Narcophobia And The Treatment Of Depression
Inside courage, laughs fear. ~Jareb Teague
We live in a society with some very strange beliefs about pharmacology. That much is clear. I have written before about the influence of narcophobia on clinical mental health decisions.
I just read a study by Johns Hopkins University wherein they gave "Magic Mushrooms" to a sample of people and asked them to rate their mood and their experience with the drug. They also did a two month follow up.
What's amazing about this study is the following statistic: After two months, 79% of respondents continued to rate their experience as life changing and to report an enhanced sense of well being. That's more than double the rate for SSRI's, the most commonly prescribed drug class for depression.
The 36 participants in the study were selected on the basis of no family history of Axis I mental illness. They were also selected for on the basis of spiritual practice (atheists need not apply).
Nevertheless, I think this would be a fruitful avenue of research into Depression. I do not recommend people with an Axis I diagnosis (Bipolar Disorder or Schizophrenia, in particular) taking Psylocybin. I will continue to blog about this as more information develops.
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Friday, December 28th, 2007 at 1:00 am under