species of mushrooms that has been used in indigenous cultures as a spiritual sacrament for hundreds of years. Dr. Stephen Ross, director of the NYU Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship, believes this compound, administered in the proper dosage and in a controlled setting, may help resolve the symptoms of spiritual distress involved in a person with alcoholism.

Ceremonial PTSD therapies favored by Native American veterans
Eurekalert! 27 June 2014
The majority of survey takers felt that "most people who suffer from PTSD do not receive adequate treatment," said Urquhart. For Native veterans who did seek standard treatment, the results were often disappointing. Sixty percent of survey respondents who had attempted PTSD therapy reported "no improvement" or "very unsatisfied" (See also DOD and VA Can't Prove Their PTSD Care is Working, IOM Study Claims). Individual counseling reportedly had no impact on their PTSD or made the symptoms worse for 49 percent of participants. On the other hand, spiritual or religious guidance was seen as successful or highly successful by 72 percent of Native respondents. Animal assisted therapy – equine, canine, or other animals – was also highly endorsed.

The neuroscientific study of spiritual practices
Newberg AB. 
Front Psychol. 2014 Mar 18;5:215. 
PMID: 24672504
In considering the neuroscientific approach to religious and spiritual phenomena, one can ponder whether theological and epistemological issues can actually be addressed, sometimes referred to as “neurotheology” (Newberg, 2010). For example, brain correlates may help explain certain elements of spiritual practices. However, a biological correlate does not necessarily negate an actual spiritual component. Even situations in which religious states are induced by pharmacological agents does not necessarily detract from the spiritual nature of these states for the individual. For example, Shamanic practices in which various substances are ingested to aid in the spiritual journey are not viewed as less real or less spiritual by the participants because of the use of these exogenous substances.
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Below is a write-up in AL.com that features lead author Peter Hendricks, a professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Alabama Birmingham regarding his article "Classic psychedelic use is associated with reduced psychological distress and suicidality in the United States adult population.":

Magic Mushrooms, LSD and other psychedelics might protect against depression and suicide

• Researchers culled the data from almost 200,000 responses to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
• People who said they used psychedelic drugs at least once in their life reported better mental health and fewer suicide attempts. 
• The results set psychedelics apart from other drugs. Lifetime users of substances such as cocaine, marijuana and heroin reported poorer mental health and a higher frequency of suicidal thoughts.
• After controlling for other variables, the research showed a strong correlation between use of psychedelics and better mental health.
• Hendricks said he thinks the improvement in mental health could come from the spiritual nature of the psychedelic experience.
• "Despite advances in mental health treatment, suicide rates have not declined," Hendricks said. "We have a problem with suicide and we don't seem to be getting better at preventing self-harm. It's exciting to think that this could be one of the interventions that could make a difference."
• Psychedelics could prove to be a one-time treatment with the possibility to change the lives of those suffering from mental illness.

Psilocybin-occasioned mystical experiences in the treatment of tobacco addiction

Garcia-Romeu A, Griffiths RR, Johnson MW.

Curr Drug Abuse Rev. 2014;7(3):157-64.

PMID: 25563443

Psilocybin-occasioned mystical experiences have been linked to persisting effects in healthy volunteers including positive changes in behavior, attitudes, and values, and increases in the personality domain of openness. In an open-label pilot-study of psilocybin-facilitated smoking addiction treatment, 15 smokers received 2 or 3 doses of psilocybin in the context of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for smoking cessation. Twelve of 15 participants (80%) demonstrated biologically verified smoking abstinence at 6-month follow-up. Participants who were abstinent at 6 months (n=12) were compared to participants still smoking at 6 months (n=3) on measures of subjective effects of psilocybin. Abstainers scored significantly higher on a measure of psilocybin-occasioned mystical experience. No significant differences in general intensity of drug effects were found between groups, suggesting that mystical-type subjective effects, rather than overall intensity of drug effects, were responsible for smoking cessation. Nine of 15 participants (60%) met criteria for "complete" mystical experience. Smoking cessation outcomes were significantly correlated with measures of mystical experience on session days, as well as retrospective ratings of personal meaning and spiritual significance of psilocybin sessions. These results suggest a mediating role of mystical experience in psychedelic-facilitated addiction treatment.

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Psilocybin and spirituality: treatment for suicidal behavior, PTSD and moral injury
An October 2015 post motivated by a Veterans Affairs researcher advocating a spiritual approach to Veterans mental health issues such as PTSD, suicide, and moral injury.

