Scientists Believe "Magic" Mushrooms could Effectively Treat Depression

After a brief spurt of interest in the late '60s, scientists in the drug development field abandoned research work on illicit drugs like LSD and "magic" mushrooms. But over the past few years a few bold investigators have been stepping back up to the plate, convinced that some outlawed active ingredients could offer new pathways to treating some common ailments.
Enter Professor David Nutt, a prominent and controversial researcher in the U.K. who has just published a new paper asserting that psilocybin--the active ingredient in magic mushrooms--could help treat major depression. And he believes that LSD, ecstasy, mephedrone and cannabis are also worthy of legitimate scientific research, advocating that the time has come for the government to lift restrictions placed on the field.
"I feel quite passionately that these drugs are profound drugs; they change the brain in a way that no other drugs do. And I find it bizarre that no-one has studied them before and they haven't because it's hard and illegal," he said, according to a report in the BBC.
In his new research, Nutt and his colleagues found that psilocybin shuts down various regions of the brain, altering consciousness and specifically shutting a section of the brain associated with depression. Some research suggests that such brain-altering activity isn't temporary, but rather can last for years.
Nutt has been an outspoken advocate of certain illicit drugs for years, a position which caused him to be sacked from his post as a government adviser several years ago. But with this new paper Nutt has made it clear that he plans to keep the issue front and center as he proceeds with new research.

420God said:

