Magic Mushrooms and Psychological Health

‘Magic Mushrooms’ Can Improve Psychological Health Long Term
In their study, the Hopkins scientists were able to reliably induce transcendental experiences in volunteers, which offered long-lasting psychological growth and helped people find peace in their lives — without the negative effects.
As described by early advocates of the use of psychedelics — from ancient shamans to Timothy Leary and the Grateful Dead — the psilocybin experience typically involves a sense of oneness with the universe and with others, a feeling of transcending time, space and other limitations, coupled with a sense of holiness and sacredness.
To zero in on the “sweet spot” of dosing, Griffiths started half the volunteers on a low dose and gradually increased their doses over time (with placebo sessions randomly interspersed); the other half started on a high dose and worked their way down. Those who started on a low dose found that their experiences tended to get better as the dose increased, probably because they learned what to expect and how to handle it. But people who started with high doses were more likely to experience anxiety and fear (though these feeling didn’t last long and sometimes resolved into euphoria or a sense of transcendence). “If we back the dose down a little, we have just as much of the same positive effects. The properties of the mystical experience remain the same, but there’s a fivefold drop in anxiety and fearfulness,” Griffiths says.
Some past experiments with psychedelics in the ’60s used initial high doses of the drugs — the “blast people away with a high dose” model, says Griffiths — to try to treat addiction. “Some of the early work in addictions was done with the idea of, ‘O.K., let’s model the ‘bottoming-out’ crisis and make use of the dark side of [psychedelic] compounds. That didn’t work,” Griffiths says.

Teaching is not a business

An opinion piece in the NY Times by David L. Kirp (Teaching is not a business) list successful school improvement projects - where the accent is on building human ties with the pupils.

The kids who beat autism

The NY Times has an article The kids who beat autism about how some kids "outgrow" autism.

How extreme isolation warps the mind

The BBC has review (How extreme isolation warps the mind) of the book The Power of Others by Michael Bond (Oneworld Publications). It discusses how disorienting isolation can be. But it also mentions the big difference between people. Some become crazy from a week of isolation in prison. Others choose isolation in solo sailing, mountaineering or meditation and seem to thrive on it.

Dealing with pain without drugs

A soldier's war on pain relates how doctors are less relying on drugs nowadays for chronic patients. The Veteran Administration is running in front in this area because it is not dependent on insurers and for that reason more free to experiment and innovate. Problem is that some patients get ever increasing doses of those pills and also increasing numbers of pills to deal with side effects. This turns them into a kind of zombies. Recommendation is a combination of alternative therapies (like acupuncture, baths and non-opioid medicine) and accepting that experiencing the pain may be better than the alternative of being drugged. Some quotes: A 2008 study by the Mayo Clinic found that patients who were weaned off opioids and put through a non-drug-based program experienced less pain than while on opioids and also significantly improved in function. Other studies have had similar findings. Programs like his are initially more expensive than opioids, and insurers are loath to invest in patients when they do not know if they will be their customers next year. The drugs do not seem to help many with chronic pain. “I think that the more appropriate use of opioids is in the acute pain setting and the surgical setting,” said Dr. Seal, the expert in San Francisco. “I am not convinced that opioids are any better than non-opioids” for chronic pain, she said.

The Phineas Gage story

Slate has a story (Phineas Gage, Neuroscience’s Most Famous Patient) that is inspired by a book (An Odd Kind of Fame: Stories of Phineas Gage about this man who got a metal rod through his brain and became a fixture in every psychology textbook to illustrate the effects of the loss of the frontal lobes. According to the article very little is actually known about Gage. There are many claims, but they are often contradicting each other and without proof. Gage's story is often told as that much of his frontal brain was destroyed and that afterwards he started behaving badly, cursing a lot and losing his job. But the pictures that have been found from him after the accident show a well dressed man and it is now known that he later found another steady job. So the harmful effect of damage to the frontal brain may be exaggerated. Also the stories of Gage and others may actually be illustrations that even after major injury the brain holds a lot of capability to repair itself.

Obesity starts young

An article (Obesity Is Found to Gain Its Hold in Earliest Years) studied the weight of a number of children for many years. Conclusion: children that are obese when they are five years old tend to stay that way. And few children become obese after they are eleven years old. This would mean that those programs to have less sugared drinks at high school will do little to reduce the obesity epidemic. It is important to start much earlier in the life of children. Postscript: according to this article (Obesity Rate for Young Children Plummets 43% in a Decade obesity among the youngest children is falling. In other age groups it is stagnating.