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How Daniel Carcillo changed his life with psilocybin

Wesana Health Announces Definitive Agreement to Acquire PsyTech Inc.

Former Chicago Blackhawks player Daniel Carcillo was battling a severe case of traumatic brain injury (TBI) after enduring hundreds of fights throughout his NHL career. He suffered from several related side effects such as slurred speech, headaches, memory issues, insomnia, impulsive behaviour, sensitivity to light, and depression. Carcillo admits that he spent three weeks creating a plan to take his own life before magic mushrooms turned his life around. After taking a single 4g dose of shrooms, he said “I am cured, for sure, of TBI and any related symptoms. 100%.”

The experience led Carcillo to found Wesana Health (WESA), an organization focused on psychedelic treatments for traumatic brain injury and mental health disorders. This week, Wesana Health acquired PsyTech Inc., a psychedelic therapy firm in Toronto, to help accelerate the company’s growth. The deal provides Wesana with a clinical software-as-a-service platform that integrates wearable biometric technologies and will increase the number of clinics from 2 to 12 within the next year.

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Avoid daily antidepressants with a monthly trip

Single Dose of Psychedelic Compound Psilocybin Can Remodel Connections in the Brain

It’s clear that psychedelics are helpful in treating depression, but have you ever wondered why they work so well?

When someone suffers from depression or chronic stress, they typically have a reduction in neural connections, but psychedelics might be able to reverse this. A study at Yale just revealed that one dose of psilocybin can increase these neuronal connections by 10%. The dose also increased the density of dendritic spines (those little spikey things on nerve cells), making the connections stronger. About a third of the new connections remained intact after 34 days.

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Could a psychedelic vaccine prevent depression?

A New Vaccine Against Depression? | MYND Life Sciences

While many psychedelics companies are developing treatments for depression, MYND Life Sciences hopes to prevent depression from developing in the first place.

MYND recently signed a licensing agreement with Eyam, a private vaccine developer, to create a vaccine that would prevent neurological disorders including depression. The underlying theory is that depression is essentially neuro-inflammation, and psychedelics may have an anti-inflammatory effect that could prevent the neuro-inflammatory process.

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Compass Pathways conducts world’s largest psilocybin therapy trial

COMPASS Pathways completes COMP360 psilocybin therapy administration for 216 patients in large-scale phase IIb psilocybin therapy trial for treatment-resistant depression

Move over Prozac, Compass Pathways (CMPS) just made major progress in psychedelic treatment for depression. The company is conducting the world’s largest psilocybin therapy trial for its proprietary psychedelic compound, COMP360, which targets treatment-resistant depression. So far, 216 patients have had psilocybin therapy sessions at Compass’s 22 trial sites across 10 countries, with 14 more patients completing sessions over the next two weeks. Researchers will follow-up with each patient 12 weeks after the sessions and will publish the findings by the end of this year. Other studies have found that psilocybin is 4 times more effective than typical antidepressants – let’s see what Compass’s new research reveals.

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Psychedelic therapy retreat aims to use psilocybin to treat traumatic brain injury (TBI) in veterans

Ground-breaking research to explore the potential for psilocybin to treat traumatic brain injury

This Fall, Heroic Hearts Project will begin psychedelic therapy retreats in the Netherlands and Jamaica to study the effect of psilocybin on veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI). Many veterans sustain brain injuries during their service, which can lead to issues like anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. The retreats aim to study both the psychological and physiological impacts of psilocybin therapy.

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Patient overcomes childhood trauma through psilocybin therapy, easing her anxiety and fear of death

B.C. health researchers harness the ‘magic’ of psychedelic mushrooms

After beating cancer, Mona Strelaeff suffered from crippling depression and anxiety rooted in childhood trauma and a fear of death. She tried several anti-depressants with extreme side effects before receiving approval for psilocybin-assisted therapy. The experience allowed her to come to terms with childhood demons. “When [the doctor] gave me the treatment and I came out of it in a place of peace,” she said. “My anxiety was basically gone. And to this day I still feel at peace. I’m not afraid of death.”

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Diamond Therapeutics begins study on very low doses of psilocybin

Diamond Therapeutics contracts BioPharma Services for Phase 1 clinical trial

While there have been few studies on microdosing psilocybin, Diamond Therapeutics Inc.’s preclinical research suggests that very low, non-hallucinogenic doses of psilocybin have potential for treating disorders like anxiety and depression. Diamond is now partnering with BioPharma Services Inc. to expand on this research in a new phase 1 clinical trial, which will explore a range of very low doses of psilocybin.

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Mom finds relief from post-partum depression through microdosing

Using Psychedelic Plants as Medicine – A New Solution for Mental Health Disorders

After having her second child, Melissa Lavasani became so severely depressed that she could barely function. She finally found relief through microdosing psilocybin. “It was as if I was blind and deaf and could see colors and hear again. The quality of my life vastly improved”. She explained that there are no hallucinogenic effects with microdosing, rather “a feeling of empowerment” in which she felt well-rested and in control of her emotions.

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Cybin aims to treat COVID-related distress in frontline healthcare workers using new psychotherapy model

Cybin Launches EMBARK and Co-Sponsors First Clinical Trial to Treat Frontline Clinicians Experiencing COVID-Related Burnout and Distress with Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy

A new University of Washington study co-sponsored by Cybin aims to treat COVID-related depression, anxiety, burnout and post-traumatic stress in frontline healthcare workers using psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. The study will test Cybin’s new transdiagnostic psychotherapy model called EMBARK, which is “aimed at delivering best-practice, supportive healing in conjunction with psychedelic therapeutics”. Cybin CEO Doug Drysdale says he considers it an honour to support the frontline workers who made great sacrifices for the public throughout the pandemic.

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Study suggests that psilocybin therapy is at least as effective in treating depression as the leading antidepressant, but with fewer side effects and faster results

Psilocybin therapy appears to be at least as effective as a leading conventional antidepressant

A study suggests that psilocybin therapy is at least as effective in treating depression as the leading antidepressant, but with fewer side effects and faster results. After six weeks, participants receiving psilocybin therapy saw an 8.0 point reduction in depressive symptoms and reported “greater improvements in the ability to cry and feel compassion, intense emotion, and pleasure”. Participants receiving escitalopram, a leading SSRI antidepressant, saw just a 6.0 point reduction in depressive symptoms, and were more likely to experience side effects like anxiety, dry mouth, sexual dysfunction, and reduced emotional responsiveness.

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