Psychedelics for Soldiers with Trauma

From TIME magazine:

Research suggests that the psychedelic drug MDMA, an empathogenic stimulant also known as Molly or ecstasy, can spark changes in the brain that induce a childlike state of neuroplasticity and help forge new neural connections.

(It could well be approved for PTSD by the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration in August after two advanced stage trials showed significant benefits.)

Researchers are also studying other psychedelics as well, like the powerful drug ibogaine.

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Psychedelics, Psychosis and Manic Symptoms

A new study analyzed data from the Swedish Twin Registry, a national dataset that includes self-reported drug use and psychotic and manic symptom occurrence.

The researchers’ analyses found no significant association between psychedelic use and psychotic symptoms, but in comparing identical twin pairs in which one had taken psychedelics while the other had not, the twin who’d tried psychedelics was more likely to report experiencing manic symptoms.

In the twin data researchers reviewed, mania was also strongly correlated with a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia and to bipolar I disorder.

In other words, those who experienced manic symptoms after psychedelic use may have been more genetically prone to mental illnesses.

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