Author: Susana Torrão
Saber Viver, November 2024
The use of psychedelic drugs has been gaining momentum in the treatment of mental illness. It is mainly ketamine [or ketamine] that is used in psychotherapy treatments, but studies seem to point to advantages in the clinical use of psilocybin (present in so-called magic mushrooms) in the treatment of resistant depression, addictive behaviors, eating disorders and pain management.
After being used clinically in the middle of the 20th century, psychedelic drugs came to have a bad reputation from the late 1960s onwards. However, in the new millennium new scientific research has shown that the way psychedelic compounds act on the brain can have advantages in the treatment of mental illness. In the last five years, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy has gained popularity and countries such as Australia have also authorized the use of psilocybin (found in some mushrooms).
"When used according to tested, safe and ethical guidelines, [psychedelics] are the next revolution in mental health treatment," says David Nutt, neuroscientist, psychopharmacologist and director of the Neuropsychopharmacology unit at Imperial College, London. Compared to antidepressants, psychedelics work more quickly and, as a general rule, it only takes a few doses for the treatment to take effect, he says.
Escape negativity
In the studies carried out this century, researchers have used imaging tests such as functional magnetic resonance imaging to visualize the regions of the brain that are altered by psychedelics and the extent to which the connections between them are modified. "Psychedelics cause a disruption in repetitive and negative thoughts, so they allow people to escape the thoughts that underlie their depression. And another thing they do is open up to new ways of thinking," says David Nutt, in an interview with Saber Viver.
In order to maintain these new thought patterns, we need to reflect on them. "And therapy helps with that." In fact, it is essential that treatment includes a significant amount of psychotherapy, says the author of the book Psychedelics.
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In Portugal
Although it is not considered a 'classic psychedelic', [ketamine or ketamine] ends up causing similar effects, which has led to it being used as an off-label drug for the treatment of depression in several countries, including Portugal. In Portugal, this type of treatment is available in some private clinics, as well as in the Resistant Depression Unit of the Lisbon Psychiatric Hospital, the Beatriz Ângelo Hospital in Loures, the Janelas Verdes Clinical Center, the Magalhães Lemos Hospital and the São João Hospital, both in Porto.
Nuno Torres, a clinical psychologist [from The Clinic of Change clinical team] and researcher at ISPA, reveals how ketamine came to be used to treat depression. "At times of recovery from anesthesia, dissociative effects began to be noticed in which people had psychedelic experiences. It was discovered that in small doses ketamine has a very fast and effective antidepressant effect," he explains.
[Continued]
Read the full article in the magazine.