The posterior cingulate cortex as a plausible mechanistic target of meditation: findings from neuroimaging.

The posterior cingulate cortex as a plausible mechanistic target of meditation: findings from neuroimaging
Brewer JA, Garrison KA. 
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2014 Jan;1307:19-27. 
PMID: 24033438
There has been an increased interest in mindfulness and meditation training over the past decade. As evidenced by exponential growth in the number of publications since the beginning of the 21st century, progressively more is becoming known about both the clinical efficacy and underlying neurobiological mechanisms of mindfulness training. This paper briefly highlights psychological models of stress that converge between ancient and modern day (e.g., operant conditioning); identifies key brain regions that, with these models, are biologically plausible targets for mindfulness (e.g., posterior cingulate cortex); and discusses recent and emerging findings from neuroimaging studies of meditation therein, including new advances using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback in neurophenomenological studies.
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Mindfulness increases psychological flexibility, decreases PTSD symptoms in women

Examining Mechanisms of Change in a Yoga Intervention for Women: The Influence of Mindfulness, Psychological Flexibility, and Emotion Regulation on PTSD Symptoms
Conclusion: 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 May 28. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 24888209

Psilocybin use results in an increase in positive mood by decreasing activation of the amygdala

Psilocybin-Induced Decrease in Amygdala Reactivity Correlates with Enhanced Positive Mood in Healthy Volunteers 
Conclusion:  These results demonstrate that acute treatment with psilocybin decreased amygdala reactivity during emotion processing, and that this was associated with an increase of positive mood in healthy volunteers. These findings may be relevant to the normalization of amygdala hyperactivity and negative mood states in patients with major depression.
Kraehenmann R, Preller KH, Scheidegger M, Pokorny T, Bosch OG, Seifritz E, Vollenweider FX. 
Biol Psychiatry. 2014 Apr 26. pii: S0006-3223(14)00275-3. 
PMID: 24882567 
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This research was conducted by the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Switzerland.  Among the well know academics associated with this institution is Carl Jung.

Do individuals with PTSD experience depression or negative thoughts?  Might psilocybin, given therapeutically with the proper mindset and in a supportive environment, assist in their recovery? Research in this area needs to be furthered by those who have a responsibility for treatment of individuals with PTSD.

The amygdala is hyperactive in those with PTSD.  "The amygdalocentric model of PTSD proposes that it is associated with hyperarousal of the amygdala and insufficient top-down control by the medial prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus in particular during extinction. This is consistent with an interpretation of PTSD as a syndrome of deficient extinction ability." (Wikipedia: PTSD)

So how does the amygdala relate to mindfulness?  The passage below may shed some light on this matter.

"Mindfulness mediation is designed to alter peoples’ perception of the world by making them disengage from ruminations and attention to negative thoughts and become aware of and accept thoughts non-judgmentally without trying to change them. An 8-week course of mindfulness meditation increased grey matter in brain regions involved in learning and memory, emotion regulation, self-referential processing and perspective taking in healthy people. In stressed individuals, the decrease in perceived stress after an 8-week course of mindfulness meditation was associated with a decrease in the right basolateral amygdala grey matter density. If the changed perception of the world brought about by mindfulness meditation over a period of 8 weeks can cause changes in the brain, this raises the possibility that the change in perception due to psilocybin may result in changes in the brain over a matter of weeks. How such brain changes may interact with the changes in psychology is not known. There is need for more work on the long-term psychological changes associated with psilocybin, as well as research on the long-term brain changes and their possible association with the psychological changes." (From: Young SN. J Psychiatry Neurosci. 2013 Mar;38(2):78-83. Review.)

Psilocybin appears to be uniquely structured (structure determines function) to calm those areas of the brain that are overactive in those suffering from PTSD, plus its effects are long lasting.  If there is another substance or therapy that has similar or better potential, I'd sure like to read about it.

Psilocybin and meditation have same effect on posterior cingulate cortex

PTSD, Mindfulness and Psilocybin's name was derived from the insight that mindfulness and the after-effects of psilocybin share similar qualities which would be of great benefit to those suffering from PTSD or from other existential crises. This website was created prior to fMRI studies delineating psilocybin's effects on the brain which is now known to include a decrease in activity of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC).  Recently, I have become aware of fMRI studies showing a similar decrease in PCC activity with various forms of meditation and prayer which has been a pleasant surprise.

