Ketamine, psilocybin and ecstasy are coming to the medicine cabinet. From expanding minds to healing brains
The Economist, September 21, 2022
The application of modern scientific techniques to the question of how psychedelics and other drugs affect the brain and mind is now seen as opening up possibilities for treatment and profit. The pioneering drug in this re-evaluation was ketamine. One of the two capabilities of psychedelics that interest researchers is that they can rapidly induce neural plasticity - physical changes in the growth of neurons and the connections between them. All kinds of substances that were considered beneficial for psychiatry in the 1960s are finally being tested in rigorous clinical trials under the watchful eye of strict regulatory bodies. These drugs are intended to treat addiction, anxiety, depression, eating disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
