References

Psychedelic Renaissance [AL1]

The main duty of any university course istodemonstrating demonstrate of some scientific spherearea. This is the reason why many language classes are associated with some boring cramming in non-linguistic universities. But talking about my English classes, I could evaluate them as both effective and curious. Reading neuropsychology articles and listening to some Jordan Peterson lectures caused my interest in psychedelic therapy. I got into this theme and discovered some serious studies, foreshadowing the new psychedelic Renaissance.

First of all, it’s important to reveal the concept of the Renaissance. Such definition is given by TEDx lecturer Stephen Bright[AL2] and it is connected with the history of studying psychedelic substances. The first big step in the research of psychedelics was made by the scientists of 60’s. Most of them were convinced in their healing and open-minding-opening characteristics. The most famous clinical psychologist at Harvard University studying LSD was[AL3] Timothy Leary. In his works he tried to show the possible helping effect of LSD and psilocybin. As for me, I would especially underline his Concord Prison Experiment (Doblin, 1998) and long-term studies of addiction. Despite his scientific importance, Timothy Leary was too fanatic about psychedelics. He was soon fired from the Harvard University. From this moment all practical researches of LSD and psilocybin were strictly controlled by government of the US. Nowadays, more and more scientists conduct experiments withpsychedelic substances. In my opinion, it is connected with the greater liberalization of the US and the legalization of light drugs. The question of the usage of psychedelics for mind expansionalways thrilled people. Newer improvements of research conditions give us the opportunity to check it using scientific methods. So, the concept of the psychedelic Renaissance is quite clear.

Adhering to the rules, I would describe some of the most significant results of psychedelic studies. The pioneer of psychedelic therapy is Stanislav Grof. His experience of usage of LSD in psychotherapy showed some interesting results. In his work called “The Adventure of Self-Discovery: Dimensions of Consciousness and New Perspectives in Psychotherapy and Inner Exploration” (Grof, S., 1988) he writes about fetal and neonatal experiences of the person. Such feelings can be extremely significant for the person’s life and if we are able to control them, we will gain access to deep-hidden psychological problems. Moreover, in 2016, Johns Hopkins University (Nichols and otherset al., 2017) and New York University (Griffithsand otherset al., 2016) conducted large randomized, placebo-controlled studies. These two studies are some of the first large controlled studies measuring the effects of psychedelic therapy on depression and anxiety in cancer patients. Across clinician-ratings and self-ratings, the psychedelic treatment produced statistically significant lowered anxiety and depression, with sustenance for at least 6 months. Importantly, adverse effects from the drugs were not noted. These studies also attributed the efficacy in part to patients experiencing a “mystical experience”. This truly introspective method of self-healing plays a great role in psychedelic therapy.

In spite of this, a lot of people are against the usage of psychedelics. The main argument of proponents of prohibition of psychedelics is the chance of getting “bad trip” experience. Drug-induced temporary psychosis is a really dangerous thing. It can damage person’s mind and leave him with a variety of psychological issues. In the studies of Murrie (2020) it is shown, that such experience can cause schizophrenia. As we can see, such traumatic thing is important to be controlled. The problem is that “bad trip” experience is unpredictable, and person’s mind is a too difficult system for the search of one general reason of it.

To sum up, I want to underline the big future of psychedelic therapy. Psychedelic substances are one of the most mysterious things in the world and nowadays it is impossible to evaluate them adequately.

References

Doblin, R. (1998). Dr. Leary's Concord Prison Experiment: a 34-year follow-up study. Journal of psychoactive drugs, 30(4), 419-426.

Griffiths, R. R., Johnson, M. W., Carducci, M. A., Umbricht, A., Richards, W. A., Richards, B. D., ... [AL4] & Klinedinst, M. A. (2016). Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer: A randomized double-blind trial. Journal of psychopharmacology, 30(12), 1181-1197.

Grof, S. (1988). The adventure of self-discovery: Dimensions of consciousness and new perspectives in psychotherapy and inner exploration. Suny Press.

Murrie, B., Lappin, J., Large, M., & Sara, G. (2020). Transition of Substance-Induced, Brief, and Atypical Psychoses to Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Schizophrenia bulletin, 46(3), 505-516.

Nichols, D. E., Johnson, M. W., & Nichols, C. D. (2017). Psychedelics as medicines: an emerging new paradigm. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 101(2), 209-219.

[AL1]Plagiarism 35, 4 % L Wikipedia, Karl?!

[AL2]There should be a reference to this TED talk

[AL3]Why was?

[AL4]???