The PCC exhibits connectivity with a wide range of intrinsic control networks. Its most widely known role is as a central node in the default mode network (DMN). The default mode network (and the PCC) is highly reactive and quickly deactivates during tasks with externally directed, or presently centered, attention (such as working memory or meditation). Conversely, the DMN is active when attention is internally directed (during episodic memory retrieval, planning, and daydreaming). A failure of the DMN to deactivate at proper times is associated with poor cognitive function, thereby indicating its importance in attention. Increased size of posterior ventral cingulate cortex is related to the working memory performance decline. (Wikipedia: posterior cingulate cortex)

A recent article "What about the “Self” is Processed in the Posterior Cingulate Cortex?" (Front Hum Neurosci. 2013; 7:647.) highlights the following functions the PCC is involved with:

• the PCC functions to evaluate or judge how one relates to one’s experience: how much they are caught up in it

• Recent work in cognitive neuroscience has demonstrated a role for the PCC in social processing, such as mentalizing, evaluative judgments, and sensitivity to moral issues

• the PCC, among other regions, was more strongly activated for actions leading to harm to others relative to oneself, and suggest that actions involving guilt may lead to greater preoccupation with self-actions rather than thoughts about harm caused to others.

• (increased) PCC activity has been associated with poorer task performance

• Craving, perhaps one of the most obvious experiences of being caught up in experience, is described clinically and experimentally in terms of desire, urge, want, and need ... it has been associated with PCC activity in smoking and drug addiction

• PCC activity decreases when one becomes less caught up in ones experience

• decreased coupling between the PCC and mPFC with psilocybin corresponds with the subjective experience of a less egoic state, or less “self.”

Another recent article, "Disrupting posterior cingulate connectivity disconnects consciousness
from the external environment" (PDF) (Neuropsychologia Volume 56, April 2014, Pages 239–244), describes the results of surgery in which part of the PCC, precuneus and retrosplenial areas were resected in a patient with a slow-growing lesion in the left posteromedial cortex. The surgeons reported "the patient reported experiencing no rumination for almost a month after the surgery and to be in a contemplative state with a subjective feeling of absolute happiness and timelessness."  They concluded "this finding provides support to the view that the posterior cingulate is a pivotal hub within the brain's functional architecture."

Mindfulness meditation addresses all of the above functions as it encourages openness, being non-judgemental, promotes attentive awareness and results in a more universally connected, less egoic mindset.  However, since mindfulness may not be easily obtained by many, what other option exists to provide a similar result?  The answer is of course therapeutic administration of psilocybin taken with the proper mindset and in a supportive environment.  As Roland Griffiths from Johns Hopkins has stated:

If meditation represents the systematic "tried and true course" of discovery of the nature of mind and Self, psilocybin represents the "crash course"

It is time for  the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration ("We must do all we can to deliver the high-quality care our service members and veterans have earned and deserve.”) to stop talking the talk about trying to do everything they can to treat PTSD and to start walking the walk by leading the way in initiating Clinical Trials utilizing psilocybin in a therapeutic setting to treat PTSD.

A 2015 article in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology titled:
Restoring large-scale brain networks in PTSD and related disorders: a proposal for neuroscientifically-informed treatment interventions
Increasing evidence for altered functioning of the central executive, salience, and default mode networks in PTSD has been demonstrated. We suggest that each network is associated with specific clinical symptoms observed in PTSD, including cognitive dysfunction (central executive network), increased and decreased arousal/interoception (salience network), and an altered sense of self (default mode network). Specific testable neuroscientifically-informed treatments aimed to restore each of these neural networks and related clinical dysfunction are proposed.
Lanius RA, Frewen PA, Tursich M, Jetly R, McKinnon MC.
Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2015 Mar 31;6:27313. doi: 10.3402/ejpt.v6.27313. eCollection 2015.
PMID: 25854674
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The entropic brain: A theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs

The entropic brain: A theory of conscious states informed by neuroimaging research with psychedelic drugs
Carhart-Harris RL, Leech R, Hellyer PJ, Shanahan M, Feilding A, Tagliazucchi E, Chialvo DR, Nutt D. Front Hum Neurosci. 2014 Feb 3;8:20. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00020. eCollection 2014. 
PMID: 24550805
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Abstract:
Entropy is a dimensionless quantity that is used for measuring uncertainty about the state of a system but it can also imply physical qualities, where high entropy is synonymous with high disorder. Entropy is applied here in the context of states of consciousness and their associated neural dynamics, with a particular focus on the psychedelic state. The psychedelic state is considered an exemplar of a primitive or primary state of consciousness that preceded the development of modern, adult, human, normal waking consciousness. Based on neuroimaging data with psilocybin, a classic psychedelic drug, it is argued that the defining feature of ‘primary states’ is elevated entropy in certain aspects of brain function, such as the repertoire of functional connectivity motifs that form and fragment across time. It is noted that elevated entropy in this sense, is a characteristic of systems exhibiting ‘self-organised criticality’, i.e., a property of systems that gravitate towards a ‘critical’ point in a transition zone between order and disorder in which certain phenomena such as power-law scaling appear. This implies that entropy is suppressed in normal waking consciousness, meaning that the brain operates just below criticality. It is argued that this entropy suppression furnishes consciousness with a constrained quality and associated metacognitive functions, including reality-testing and self-awareness. It is also proposed that entry into primary states depends on a collapse of the normally highly organised activity within the default-mode network (DMN) and a decoupling between the DMN and the medial temporal lobes (which are normally significantly coupled). These hypotheses can be tested by examining brain activity and associated cognition in other candidate primary states such as REM sleep and early psychosis and comparing these with non-primary states such as normal waking consciousness and the anaesthetised state.

Comment from Wall Street Journal:
The Psychedelic Road to Other Conscious States

Medscape, a web resource for physicians and other health professionals, has produced an interesting review of the medical uses for psychedelics.

Psychidelic Medicine: worth the trip? (Slideshow - free registration)
Psychedelic compounds have been used medicinally for millennia. Ancient Chinese, African, and South American healers prescribed them for various primarily psychiatric ailments, as did early Ayurvedic practitioners in India and possibly far older prehistoric cultures. One recent study[1] cites the possible influence of psychedelics on 40,000-year-old Paleolithic cave art. Despite extensive early 20th century interest in hallucinogens as therapy, modern medicine mostly abandoned research into their therapeutic potential, as governments worldwide criminalized agents such as LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline in reaction to their counterculture use in the 1960s. But scattered clinical curiosity over the years and a recent renewed interest in psychedelic treatments have hallucinogens again emerging as possible psychiatric therapies, or at least as pharmacologic leads on related and potentially helpful compounds. Medscape

Tampa Bay newspaper discusses how psilocybin has the potential to treat PTSD

USF research may lead to PTSD treatment
Research into the growth of neurons in the brains of mice at the University of South Florida has led to an unexpected finding: Psilocybin, the psychedelic ingredient of certain mushrooms, might one day help treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

Sanchez-Ramos speculates that perhaps very low doses of psilocybin might help soldiers, for example, recover from PTSD. Consider how a loud unexpected noise such as a car backfiring might trigger an anxiety episode; might the chemical help that person un-learn the behavior?

The recent USF study:

Effects of psilocybin on hippocampal neurogenesis and extinction of trace fear conditioning (PDF)


Sanchez-Ramos, M.D., Ph.D talk at MAPS:

Psilocybin Research - Zeno Sanchez-Ramos - Part 1 of 2
Psilocybin Research - Zeno Sanchez-Ramos - Part 2 of 2

New Clinical Trial using psilocybin for smoking cessation

Psilocybin-facilitated Smoking Cessation Treatment: A Pilot Study
One of the most promising lines of investigation for the therapeutic use of hallucinogens in the 1960s and 1970s was in the treatment of drug dependence. We propose to examine psilocybin administration combined with a structured smoking cessation treatment program in nicotine dependent individuals in order to provide preliminary data on the efficacy of this combined treatment in smoking cessation treatment. Prior work in our laboratory has shown that under carefully prepared and supportive conditions, psilocybin administration can facilitate highly salient experiences with enduring personal meaning and spiritual significance (Griffiths et al., 2006). It is plausible that embedding such highly meaningful experiences into a drug dependence cessation attempt may provide an enduring motivation for remaining abstinent.

Professor Probes Psychedelic Drugs for a Cure to Nicotine Addiction
Outcomes like Bessant’s raise new possibilities in the war against cigarettes. Even the best smoking-cessation methods have limited efficacy; the drug Chantix has a success rate of less than 35 percent after one year and can have unpleasant side effects.

Of the first five participants to complete the psilocybin study, four weren’t smoking at all a year later and one had cut back to a single cigarette every two weeks. In all, 12 out of 15 volunteers—or 80 percent—were entirely smoke-free after six months. “That really blows out of the water what traditional treatment shows,” Johnson says. Washingtonian

Broadly speaking, are psychedelics harmful to users mental health?

