Shrooms for Serotonin?
By: Ilori Tankpinou
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/benefits-of-medical-mushrooms
My article is about how Psilocybin, a hallucinogenic alkaloid found in mushrooms, can be used to dramatically reduce depression. Current antidepressant medication only works for 30-50% of people who use them, and when they do work it takes weeks to take effect. In a clinical study 24 people were split into two groups, one group received two doses of psilocybin pills spaced about a week and a half apart. Then a comparison group of 11 people waited eight weeks, then also received the two doses of psilocybin and supportive therapy (the first group also received supportive therapy). The findings showed that the medication reduced depression significantly. Sometimes in clinical trials people’s expectations of a drug can also lead to positive effects, but because of how significant the amelioration was it proves that the Psilocybin is effective. However, of the 282 people put in psychedelic trials from 1993-2017 82% of them were white, and it’s harder to get people of color to participate because of health disparities and negative health care experiences.
Original Article: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/psilocybin-treat-depression-mushrooms-psychedelic
Do you think other mind altering substances like shrooms/LSD should be decriminalized and allowed for medical use? What about for recreational use?
Do you see any benefits of using traditional antidepressants over Psilocybin?
Why do you think it’s important to add more people of color to psychedelic clinical studies?
I think its important to add more people of color to psychedelic clinical studies because its important for scientist to see if certain groups of people have different effects on the trial. I think using traditional antidepressants are more catered to your certain body in a lab.
ReplyDelete-Angeline Upchurch
In order to evaluate the benefits of traditional antidepressants over Psilocybin, you must balance the benefits of the drug with the potential side effects. It is important to add people of color to psychedelic clinical studies to truly ensure that the treatment truly benefits the whole of society. The larger and more diverse the subset, the more accurate the data.
ReplyDelete- Carissa Bersche
Yes I agree with you. One of the benefits of Psilocybin is that the effects of it last longer than your typical anti-depressants. I also agree that these clinical trials need to be diversified, so we can have a more accurate assessment of how effective Psilocybin is.
DeleteFirst of all it should be decriminalized due to it being helpful in some cases. Also this could be a better anti-depressant as its more natural and seems to have less harsh side affects. Although I do think they should have a more diverse study as it would have more trials done.
ReplyDelete-Tyler A.
I think LSD/shrooms should be used for medical use, not sure where I stand when it comes to recreational use. My only worry with recreational use is that people can still get addicted to it, whereas for medical use you are under supervision by a professional. Some people do not react well with anti-depressants so I can understand why they turn to other alternatives.
ReplyDelete-Trinity Mathis
I think its important to add people of color to the trials because you cannot fully say a medicine will work for everyone when it hasn't been tried on everyone. You have to look at all different variables to determine the success and side effects of a new medication and again to do this you need as many people with as many different backgrounds as possible.
ReplyDelete-Raquel Morgens
I think that drugs such as LSD haven't been researched as much as they should've been and criminalized based upon economic and political pretenses. The possible medical benefits outweigh the fear of psychedelics and, as long as they are first tested in a clinical setting, could help a lot of people. In my personal opinion, drugs don't harm people besides maybe the user and if nicotine/alcohol/medical marijuana have been legalized, it's time to do the same for other drugs too. -Shirin Saha
ReplyDeleteI think that drugs like shrooms should be used for mental illness only if you know it will help you and not harm you. I think it is important for people of color to be added to the clinical trials because not everybody's body react the same when trying different medicine.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa Butts
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ReplyDelete