Professor Nutt, PNAS and Magic Mushrooms - Cure for depression?

Herman Gelmet · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:26

I found this quite interesting. Professor Nutt is backing the clinical trials of Psilocybin mushrooms for research into previously untreatable depressions. This is the ex-govt chief drug advisor!

Telegraph

I think there is something in the theory and I have heard of Psilocybin being used in the treatment of the terminally ill - not to cure them from their illnesses but to ease/cure their anxieties about their imminent deaths.

DJMK4 · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:27

It certainly made me "less" depressed

Andy · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:30

DJMK4 said:
It certainly made me "less" depressed

+1

Herman Gelmet · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:30

DJMK4 said:
It certainly made me "less" depressed

Laughing so hard you cried out of your ears?

Cosimo · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:32

DJMK4 said:
It certainly made me "less" depressed

I find that reading some threads has the same effect.

StriderX · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:32

He just wants it for himself.

DJMK4 · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:34

Just as a note though, home environment yes, walking around a very Busy Amsterdam on them will not get rid of any anxiety

Ever seen fear and loathing when they go in to that Circus place off their heads? yeah sums up how I felt that night

With regards to the longterm effects of what I am assuming the professor is on about (tiny amounts) I would say maybe, however people have said small doses of MDMA can cure this aswel.

Herman Gelmet · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:35

DJMK4 said:
Just as a note though, home environment yes, walking around a very Busy Amsterdam on them will not get rid of any anxiety

Ahh, but this cure involves having your own Buddhist monk to meditate with you

RomanNose · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:35

The current drug laws are not based on evidence, but wishy washy middle class 40 year olds who think all drugs are bad. Tax, regulate, profit, medicate. It's the only way.

DJMK4 · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:37

Jimmy Hillbilly said:
Ahh, but this cure involves having your own Buddhist monk to meditate with you

I have always wanted a Buddhist monk

Robbo · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:37

I have no issue with them being used in a responsible medical environment, anything else is just asking for trouble though.

A.N.Other · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:48

And both Nature and Science, the two most prestigious scientific journals, refused to publish the findings.

That's probably because the study wasn't good enough (as with 99% of journal papers) to get into the two highest impact journals in the world ... LOLTelegraph?!?

Herman Gelmet · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:53

I found it surprising that they didn't mention the fact that Psilocybin (and other psychedelic mushrooms) have been successfully used in shaman-based cultures for a very long time. Their people don't seem to have much of a problem with depression. Any problems are thrashed out with both shaman and patient in a state of ecstasy, and are not left to fester inside for months/years/lifetimes, unlike our civilised(?) society.

int · 24 Jan 2012 at 18:55

It's the same with lysergic acid diethylamide and dimethyltryptamine for the treatment of schizophrenia and depression. Both were successfully trialled in the 50's and 60's before they were banned outright due to recreational use.

A.N.Other · 24 Jan 2012 at 19:05

Just to be clear on something ... the paper doesn't actually link shrooms to a cure for depression. It's about what psilocybin actually does to the brain to induce the hallucinogenic state - that's all. For all they know, it could have the exact opposite effect in clinical trials.

From the paper ...

Further work is required to test this hypothesis and the putative utility of psilocybin in depression

Meridian · 24 Jan 2012 at 19:06

int said:
It's the same with lysergic acid diethylamide and dimethyltryptamine for the treatment of schizophrenia and depression. Both were successfully trialled in the 50's and 60's before they were banned outright due to recreational use.

There were trialled certainly. But no mainstream psychiatrist thinks anything useful came out of it that I am aware (Laing is NOT mainstream). It's difficult to see the usefulness of giving mind-altering drugs to people who are already psychotic.

Edit: I should also point out that the purpose of this report is not to raise awareness of the usefulness (or otherwise) of tryptamines, but to raise awareness of Professor Nutt.

M

Herman Gelmet · 24 Jan 2012 at 19:31

Meridian said:
There were trialled certainly. But no mainstream psychiatrist thinks anything useful came out of it that I am aware (Laing is NOT mainstream). It's difficult to see the usefulness of giving mind-altering drugs to people who are already psychotic

M

Surely the conventional meds given to these patients would be broadly classed as 'mind-altering'?

I don't know about the treatment of schizophrenia but if it is possible to treat people who have been labeled 'untreatable' (like my sister; serious depression and borderline personality disorder) by their psychiatrists and/or doctors, then I think it has to be positive.

Meridian · 24 Jan 2012 at 21:40

Jimmy Hillbilly said:
Surely the conventional meds given to these patients would be broadly classed as 'mind-altering'?

True, but they alter people away from psychosis, not further into it.

M

djmc0 · 24 Jan 2012 at 21:44

Higher than average does of Psilocybin has been proven to trean both alcohol and opiate addiction. Unsure why they are completely prohibited, as they can of use therapeutically, and recreationally. I suppose the government should be in charge of what we ingest in the privacy of our own home, you know, for our own protection.

Nitefly · 24 Jan 2012 at 21:45

I think it's more important that we work on a cure for 'boohoo I'm so sad' than a cure for actual depression. The latter is crippling, but the former is common, highly contagious and comes in handy wallet size card form!