In the 1960s, when psychedelic drugs began to emerge as a promising new medical avenue for people with psychiatric illness, the strong recreational drift and less serious approaches quickly outweighed the discovery's immense potential. The clinical side was called into question and suffered the consequences of the barriers that were erected to combat the more frivolous uses - see, in this regard, the popular Netflix series How to Change Your Mind, a case in which a product of popular culture can serve as a starting point for furthering this more serious debate.
Now, in the 21st century, at a time when mental health is becoming increasingly urgent and more than a billion people in the world suffer from some mental disorder (according to a World Health Organization study published in June 2022), and when Portugal is also witnessing a lack of investment in research into some of these more serious problems (such as resistant depression or addictions), we cannot allow history to repeat itself. In other words, we cannot allow recreational approaches, without scientific or medical support, or a lack of adequate regulation to threaten what is one of the most innovative and hopeful solutions to emerge in recent decades, associated with a compound with psychedelic effects: I'm talking about Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy.
I am well aware, from daily practice, of the challenges facing psychiatric professionals and the medical profession in the field of mental illness, as well as psychologists and psychotherapists in the care of people in severe psychological distress. With the existing solutions and all the scientific "weapons" at their disposal, Portuguese psychiatrists have done an extraordinary job in the face of challenges that were impossible to imagine, such as the long-term consequences of a global pandemic and the inevitable impact of large-scale lockdowns. We all know very well how persistent we need to be in finding new solutions, how essential it is to invest in research and what a mistake it would be to turn our backs on a new perspective of therapeutic intervention with as much potential as that already scientifically demonstrated by the combination of psychotherapy and ketamine.
But if this unique opportunity is not to be missed, it is essential to close ranks in favor of regulated use, based on scientific evidence and clinical practices with solid evidence, and supervised by qualified mental health professionals, also in this specific area of interventions using substances that modify states of consciousness. When it comes to mental health and defending the rights and interests of people in pain, scientific rigour must be called for, but above all clinical practice must be characterized by the highest ethical values of respect and care.
Only through rigorous clinical practice in mental health, open debate, information, research and scientific evidence can Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy exist for the benefit of the individual with psychiatric illness and for mental health professionals too, and that is the only way we are interested in it existing in Portugal. Just as it seems essential to us that scientific research is developed at a national level, specifically with solid partnerships, as has already been established with ISPA - Instituto Universitário and ISBE - Instituto de Saúde Baseada na Evidência, taking as an example what Awakn Life Sciences is already doing at an international level with entities such as Imperial College, the University of Exeter or the NHS (the British national health service, which can serve as a reference here).
We know there are no miracles, we can't promise them. And we know that this treatment, unfortunately, is not the answer for all people and all mental health problems - an initial medical assessment is essential and that patients have all the data to exercise informed consent. But we also know that it brings unavoidable innovation, that there are success stories, that there can be safe access to innovation, that we can all work on developing high standards of practice, and that in cases where other solutions have already failed, for patients facing complex problems that have resisted other therapeutic approaches, Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy, when practiced with high standards of clinical practice and with medical and psychological supervision throughout the process, is a new hope and an added value for society.
