Advances in Treating Mental Illness With Psychedelics

We’re here to inform and encourage so let me get started with News from my psychedelic news sources. It was a big week for the psychedelics industry with two companies, COMPASS PATHWAYS, and CYBIN revealing key research that may shape the next generation of medicine to treat depression and other mental health issues. Some other companies caught some news also: MIND MEDICINE is in phase2 clinical trials for a treatment for opioid withdrawal, and recently announced a new program to develop psychedelic treatments for social anxiety and diagnoses for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). COMPASS PATHWAYS is in phase2 clinical trials with psilocybin (magic mushrooms) therapy to treat both PTSD and TRD (treatment-resistant depression). TRD typically refers to inadequate responses to at least one anti-depressant trial of adequate doses and duration.ps. In clinical practice, up to 50 to 60% don’t achieve “adequate responses”.

COMPASS PATHWAYS. This was the largest psilocybin therapy trial ever conducted. The principal investigator evaluating the trial was Dr. David Hellerstein. Dr. Hellerstein is a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. The largest trial ever conducted; the trial involved 233 patients from 10 countries in North America and Europe. It was to evaluate the efficacy of their psilocybin therapy COMP360. The report is very long and very technical but as Dr. Hellerstein explains “a single dose of psilocybin generated a rapid response that lasted up to 12 weeks”. Encouraging results, I’d say.

CYBIN A new psilocybin analog created by biopharmaceutical company CYBIN shows superior qualities over oral psilocybin for treating mental health disorders, according to pre-clinical data revealed at Wonderland Miami, the largest psychedelic conference ever held. Sounds important to me.

DIAMOND THERAPEUTICS First patients have been dosed in its first-of-a-kind trial evaluating the effects of low doses of psilocybin in humans. The trial aims to identify a safe and non-hallucinogenic dose of psilocybin for psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression,

NOVA MENTIS LIFE SCIENCE CORP. NOVA MENTIS has filed a patent for its diagnostic and therapeutic combination of RNA molecules that encode proteins involved in the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as fragile x syndrome and autism spectrum disorders. The company says the ability to penetrate the unique genetic language that underlies the development of these diseases could lead to breakthrough psychedelic medicines. RNA molecules and encoding proteins are code to me that there is some serious gene editing going on.

I know this all sounds complicated and complex but it’s just to let you know that the beat goes on in the research and development of new, safe, and effective treatments for all forms of mental disease. Trust me, this is not a fad or fancy; I could give you a list of billionaires that are investing millions into these companies. These guys didn’t become billionaires by investing in losers. The biotech world is using AI (artificial intelligence) Supercomputers and gene-editing technology to cut the cost and the time it takes to bring drugs to commercialization. If need be I’m sure that technology will be used to combat mental disease. There’s Always Hope For Mental Illness.

There is more than over/weight and obesity connected to depression; let’s look at another one that we can do something about ourselves. It’s our body, we have sovereignty over it and we should strive to control what we can. Ask my friend Mr. Green about “depression”, maybe he’ll share his story some time.

THE RISE OF SOCIAL MEDIA HELPS FUEL SOARING DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY.

Research shows that social media may play a surprising role in rising rates of depression in young adults. Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Research on Media, Technology, and Health found that young adults aged 19-32 who most frequently check social media are 2.7 times more likely to suffer from depression than those who check it less often. Research also shows that college students who reduced their use of social media suffer from significantly less depression.

Just recently—-in September 2021, it was revealed via a leak of internal documents that years of studies by Facebook found its photo-sharing app Instagram to have harmful effects among a significant portion of young users. The company’s internal research found that “teens blame Instagram for increases in the rate of anxiety and depression”. However, despite the cost in terms of mental health and the proven benefits of cutting back, the use of social media continues to soar all over the world.

This has the potential to make the epidemic of depression and anxiety that has engulfed the world even worse in the years ahead. Remember, 700 million people worldwide suffer from some form of mental disease and I guess social media isn’t helping.

I understand the government of communist China has recognized the problem and put restrictions on the number of hours people can expose themselves to their phones/devices. They even have to have facial scans on their phones so the CAC (government regulating agency) knows what they are looking at and for how many hours a day.

Now we live in a free society and so far we are free to spend as much time on our “devices” as we wish. I just wish people would spend a little less time on their phones and a little more time interacting with real people; flesh and blood human friends and loved ones. Social media, games, Utube, etc. are just a form of addiction. Addiction is addiction no matter be it social media or alcohol and it’s something we can try to take control over. If addiction is too severe we need to seek professional help.

We talk a lot about psylocibin and different psychedelic terms; our goal is to inform and encourage. Next time I think we’ll talk a little about the importance of and the mystery around what we call Magic Mushrooms; there are other mushrooms called Functional Mushrooms that are important for health too. In the meantime give some thought to the time our friends and kids are spending on their phones and maybe speak into it. Some people suggest not giving your kids a smartphone till they’re in their teens. Because we live in this free society it’s up to us. God Bless America; this free and wonderful place we live in.