A BC man claims that microdosing psilocybin for 8 months has eased his PTSD symptoms tremendously. The man states that he no longer experiences panic attacks and believes that psilocybin represents “freedom from being stuck in a dark place in your head”. The documentary VeraCity: The Psychedelic Frontier dives deeper into his journey through PTSD.
The psychedelic treatment revolution is shifting the model of psychiatry away from daily medication for mental health treatment, according to psychiatrist Dr. Craig Heacock. Heacock believes that mental health issues like depression, anxiety, addiction, and PTSD “are more often than not tied to a deep, and largely untouchable, river of trauma that lies beneath our reach in the unconscious mind”. Psilocybin therapy is proving to be an effective treatment option because it brings deeply repressed trauma to the surface so that patients can “begin to rework and reframe their experience without fear”.
A 56-year-old web developer named Michael was at one of the lowest points in his life after losing his mom to cancer and his friend to suicide. He had battled depression for over 30 years and was still in search of relief after trying several antidepressants and therapies.
He decided to participate in a psilocybin medical trial at Imperial College London, where he went on a five-hour psychedelic journey that turned his life around. The psilocybin-assisted therapy allowed him to relive childhood memories and confront his griefs.
“I became a different person,” Michael said. “I couldn’t wait to get dressed, get into the outside world, see people. I was supremely confident – more like I was when I was younger, before the depression started and got to its worst.”
If cancer patients have the right to end their suffering through assisted suicide, shouldn’t they have the right to end their suffering through psilocybin therapy?
In a Johns Hopkins study, 92% of cancer patients saw significant reductions in depression and anxiety 5 weeks after a single high dose of psilocybin. After 6 months, 78% still had significant reductions in symptoms.
Many of the 51 participants described a sense of infinite love, peace, and oneness, and several were able to come to conquer their fear of death.
“It was so powerful and so profound that it just took my breath away… I feel like it changed my life”, said one participant, Anthony Head.
In a Johns Hopkins study, 36 volunteers who had never taken hallucinogens were given high doses of psilocybin. They were told to “focus explicitly on the phenomenology of the drug experience rather than perform tasks”. 14 months after the trip, 67% of participants rated it as one of the top five most spiritually significant experiences of their lives, and six people said it was the single most spiritually significant experience. 64% said the experience increased their well-being and life satisfaction.
