So far, evidence suggests they could treat many mental health conditionsfrom depression to addiction, to PTSD.
Matthew Johnson, PhD
Its not that we found these things didnt work.
Its more that they were sacrificed because of how central psychedelics became in the culture wars at the time.
Photo by Johns Hopkins Medicine
Johnson points out a few reasons psychedelics got caught in the crosshairs back then.
For starters, they were much stronger than they are today.
I have some concern over the cultogenic effect of these compounds, he says.
Its in dire straits right now.
Even within the National Institutes for Mental Health, theres the Research Domain Criteria Project.
We need to focus on what the symptoms within the disorders are fueled by.
Maybe, to a degree, these are different ways of dealing with the same stuff.
So psychedelics can be powerful tools to examine what trans diagnostic factors might be affected".
Johnson ultimately sees a healthy future where we have routine mental health checks.
How it is a thing to have a physical checkup every year but not a mental health checkup?
That future would also include an understanding that the line betweenpositive psychologyand treating of disorders is blurry.
We are all susceptible to deteriorating and falling into unhealthy mental traps.
We need not just preventative care, but maintenance and strengthening of our mental health.
Always the scientist, he exercises with the law of entropy in mind.
You cant bank this stuff, he says.
It has to be an ongoing thing.
Additionally, he says he largely avoids alcohol.
Even if youre not satisfying criteria foralcoholism, he says, theres still cancer risk and mental health effects.
When you think of that, youre less likely to engage with it.
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