New: alcohol addiction treatment with mushrooms
Last reviewed: 07.06.2024
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American researchers have discovered that psilocybin - a psychedelic substance isolated from mushrooms - can help patients overcome alcohol addiction. This information was published by scientists in the scientific edition of JAMA Psychiatry.
Nearly a hundred people with diagnosed alcohol dependence participated in the study. None of the participants were found to have any psychiatric disorders, and none of them had taken psychedelic drugs for 12 months prior to the project.
All subjects underwent a three-month therapeutic protocol including cognitive-behavioral treatment interventions. Periodically, they were given eight-hour rest and relaxation sessions with music. Simultaneously with the relaxation sessions, some participants received a dose of psilocybin sufficient to provoke hallucinatory effects. Another part of the patients were administered anti-allergic drugs. As a result, almost 50% of the people in the first group were completely free of alcohol addiction. After several months of treatment. A control check, carried out eight months after the therapeutic course, proved the obtained effect. In the group receiving anti-allergic treatment, no similar effect was found.
Scientists have not yet been able to substantiate the mechanism of the effect of psychedelic substances on alcohol-dependent people. In all likelihood, the main therapeutic factor is increased neuroplasticity - that is, increased ability of the brain to adapt to new conditions and change, which has been proven in other studies. This may explain why it is easier for patients to adjust their lifestyle after psilocybin administration.
For information: psychedelic substances are psychoactive compounds that cause changes in consciousness, expanding the limits of habitual perception. This name "psychedelics" replaced the previously existing terms "hallucinogens". These drugs were previously actively used to treat depressive states: experts suggest that psychedelics block the rejection factors of signals perceived by the consciousness as unnecessary, superfluous material. Such signals come from different brain departments, but it is impossible to predict such processes in advance. The best known psychedelic drugs that affect nerve receptors are considered to be mescaline and LSD. As for psilocybin, this hallucinogen has low toxicity and, as scientists think, great therapeutic potential. The substance is being actively studied and will soon be successfully used both in psychiatry and narcology.
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