At 48 years old, a full-time carer for her severely autistic daughter and a former âhuge prohibitionistâ, Dianne* isnât your typical psychonaut. But for years she has struggled with how to treat her PTSD, which stems from child sexual abuse. She's never felt the antidepressants her doctor prescribed made much difference, and they came with âvery off-puttingâ side effects.Then, three years ago, Dianne came across a 2017 study on psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy led by Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at Imperial College in London. The study found that a single course of treatment could immediately reduce symptoms of depression by up to 50 percent, with lasting effects. She knew she had to try it. But a middle-aged woman in rural NSW doesn't typically have ready access to schedule-9 prohibited substances.What she did have, of course, was Facebook, so she joined several groups set up for the seemingly innocuous purposes of mushroom identification. One day, a stranger in one of these groups identified the 50 grams of fresh mushrooms she had foraged in a friendâs cow field as panaeolus cyanescens, or âblue meaniesâ. That stranger instructed her to take them all in one go, and she did.Itâs a large dose, even by clinical trial standards. And it was those trials she was trying to emulate. Luckily, Dianne had a good experience. âIt was amazing,â she says. âOh my god, it was. For the first time in a very, very long time, I felt normalâ. She says she felt changes in her character immediately: âBefore, things were always so hard to do, even just washing the dishes. [But] afterwards it was like, I could wash the dishes. I could just go in there and just do it.â
Recent reports out of research centres like Imperial College London, Johns Hopkins University and St Vincentâs in Melbourne highlight the apparent efficacy of psychedelics in treating mental health conditions. But the slow pace of research and development, not to mention the legal obstacles and financial demands, has left those interested in the benefits frustrated. Some of these individuals are taking matters into their own hands, congregating on social media to identify, discuss, and then dose on magic mushrooms.This is exactly what Dr Carhart-Harris hoped his research would not inspire, telling the Guardian that "I wouldnât want members of the public thinking they can treat their own depression by picking their own magic mushrooms. That kind of approach could be risky.â So are the likes of Dianne putting themselves in danger by self-medicating in this way? And how many Diannes are there, willing to improvise their own treatment? Dr Stephen Bright, a lecturer at Edith Cowan University and co-founder of Psychedelic Research in Science & Medicine (PRISM), has first-hand experience of the increase in people âseeking out these treatments in an underground environmentâ. He personally receives more than 20 emails per week from people looking to access psychedelic therapy, or seeking advice on how to perform it on themselves.âI try to be as empathetic as possibleâ, says Dr Bright, â[But] I've seen⊠people having really distressing experiences.â He says the distress is often the result of an âinappropriate environment, inappropriate intentions, or preexisting health conditions that have been exacerbated by the psychedelic drugs.â Psychedelics are notoriously unpredictable, he stresses. âEven if you set your intention, that might not be where you go on your journey because they [mushrooms] are hypersensitive to your pre-existing psychological state and the environment you're in. So it's really hard to predict what can happenâ.If people are going to treat their mental health in this way, Dr Bright says, then they need to ensure they are prepared by having âharm reduction mechanisms in placeâ such as proper education (through sites like Erowid) and peer support during the experience.Dr Ben Sessa, a consultant psychologist and psychedelic researcher at the University of Bristol, has conducted psychedelic-assisted trials using psilocybin and works largely with patients suffering acute, treatment-resistant PTSD. He argues that the drug experience itself is actually the least important aspect of treatmentâclinical trials are almost always embedded within a course of therapy: âThree preparation sessions without psilocybin, then thereâs a psilocybin session, then there are three non-drug integration sessions.âThe material Dr Sessa works through with his patients during their drug-assisted sessions is often âreally difficult and overwhelmingâ, he says, and requires weeks of integration to process. When âpeople [take] these drugs because they've heard about the clinical work, the problem is not the drugs. Itâs missing out on the non-drug support sessions.âDr Sessa does believe psychedelics are âperfectly safeâ when âtaken in a safe and judicious mannerâ, but says anyone consuming them âwithout the adequate preparation, and then the adequate integration afterwardsâ risks âreally knocking themselves sidewaysâ. He says he sees a lot of patients who require âintegration workâ because they have âgone along to some retreat in Peru or wherever, and theyâve had this drug experience and they've ⊠not been given any support afterwards.âIn other words, anyone taking psychedelic-assisted therapy into their own hands risks making their mental health issues worse. Although mushrooms have the lowest incidence of emergency room admission of any drug, including cannabis, Dr Sessa says failure to integrate an âanxiety-provoking experienceâ brought on by psychedelics can cause those feelings to persist long after the trip has ended.For people with more complex mental health issues, the problems could be far worse. Melissa Warner, co-founder of The Australian Psychedelic Society and a board member of PRISM, explains that there is âcurrently no evidence to say that more complex mental health disorders can be helpedâ through the use of psychedelics. One study published in the journal of psychopharmacology found that there is even a âpotential riskâ of psychedelics âprovoking the onset of prolonged psychosis, lasting days or even monthsâ. This is seen in 1.8 cases per 1,000, the study points out. The website Trip Safe cautions more broadly: âIt is not a good idea to take any psychedelics, including mushrooms, if you or any of your first or second-degree relatives have a current or past history of psychotic disordersâ.For most people, however, psychedelics are âmagnifiers of the environment that you're inâ, Warner says. â[So] if youâre in an environment that makes you feel anxious or alone, that might be magnifiedâ. This is what makes them so useful in the therapeutic setting, as the therapeutic process becomes magnified or âcatalysedâ.