After a brief spurt of interest in the late '60s, scientists in the drug development field abandoned research work on illicit drugs like LSD and "magic" mushrooms. But over the past few years a few bold investigators have been stepping back up to the plate, convinced that some outlawed active ingredients could offer new pathways to treating some common ailments.
Enter Professor David Nutt, a prominent and controversial researcher in the U.K. who has just published a new paper asserting that psilocybin--the active ingredient in magic mushrooms--could help treat major depression. And he believes that LSD, ecstasy, mephedrone and cannabis are also worthy of legitimate scientific research, advocating that the time has come for the government to lift restrictions placed on the field.
"I feel quite passionately that these drugs are profound drugs; they change the brain in a way that no other drugs do. And I find it bizarre that no-one has studied them before and they haven't because it's hard and illegal," he said, according to a report in the BBC.
In his new research, Nutt and his colleagues found that psilocybin shuts down various regions of the brain, altering consciousness and specifically shutting a section of the brain associated with depression. Some research suggests that such brain-altering activity isn't temporary, but rather can last for years.
Nutt has been an outspoken advocate of certain illicit drugs for years, a position which caused him to be sacked from his post as a government adviser several years ago. But with this new paper Nutt has made it clear that he plans to keep the issue front and center as he proceeds with new research.

~~~> http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/scientists-believe-magic-mushrooms-could-effectively-treat-depression/2012-01-24
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They are also being used to treat cluster headaches.




[video=youtube;Njb4H1x8oSg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njb4H1x8oSg[/video]

It's nice that all this research is coming to light, kinda gives me hope.

Saw this on Google News this morning too.

Anxiety and insomnia for many people are byproducts of modern life. Then you get to middle age. Then your parents die. Then comes the sinking feeling that this is all it's going to be and more than half of your life is over and if you're lucky what you have to look forward to is growing old and dying. If you're not lucky you'll get cancer or have a heart attack or some other disease or wind up in a nursing home with Alzheimers sitting there all day waiting for your diaper to be changed. That is depressing. So what do you do? Well, they sell this booze stuff everywhere you can self-medicate with that will give you temporary relief, but we all know what that feels like in the morning. If you go to your doctor and tell him you can't sleep and the stress is killing you, he'll give you anti-depressants and they do work. Too bad the side effects include killing your libido and shriveling your dick and sometimes they bring out latent suicidal tendencies according to the TV commercials that advertise them.

I have no doubt that psychedelics can be useful for dealing with and coming to terms with these "issues" as the shrinks call them. But I think many of the viewers of this forum are just interested in getting high and are not using these substances as a tool of self discovery. Just getting loaded is not going to cure anything. You have to come to the experience with the right frame of mind - the set half of the set and setting. And then you have to deal with your "issues" and that might not be fun. Psychedelics are not escape from reality drugs. They may show you the reality you've not wished to think about in a brutally frank and honest manner. That may be exactly what you need or this can make the problem worse if you dosed to much and you thought to hard about something.

While feeling the effects of magic mushrooms and also LSD I think I've dealt with these heavy duty issues of life and death and painful childhood memories I've put off dealing with for decades. I've went into the closet (not THAT closet, the repressed memory closet) pulled out the skeletons, examined the memories and then I took them out back and buried them. Metaphorically of course. Now those issues are laid to rest and I can get on with life. I know I'm gonna die but it's ok. There's still lots of time and lots of things to do and life to live. Depression has been cured and I did it my self without a shrink and without that poison they sell on TV called anti-depressants.

Here's a link to a nice article about this topic at, of all places, Fox News http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/23/magic-mushrooms-trip-up-brain-activity/

It was a long hard fight to reopen research of psychedelics but it's finally showing what proponents have been sayin for a long time.
There was a study of LSD and creativity at Stanford before the ban on research. The requirement for participation was having a stalled thesis project that had made no progress in 3 months. Something like 2/3rds of participants reported having some type of useful inspiration and resumed making progress.

why does everyone get so mad at other for enjoying drugs recreationally as they like to put it?

why do you use drugs as a medical patient? to make you feel better (who decides weather you are feeling bad enough yet)

why do i take drugs as a recreational user? to make me feel better, i suffer from no diagnosed illness but guess what they still make me feel better both physically and mentally, so why is that bad. they improve my quality of life just the same as they do yours. yours may or may not have been worse to begin with but thats kinda beside the point. maybe i don't have any of your problems be cause i started using drugs b4 they developed.

i went through what everyone around me called depression for over 2 years, my mother, my father, and many others in my family felt i should seek medical treatment in dealing with my "issue". i never did, i "toughed" it out so to speak. i found myself drifting thru a world i had fallen into but never accepted. i told my self i would not rely on any mind altering drug to fix myself. it took me 2 years to get it all back together but when i did i could take full credit for it. i proved myself strong, and now i'm free (at least mentally speaking). it was only after all of this that i felt comfortable opening myself up to drugs again (legal and illegal) because now i know i'm in control of who i am not them. but i can't see why we would want to prohibit letting all people enjoy there lives more, especially when it comes at no cost to others.

Small amounts of LSD, psilocybin, and other tryptamine derivatives work marvels for cluster headaches. Many health professionals think that the administered dose would make the patients have an overall euphoric effect, when the truth is that the dose administered would be so miniscule no psychoactive effect would take place!

Homegrown BRF cakes ftw!

Yeah its sad to see our govt is blocking medicine that is obvisouly a great cure for horrible pain. SHows how much they care

This makes me ponder this question

I dont get cluster headaches but i do get migranes at least 3-4 times a week. Now i wonder if a small doseage like they take can help this?

Has it been clinically proven that you suffer from migraines?

It's a great treatment. Many other medications are currently out on market for treatment of cluster headaches, but patients say the help is minimal. Clinical test on a selected few showed that 90% of the patients responded to the tryptamine/indole induce treatment plan with great results. The biggest fear is that if they the government allows health practitioners to prescribe restricted chemicals that LSD and other Tryptamines would become more rampart in the Black Market!

No but its clinically proven im not a drug addict

Where's the "Dislike" button?

Nah. I'm sure you want to use the script for medicinal purposes.

Well if it can treat migraines then i should give it a go!

Check out this website. It's the leading frontier in psychedelic research. Perhaps, you can find a trial you can join!

http://www.maps.org/

Damn if only i still lived in sacramento! I would love to attented the mind altering substance conference!! Ahh

I'm in a similar situation Time. Actually the pcp and the neuro have both brought up clusters as a possible explanation for stuff. I'm given serious thought to trying shrooms as a treatment. It's not like I'm out much if it doesn't work. Migraines that frequent are worrisome. How do you respond to various treatments? I see some response to triptans but insurance only covers a few pills a month. Frova is the one I find works best, insurance covers 9 pills a month. It normally takes 2-3 to have decent effect. 3+ headaches in a week means that can get blown through in a week.

timeismoney1 said:

Damn if only i still lived in sacramento! I would love to attented the mind altering substance conference!! Ahh

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Yep. This past weekend they held a tribute to Terence McKenna! Only about 30 miles from my location. Although, the tickets were already sold out before I acknowledged it on the Erowid Bulletin.

The Multidisciplinary Acts for Psychedelic Studies Association holds various medical trials. You should see if they're actively accepting applicants Time!

If feel yoy bro. However u dont think i can say mine are as bad as yours. I think mine cime fron high stress lvls and sleep patterns my body disagrees with. I usually can take a few excedrine and move about. But when i get em and i dont take a a sorin they stay fir hours end.

Im really interested to learn more about this. Like doseage. Hw many times you take saidbdise etc

How do you treat yiurs mrduck?

MrEDuck said:

I'm in a similar situation Time. Actually the pcp and the neuro have both brought up clusters as a possible explanation for stuff. I'm given serious thought to trying shrooms as a treatment. It's not like I'm out much if it doesn't work. Migraines that frequent are worrisome. How do you respond to various treatments? I see some response to triptans but insurance only covers a few pills a month. Frova is the one I find works best, insurance covers 9 pills a month. It normally takes 2-3 to have decent effect. 3+ headaches in a week means that can get blown through in a week.

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Cluster Headaches vary greatly from those who suffer from Migraines. From what I read and heard.

I don't know what they are, I don't get the omg I am going to bash my head into the floor until I lose consciousness feeling. But on the other hand I also have a pretty hefty pain tolerance. I had kidney stones once and I didn't think they were all that bad. I know the headaches are fucking debilitating. My usual treatment for a nasty headache is to take some Frova asap. Firocet works well but drs don't like to write for it.
I'm planning on trying mushrooms to see if it helps. Whats the worst that happens, I eat some mushrooms and they only make me trip and I still get headaches. The reward is certainly worth the risk.