A secret once kept in nuanced circles of degenerates and free spirits has recently gained mainstream appeal, fitting in with wider professional crowds. As it turns out, psychedelic therapy can reset mental health — a good trip can flip the switch.
A story circulates that Apple Inc. founder, Steve Jobs, learned how to poke at life more inquisitively through psychedelics. Essentially, an acid trip in an apple orchard gave birth to the seeds of thought that sprouted into everyone’s iPhone today.
Beyond inquisition, Matt Stang, former owner-operator of High Times, knows that psychedelics can treat depression and trauma with a dominant efficacy. Following this belief, Stang established Delic Corp as the world’s first psychedelic wellness company, continuing to expand its umbrella.
Psychedelic assisted therapies and their 10-fold efficacy
More therapeutic clinics will be allowed to assist with a psychedelic reset as regulations continue to shift alongside a progressive wave. During a phone call, the founder of Delic Corp cited the benefits of psychedelics over regular pharmaceuticals.
It’s already coming out showing these substances have an efficacy of 10-18 times where traditional pharmacopeias live right now. That is around a four to five percent tier rate, that is 4% to 5% of people who take current [non-psychedelic] pharmacopeias. Whereas, psycho-assisted pharma therapies live in the 50%-70% efficacy rate.
Matt Stang
This means that a significant percentage of people who take these psychotherapies with a proper course of treatment is considered better one year later, according to Stang.
The reset
Entheogen-derived psychedelics are still on the brink of breaking past the barrier of regulations and laws. In the meantime, Delic Corp currently has a catalogueof ketamine clinics — a therapy option available in some regions that can aid mental health.
The clinic model is a series of assisted six-week programs of infusions that you usually get weekly. And then, after six weeks, you reset your brain’s ability to stay in rest and relax, and not trip over to fight or flight.
Stang
As it turns out, different psychedelics will uniquely treat depression. Psilocybin and ketamine can both reset mental health, but each psycho-assisted therapy has an individual role. For example, the neurotransmitter known as glutamate, which helps connect pathways throughout the brain, is responsible for the lion’s share of ketamine’s dissociative qualities. Ketamine inhibits certain glutamate receptors causing the brain to slow down and dissociate.
However, the neurotransmitter serotonin, one of the happy endorphins, is behind the hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms. Magic mushrooms will amplify but also alter pathways related to serotonin as well the endocannabinoid system. Yet, ongoing research is showing an overlap between these therapies and how they reset the brain.
The whole catalogue
Psilocybin mushroom clinics might come online in Oregon and the Caribbeans soon, but psychedelic medicine is diverse. Stang believes that more novel compounds, such as LSD or MDMA, are still three to four years away — a lot of that has to do with the time it takes to pass through clinical trials. With plant-derived psychedelics, however, there are currently ibogaine ceremonies in Mexico and Coastal British Columbia, and of course, ayahuasca retreats in the Caribbean.
I think we have a confluence because a lot of places are now working to legalize plant medicine or natural compounds. When you look at psilocybin, I think it’s the tip of the spear on the plant-based side of things…
There are therapeutic benefits for things like ayahuasca. And, some of these plant medicines (and products) that can come with proper guided intention and integration, and properly done, can be really beneficial to people’s health and wellness.
Stang
Psychedelics Booster shots
Unlike traditional anti-depressants, one course of psychedelics can leave lasting benefits on mental and emotional health. And a mind that becomes troubled after that course can receive booster doses later to sustain their wellbeing.
The booster can help reset you out of it, so you are not sucked in a dark hole. People get into this hole and they feel like they are stuck and it’s really just about making them feel like they have an option to get out.
Stang
Psychedelics could therefore cause a large reduction in traditional pharmacopeia use. But the cannabis industry previously experienced just how pharmaceutical companies view plant medicines that are difficult to regulate, especially when it hurts profits. Now that psychedelic therapy is getting the clinical trial treatment, will mental health be easier to reset and manage?
Let us know in the comments if you found success with psychedelics and if you think they can reset mental health. And let us know if you want to learn more about psilocybin therapy after you check out this story on the road to legal psychedelics.
Sources
- Higgins, G. A., Carroll, N. K., Brown, M., MacMillan, C., Silenieks, L. B., Thevarkunnel, S., Izhakova, J., Magomedova, L., DeLannoy, I., & Sellers, E. M. (2021). Low Doses of Psilocybin and Ketamine Enhance Motivation and Attention in Poor Performing Rats: Evidence for an Antidepressant Property. Frontiers in pharmacology, 12, 640241.
- De Gregorio, D., Aguilar-Valles, A., Preller, K. H., Heifets, B. D., Hibicke, M., Mitchell, J., & Gobbi, G. (2021). Hallucinogens in Mental Health: Preclinical and Clinical Studies on LSD, Psilocybin, MDMA, and Ketamine. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 41(5), 891–900.