Warner is very aware of the blurry line between recreational and therapeutic usage. Psychedelics, she says, donât provide âan escapeâ from your mental health issues. âI think thereâs a risk [when] people perceive them to be a bit of a distraction or a bit of fun, and they then have a much more complicated situation on their hands.âAfter a transformative first experience, Dianne says she felt âthe excusesâ and the âself-sabotagingâ creeping back after a few weeks. Because of the positive effects of her first trip, she was keen to try again, though this time she admits it was more of an attempt to escape. âBecause of things that were going on at home and in life in general, I did go into it with a 'just make me numb for a little bit' sort of mindset.âIt wasnât a bad experience, Dianne says. It was âjust mehâ, and didnât leave her with the profound feelings of healing she experienced the first time. Nonetheless, despondent about her chances of accessing psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in a clinical setting, she plans to continue seeking out mushrooms when and where she can. âI will go my entire life being the way I am [otherwise]," she says, through tears. "And that scares me.âLifeline Australia - 13 11 14 - Crisis Support and Suicide Prevention
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Recent reports out of research centres like Imperial College London, Johns Hopkins University and St Vincentâs in Melbourne highlight the apparent efficacy of psychedelics in treating mental health conditions. But the slow pace of research and development, not to mention the legal obstacles and financial demands, has left those interested in the benefits frustrated. Some of these individuals are taking matters into their own hands, congregating on social media to identify, discuss, and then dose on magic mushrooms.This is exactly what Dr Carhart-Harris hoped his research would not inspire, telling the Guardian that "I wouldnât want members of the public thinking they can treat their own depression by picking their own magic mushrooms. That kind of approach could be risky.â So are the likes of Dianne putting themselves in danger by self-medicating in this way? And how many Diannes are there, willing to improvise their own treatment? Dr Stephen Bright, a lecturer at Edith Cowan University and co-founder of Psychedelic Research in Science & Medicine (PRISM), has first-hand experience of the increase in people âseeking out these treatments in an underground environmentâ. He personally receives more than 20 emails per week from people looking to access psychedelic therapy, or seeking advice on how to perform it on themselves.
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Warner is very aware of the blurry line between recreational and therapeutic usage. Psychedelics, she says, donât provide âan escapeâ from your mental health issues. âI think thereâs a risk [when] people perceive them to be a bit of a distraction or a bit of fun, and they then have a much more complicated situation on their hands.âAfter a transformative first experience, Dianne says she felt âthe excusesâ and the âself-sabotagingâ creeping back after a few weeks. Because of the positive effects of her first trip, she was keen to try again, though this time she admits it was more of an attempt to escape. âBecause of things that were going on at home and in life in general, I did go into it with a 'just make me numb for a little bit' sort of mindset.âIt wasnât a bad experience, Dianne says. It was âjust mehâ, and didnât leave her with the profound feelings of healing she experienced the first time. Nonetheless, despondent about her chances of accessing psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in a clinical setting, she plans to continue seeking out mushrooms when and where she can. âI will go my entire life being the way I am [otherwise]," she says, through tears. "And that scares me.âLifeline Australia - 13 11 14 - Crisis Support and Suicide Prevention