Can Psychedelics Heal the Brain?

[aujiraman]

I am not asking if psychedelics are a psycho-neurological "cure all" (that is clearly not the case) - I am only suggesting the possibility that psychedelics can permanently change the chemical and/or physical makeup of the brain, and questioning that *if that is the case,* could it be *possible* under certain conditions, by employing certain methods / settings / dosage regimens / etc (even rituals / spiritual practices), that psychedelics could be used to not only treat, but *fix* certain chemical-imbalance-type disorders like OCD, Bipolar, Major Depression, or even Schizophrenia?

Has anyone ever experimented with this in-depth enough to create a practical methodology? For example, I would *love* to be able to trip once or twice and *fix* my anxiety. In a do-it-yourself kind of way... (I have already read / heard reports of Ayahuasca curing depression / anxiety and of ibogaine fixing chemical dependencies with no painful withdrawal)

However, the potential I am getting at here is even much more profound:

It has already been proven that non-traditional methods of therapy, such as NLP and hypnosis (and even disciplines such as music therapy) can influence the mind in significant ways. *What if* we combined these disciplines with a thorough knowledge of psychedelics and their effects and our already-increasing knowledge of neurology and psychology?

A truly skilled psychedelic therapist is a frighteningly powerful idea - a modern day shaman.

 

[One Thousand Words]

While I'm sure throughout history there have been several people whose anxiety or mental health has been reset following a psychedelic session, our understanding of the human brain is so primitive that it is not considered even a possibility at this stage. This isn't from lack of trying either. We have trouble achieving such successes using pharmaceuticals that we have slightly better understanding of their effects.

 

[Yeetbeat]

Ibogaine would be the biggest contender here. From what I've gathered regarding Psilocin/Psilocybin and things like cluster headaches, a possible side effect of the way they reduce/increase blood flow to certain areas of the brain could be allowing repairs and rewiring to take place. Though I've never actually read anything DIRECTLY suggesting this kinda thing.

 

[AtomicChronic]

do NOT start using psychedelics thinking it will just cure your anxiety. avoid the disappointment, i typically get more anxious following the use of psychedelics, but they do help in a different way.

psychedelics will help you understand the underlying issues and causes for your anxiety WAY more effectively than a therapist alone. DO NOT expect a quick-fix with these drugs. that usually ends in users taking more and more, more recreationally and with less respect and because it can really make it worse, creating some vicious cycle of misuse in an attempt to get better, while also justifying an underlying habit of getting high. This can happen easier than you think, psychedelics are fantastic but only with proper use, they do have a well-hidden dark side. Its easy to get out of hand and i have been there before.

The only difference between a truly skilled psychedelic therapist, and a truly skilled therapist, is well, a dose of psychedelics. I wouldn't go as far to say its frighteningly powerful, or comparing therapists and pharmacists to shamans who would take rather high doses for deep spiritual / religious reasons. It has its potential if applied properly. IMO it can DRAMATICALLY speed up the theraputic process, like by years, but the effect isn't any 'better' than traditional therapy. The benefits require a lot of work, time, thought, and introspection. just like therapy.

BUT, interestingly enough, there is evidence that psychedelics can repair physical brain damage caused by a traumatic injury. but weather or not anyones issues are caused by physical damage to brain cells is ellusive. However, i suffered a serious traumatic brain injury, and it is the cause of my psycholocigal issues including anxiety, depression, depersonalization, very mild cognitive impairment, among other things.. I was mentally healthy before the incident so its established that the changes were the result of physical brain damage. in my rare and personal experience, psychedelics DID noticeably increase my functionality, memory, and mental capacity rather quickly. it did not help my anxiety or depression like this though.

 

[aujiraman]

Psychedelics *by themselves* are frighteningly powerful. NLP *by itself* is frighteningly powerful. Hypnosis *by itself* is frighteningly powerful. Imagine someone with knowledge of all three, and the means to employ. That is why I say it is a frighteningly powerful idea.

As for the shaman thing, such a person would also be able to facilitate / induce highly mystical / spiritual experiences, if that is what someone desired.

...and while I haven't read the polls, I suspect that *many* people have a desire for such an experience.

 

[al-laddin]

Im going to say that psychedelics have both caused me problems and cured psychological issues ...in me....the cures have indeed been profound beyond my wildest dreams... but i have also experienced PTSD and HPPD amongst other side effects....so they are a chainsaw...you can use them to build something but you can also cut your leg off if you get careless

 

[St3ve]

Keep in mind that NLP (neurlinguistic programming for those who are unfamiliar with it) is considered pseudoscience by the scientific community. That said I don't it should be entirely dismissed as some of its elements seem believable to me (eye movements during recall and mental construct, etc), but the idea that moving your eyes around will cause synaptic changes that can have therapeutic effect seems a bit far fetched. Synaptic plasticity is a real thing, but its applications are a bit overhyped sometimes. We also don't know if it occurs in all areas of the brain, and its likely that it doesn't. Both stable and plastic connections are needed for a brain to function properly as a survival device. Being able to flexibly create new memories or modify existing ones is useful, being able to complete rewire sensory input data could lead to pretty harmful rewiring. If for instance you could remap the colour black to be interpreted as being black, a caveman would no longer be able to recognize a safe fruit, like a strawberry, from a potentially poisonous one that had a similar shape. Disorders that have a strictly genetic cause are pretty much fixed from birth, it would require gene therapy or DNA editting to fix that. Something that is outside the scope of what psychedelics can do.

As for hypnosis, it seems to work for some, but I believe the general consensus is that it will only work for those susceptible to it, if you do not believe in hypnosis it's unlikely you'll ever be put under hypnosis succesfully. I like to think of hypnosis as a sub-branch of the placebo effect .

From personal experience, psychedelics have both helped and exacerbated anxiety and depression issues I've struggled with in the past. With very infrequent use, trips can be very insightful and help identify the underlying causes of your depression and anxiety. With the first few trips I'd also experience a boost in motivation to do something about the underlying causes. After a few weeks this motivation vanished though and my depression and social anxiety would come back. I then made the mistake to start tripping more regularly to look for a deeper cause or fix myself with deep meditation/introspection. Eventually tripping to often led to flat out delusional thinking and only made my anxiety much worse. A few months of sobriety away from psychs and weed were needed to fix that up again.

The thing is that identifying the causes of your anxiety and depression is one thing, changing the habits that led to you developing these things is another. I think it took me several years to really apply the lessons I'd learned from tripping successfully and fix most of my mental issues.

I think it's quite normal for people in early adulthood to go through a difficult phase mentally, socially and emotionally. For the first time you are on your own and you need to figure out who you are and what you want from life. With age and maturity these things tend to fix themselves. Once you've sort of figured out who you are, what you want out of life and surrounded yourself with people you can honestly connect with (and share more with than just a drug habit with) you'll find that you'll be happier and more well rounded person overall.

Obviously things like a healthy diet and regular exercise should also not be overlooked, and really should be the first line of therapy for the majority of psychological issues people have... It's amazing how much good a healthy exercise habit can do to you. It'll make you more confident, your body will feel stronger and I even find I actively WANT to eat healthier things and actively avoid junk food.