Pirate's Cove

Really? No, really? They’re really pushing people to take psychedelic drugs to cope with a cult scam? This really is looking more and more like a scam, where they want you on drugs

How psychedelic therapy may help with climate change anxiety

As our weekly therapy session drew to a close, my patient, a young woman in her early 20s approaching college graduation, said that she had been feeling a lack of motivation, but that it felt different from her usual depressive symptoms.

A worrisome climate change report had recently been published, and she felt paralyzed by uncertainty of what the world is going to look like. She asked, “How can I decide where I want to go? Will it even be safe to live in California when I’m older?”

Many of us are feeling a sense of powerlessness and despair over climate change and its harmful effects. As a psychiatrist, I have noticed a growing trend among patients in my private practice suffering from what mental health professionals are calling eco-anxiety and climate grief.

Psychedelic therapies may have a growing role in supporting this unique trauma and grief. By exploring and utilizing these tools in our sessions, some of my patients have experienced a reduction of their anxiety symptoms, more acceptance and awareness of their emotions and increased energy and motivation toward environmental activism.

I guess it’s better than many of the drugs prescribed be mental health professionals, but, come on, if they were doing their jobs they’d be explaining that the patients are getting all worked up over nothing. But, there are better ways, such as exercise, socializing (with people who aren’t climate nutballs), take up a hobby.

Over the last decade, there has been a surge in research into psychedelic therapies to treat psychiatric illnesses such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Psychedelic medicine-assisted therapy also can support a patient in exploring the enormous and complex feelings associated with eco-anxiety and climate grief. In a study published in 2019, people who had a single experience with psychedelics (mostly psilocybin) were more likely to report feeling a relatedness or connection with nature. Beyond the obvious counterpoint to our often busy and occupied lives, encountering a sense of a larger living process can help us remember the preciousness and impermanence of this life and our planet.

The author mentions they prescribe ketamine, which can act as a psychedelic. Is this really a good idea, giving people psychedelics? Should people just drop acid or take mushrooms (a bad idea unless you know exactly where they came from. They lose their power quickly, and may be dusted with Angel Dust)? Where does it go from here? People staying in a constant stoned state using marijuana and THC derivatives?

Afternoon update: I ran across this via Yahoo News from the AP

As U.S. doctors scale back their use of opioid painkillers, a new option for hard-to-treat pain is taking root: ketamine, the decades-old surgical drug that is now a trendy psychedelic therapy.

Prescriptions for ketamine have soared in recent years, driven by for-profit clinics and telehealth services offering the medication as a treatment for pain, depression, anxiety and other conditions. The generic drug can be purchased cheaply and prescribed by most physicians and some nurses, regardless of their training.

With limited research on its effectiveness against pain, some experts worry the U.S. may be repeating mistakes that gave rise to the opioid crisis: overprescribing a questionable drug that carries significant safety and abuse risks.

Huh. Drugs shouldn’t be played with.