Psychedelics and Mental Health: A Population Study

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2stick
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Joined: Mon 21st Jan 2013 08:17 pm
Location: Helsinki

Psychedelics and Mental Health: A Population Study

Post by 2stick »

I stumbled upon one research article, this was linked to one Finnish news site (link here) with freely translated healine "Research: Psychoactive substances have no connection to mental issues." might be interesting reading for some of forums psychonauts:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Ad ... ne.0063972


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notsofasteddie
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Re: Psychedelics and Mental Health: A Population Study

Post by notsofasteddie »

Psychedelics Don't Cause Mental Health Problems—And They Might Keep You Sane


New study concludes psychedelics do not increase the risk for mental health problems—and links their long-term use to decreased psychological problems.

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Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/Shots Studio

By April M. Short / Alternet
August 21, 2013 |

A recent scientific study concluded that the use of psychedelic substances like LSD, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), and mescaline (peyote and other cacti)—all classified as dangerous drugs with no medicinal value, or Schedule I substances by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)—does not increase the risk for mental health problems—and the long-term use of some of those drugs was linked to decreased psychological problems.

Researchers supported by the Research Council of Norway published their peer reviewed data online via PLoS One, in a study titled Psychedelics and Mental Health: A Population Study on Tuesday. The authors analyzed data of more than 130,000 people and found 'no link' between the use of psychedelics and mental health issues.

Previous studies have proven that psychedelic substances do not cause brain damage are non-addictive, and can in some cases effectively treat addiction.

Raw Story reported that clinical psychologist Pal-Orjan Johansen of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology said psychedelic use is overall “considered to pose a very low risk.”

“Psychedelics can elicit temporary feelings of anxiety and confusion, but accidents leading to serious injury are extremely rare,” he said.

The researchers drew data from the U.S. National Survey on Drug Use and Health between 2001 and 2004, consisting of 130,152 respondents. Those respondents were selected at random to represent the U.S. adult population.

The results revealed 21,967 of those respondents—13.4 percent— reported ever having used psychedelics.

According to the abstract of the study:

“There were no significant associations between lifetime use of any psychedelics, lifetime use of specific psychedelics (LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, peyote), or past year use of LSD and increased rate of any of the mental health outcomes. Rather, in several cases psychedelic use was associated with lower rate of mental health problems.”

Research on the potential beneficial uses of psychedelics has been ongoing for decades, and studies increasingly turn over promising results.

Raw Story reports that scientists at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine “found psilocybin created positive changes in attitudes, mood, life satisfaction, and behavior that persisted for more than a year.”

In addition, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, led by Charles Grob, MD, showed in a 2011 pilot study that a modest dose of psilocybin given to terminal cancer patients under therapist supervision eased anxiety for up to six months. Participants also reported closer feeling of connection to friends and family members.

A series of ongoing medical studies are currently being conducted on LSD-assisted psychotherapy for a series of mental disorders including addiction, and MDMA-assisted psychotherapy particularly for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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smokini
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Joined: Tue 23rd Jun 2015 03:08 pm

Re: Psychedelics and Mental Health: A Population Study

Post by smokini »

There are more recent studies, i will see and try to find the links again.
I did not found the links to the studies, i was looking for, but found another article (i think it was on Erowid) , which suggest Berberine (info) to be a good supplement to deal with some of the mental side effects (stress esp.) which are experienced during the use of psychedelics
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