Psychedelics and mental health: a population study
Results: 21,967 respondents (13.4% weighted) reported lifetime psychedelic use. There were no significant associations between lifetime use of any psychedelics, lifetime use of specific psychedelics (LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, peyote), or past year use of LSD and increased rate of any of the mental health outcomes. Rather, in several cases psychedelic use was associated with lower rate of mental health problems.
Krebs TS, Johansen PØ.
PLoS One. 2013 Aug 19;8(8):e63972. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063972.
PMID: 23976938
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Using Transcendental Meditation to treat PTSD

Clinical case series: treatment of PTSD with transcendental meditation in active duty military personnel.
Barnes VA, Rigg JL, Williams JJ.
Mil Med. 2013 Jul;178(7):e836-40. doi: 10.7205/MILMED-D-12-00426.
PMID: 23820361

Reduction in posttraumatic stress symptoms in congolese refugees practicing transcendental meditation.
Rees B, Travis F, Shapiro D, Chant R.
J Trauma Stress. 2013 Apr;26(2):295-8. doi: 10.1002/jts.21790.
PMID: 23568415

Effects of transcendental meditation in veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom with posttraumatic stress disorder: a pilot study.
Rosenthal JZ, Grosswald S, Ross R, Rosenthal N.
Mil Med. 2011 Jun;176(6):626-30.
PMID: 21702378
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Operation Warrior Wellness (OWW), a division of the David Lynch Foundation, offers the Transcendental Meditation-based Resilient Warrior Program, a simple, easy-to-learn, evidence-based approach to relieving symptoms of PTSD and major depression and developing greater resilience to stress.

Since its initial launch in 2010, the OWW initiative has partnered with leading veterans service organizations, Army and Marine bases and VA medical centers across the country to deliver the Resilient Warrior Program to veterans, active-duty personnel and military families in need. The initiative also partners with military colleges to create a new generation of more resilient officers.

Two recent reviews discussing use of psilocybin in existential medicine

Repression of death consciousness and the psychedelic trip.
Dutta V.
J Cancer Res Ther. 2012 Jul-Sep;8(3):336-42. Review.
PMID: 23174711 
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Psychedelic drugs, magical thinking and psychosis.
Carhart-Harris R.
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2013 Sep;84(9):e1.
PMID: 23922414
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Comment on low dose psilocybin for treatment of PTSD

The article by Catlow BJ et al. (Exp Brain Res. 2013 Jun 2. [Epub ahead of print]), demonstrates how a low dose (0.1 mg/kg) of psilocybin helps mice overcome a conditioned fear response significantly quicker than a medium (0.5 mg/kg) or high dose of psilocybin (1.0 mg/kg) and results in hippocampal neurogenesis while the higher doses result in a decrease in cell survival.

 Griffiths et al. in their pioneering study (Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance. Griffiths RR, Richards WA, McCann U, Jesse R. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2006 Aug;187(3):268-83; discussion 284-92. Epub 2006 Jul 7.PMID: 16826400) utilized approximately 0.4 mg/kg. This dose occasioned a mystical experience and a sense of oneness with the universe.

Subsequent fMRI studies demonstrated psilocybin has the effect of decreasing activity in key areas of the brain which help to eliminate the crosstalk between the medial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex. This physiological response may be responsible for the "oneness with the universe" experience often seen in psilocybin trials including an ongoing Clinical Trial on cancer patients at NYU. The higher doses of psilocybin may not result in neurogenesis as do the lower doses but may still be beneficial by shutting down the sense of self and allowing the individual to sense a universal connectedness.

In essence, the stronger the ego, the less an individual is able to sense the connectedness with all things. This realization has provided peace to numerous individuals inside and outside of Clinical Trials when done with the proper set and setting. In summary, both the lower and higher doses of psilocybin may have their therapeutic effects.  Low dose psilocybin could be given on a weekly basis to promote neurogenesis, which is how SSRIs are thought to provide their therapeutic effects.  The higher dose may have to be given only once, under therapeutic conditions to promote a sense of connectedness with a higher power to alleviate the existential crisis seen in PTSD and cancer patients.

More research is needed and this is a good opportunity for the DoD and/or VA to show the Active Duty Military and Veterans that they will do what it takes to help alleviate the epidemic of PTSD found in those populations.

