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Amazonian Psychedelic May Ease Severe Depression, New Study Shows

posted by mrpg on Wednesday July 04 2018, @06:19AM   
from the smoking-is-bad dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

"Leon" is a young Brazilian man who has long struggled with depression. He keeps an anonymous blog, in Portuguese, where he describes the challenge of living with a mental illness that affects some 300 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

Leon is among the roughly 30 percent of those patients with treatment-resistant depression. Available antidepressant drugs like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors do not alleviate his depressed mood, fatigue, anxiety, low self-esteem and suicidal thoughts.

A new study may offer hope for Leon and others like him.

Our team of Brazilian scientists has conducted the first randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of ayahuasca – a psychedelic drink made of Amazonian plants. The results, recently published in the journal Psychological Medicine, suggest that ayahuasca can work for hard-to-treat depression.

Source: Amazonian psychedelic may ease severe depression, new study shows

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Original Submission

• Re:After effects? (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday July 04 2018, @08:09AM

  by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Wednesday July 04 2018, @08:09AM (#702434) Journal

  https://www.newscientist.com/article/2127802-psychedelic-drug-ayahuasca-improves-hard-to-treat-depression/ [newscientist.com]

  A day before their dose, the participants filled in standard questionnaires to rate their depression. The next day, they spent 8 hours in a quiet, supervised environment, where they received either the placebo or the potion, which produces hallucinogenic effects for around 4 hours. They then repeated filling in the questionnaires one, two and seven days later.

  Both groups reported substantial improvements one and two days after the treatment, with placebo scores often as high as those of people who had taken the drug. In trials of new antidepressant drugs, it is common for as many as 40 per cent of participants to respond positively to placebos, says de Araújo.

  But a week into this trial, 64 per cent of people who had taken ayahuasca felt the severity of their depression reduce by 50 per cent or more. This was true for only 27 per cent of those who drank the placebo.

  Similar psychedelics [soylentnews.org] also show benefits that can last for weeks or months following a single treatment.

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayahuasca#Effects [wikipedia.org]

  The ingestion of ayahuasca can also cause significant, but temporary, emotional and psychological distress. Excessive use could possibly lead to serotonin syndrome (although serotonin syndrome has never been specifically caused by Ayahuasca, only if in conjunction with certain anti-depressants like SSRI's). The temporary non-entheogenic effects of Ayahuasca can, depending on dosage, include tremors, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, autonomic instability, hyperthermia, sweating, motor function impairment, sedation, relaxation, vertigo, dizziness, and muscle spasms, which are primarily caused by the Harmala alkaloids in Ayahuasca. Long-term negative effects are not known.

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