Psychedelic drug DMT to be trialled in UK to treat depression

[Northerner]

UK regulators have given the go-ahead for the first clinical trial of the use of the psychedelic drug dimethyltriptamine (DMT) to treat depression.

The trial will initially give the drug – known as the “spirit molecule” for the powerful hallucinogenic trips it induces – to healthy individuals, but it is expected to be followed by a second trial in patients with depression, where DMT will be given alongside psychotherapy.

Taking the drug before therapy is akin to shaking up a snow globe and letting the flakes settle, said Carol Routledge, chief scientific and medical officer at Small Pharma, the company running the trial in collaboration with Imperial College London.

“The psychedelic drug breaks up all of the ruminative thought processes in your brain – it literally undoes what has been done by either the stress you’ve been through or the depressive thoughts you have – and hugely increases the making of new connections.

Psychedelic drug DMT to be trialled in UK to treat depression

Exclusive: UK regulators give go-ahead for drug to be trialled ahead of possible treatment alongside psychotherapy

www.theguardian.com

 

[mikeyB]

After all these years, Dr Timothy Leary vindicated. Younger readers won’t remember how he was reviled in his profession (apart from, of course, The Grateful Dead) for suggesting using psychedelic drugs in psychiatric problems.

Mind, in my adventurous years I did take LSD once, and it didn’t alter my mood one jot. The colours were pretty, though...

 

[Bruce Stephens]

By coincidence I just listened to a podcast on using magic mushrooms. One point they made was that they were using (compared to recreational use) extremely large doses.

Magic Mushrooms: Trip Through the Science | Science Vs

Magic mushrooms have hit the headlines, with people saying that shrooms cured their depression and anxiety. But is this for real? How can taking a trip on psychedelics fix your brain? Today, magic mushrooms ditch their tie dye for a lab coat as we go on a magical journey into the science. We...

gimletmedia.com

 

[Hepato-pancreato]

Lucy in the sky with diamonds. Think they've been using psychedelics for a long time in various experiments. Think the yanks experimented with some of their troops. Personally can't see how it could work. Tried it once myself years ago absolutely mind bending. It has sent people mad when they have been spiked unexpectedly with L.S.D

 

[trophywench]

Yeah but the emphasis is surely on the talking therapy when the brain has been encouraged to dispense with the harmful thoughts in it to try and replace them with helpful thoughts.

Fleur Forsyte (Susan Hampshire) in the Forsyte Saga - repeating 'Every day in every way, my baby is growing more and more male' whilst reclining on a chaise longue in the parlour at Eaton Square - cos Soames absolutely didn't want a daughter - the miserable bugger!

Blimey 1967!