Low dose psilocybin erases conditioned fear in mice faster than high dose psilocybin and has potential as treatment for PTSD

Effects of psilocybin on hippocampal neurogenesis and extinction of trace fear conditioning
Drugs that modulate serotonin (5-HT) synaptic concentrations impact neurogenesis and hippocampal (HPC)-dependent learning. The primary objective is to determine the extent to which psilocybin (PSOP) modulates neurogenesis and thereby affects acquisition and extinction of HPC-dependent trace fear conditioning. PSOP, the 5-HT2A agonist 25I-NBMeO and the 5-HT2A/C antagonist ketanserin were administered via an acute intraperitoneal injection to mice. Trace fear conditioning was measured as the amount of time spent immobile in the presence of the conditioned stimulus (CS, auditory tone), trace (silent interval) and post-trace interval over 10 trials. Extinction was determined by the number of trials required to resume mobility during CS, trace and post-trace when the shock was not delivered. Neurogenesis was determined by unbiased counts of cells in the dentate gyrus of the HPC birth-dated with BrdU co-expressing a neuronal marker. Mice treated with a range of doses of PSOP acquired a robust conditioned fear response. Mice injected with low doses of PSOP extinguished cued fear conditioning significantly more rapidly than high-dose PSOP or saline-treated mice. Injection of PSOP, 25I-NBMeO or ketanserin resulted in significant dose-dependent decreases in number of newborn neurons in hippocampus. At the low doses of PSOP that enhanced extinction, neurogenesis was not decreased, but rather tended toward an increase. Extinction of "fear conditioning" may be mediated by actions of the drugs at sites other than hippocampus such as the amygdala, which is known to mediate the perception of fear. Another caveat is that PSOP is not purely selective for 5-HT2A receptors. PSOP facilitates extinction of the classically conditioned fear response, and this, and similar agents, should be explored as potential treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder and related conditions. 
Catlow BJ, Song S, Paredes DA, Kirstein CL, Sanchez-Ramos. J. 
Exp Brain Res. 2013 Jun 2. [Epub ahead of print] 
PMID: 23727882 
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Psychedelics and the Future of Psychotherapy

Psychedelic drugs as treatment: a look into the future of psychotherapy
This paper presents psychedelic drugs as treatment for various psychological disorders. The categorization and history of psychedelic drugs are being reviewed and the main related scientific findings are outlined accordingly. Moreover, the therapeutic capabilities of psychedelics are critically evaluated and discussed in relation to the current treatment methods. Finally, the text concludes by suggesting that psychedelics are brought back into the surface again since they have proven to be a very effective method of treating psychological disorders and can be very efficiently combined with all the psychotherapy techniques. Keywords: psychedelic drugs, psychotherapy, hallucinogens, psychological treatment. Liampas Aristotelis Charilaos. Global Journal of Psychology Research, Vol 2, No: 1 (2012): June PDF

The Renaissance of Psychedelic Research

The Psychedelic Renaissance: Reassessing the Role of Psychedelic Drugs in 21st Century Psychiatry and Society

Can Psychedelics do for psychiatry what the microscope did for biology and the telescope to astronomy? Can they be used to access on the depths of the psyche that are usually inaccessible? Psychedelic means: “mind manifesting” Psychedelics were inextricably associated with the hippie counterculture of the 1960s and, more recently, with the rave music scene and were once believed to hold great promise for treating a number of medical conditions as well as providing access to profound spiritual experiences. However, legal restrictions on the use of such drugs effectively forced them underground and brought clinical research to a halt — until recently. In this book, psychiatrist Dr. Ben Sessa makes a persuasive case for the re-evaluation of psychedelics — LSD, MDMA (‘Ecstasy’), DMT, psilocybin, ayahuasca, peyote, ibogaine, and more — as he explores their clinical potential for treating a range of conditions from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression to autism and cluster headaches. Based on a thorough review of the evidence Sessa corrects some common misconceptions about psychedelics and makes a clarion call for their responsible therapeutic use, with appropriate set and setting, in psychotherapy, psychiatry and personal growth. Topics covered in this book include: • What are the drugs and why are they so controversial? • How should they be safely and wisely used • What is the nature of the psychedelic experience? • What are the implications for psychiatry and for psycho spiritual growth? With clarity and wit, the author surveys the contributions of major figures in the psychedelic movement — from Huxley, Hofmann and Sandison to Leary, Grof and McKenna — and takes the reader on a journey through the fascinating history of psychedelic plants and chemicals as he considers the crucial role such drugs have had in human culture from prehistory to modern times. Enter the shamans of science and the psychonauts of psychiatry Although books on psychedelics abound, volumes like The Psychedelic Renaissance show how the field is now addressing the substance of findings from recent research rather than the legions of case reports and anecdotes. Kelly Morris The Lancet Vol. 381 February16, 2013 --The Lancet Vol. 381