CLEVELAND, Ohio. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Mental health struggles impact more than 60 million Americans every year. In 2023, 105,000 lives were lost to drug overdoses, and thousands more to suicide. For many, traditional medications either don’t work or take too long to provide relief. Now, doctors are exploring psychedelics — powerful compounds that could transform mental health treatment by delivering rapid, life-changing results.
Some researchers believe it’s the main compound responsible for psychedelic effects of magic mushrooms that may hold the key to helping people who suffer from depression, anxiety and addiction.
“A lot of patients come to me, and they say, you know, I’ve tried a lot of medications. I’m tired of taking a medication every day,” recalled Brian Barnett, MD, staff psychiatrist and clinical director of the psychiatric treatment resistance program at Cleveland Clinic.
The Cleveland Clinic is part of a multisite trial studying psilocybin to help patients with treatment-resistant depression. The compound influences a patient’s mood, cognition and perception, which doctors say makes therapy more effective.
“It looks like psychedelics increase something called neuroplasticity which is essentially flexibility in thinking and an ability to learn more easily, almost as if your brain returned to a childlike state. And that goes on for several weeks after the psychedelic administration,” explained Dr. Barnett.
Patients take one capsule of psilocybin and are closely monitored throughout the day. But unlike traditional antidepressants, psilocybin doesn’t seem to cause common side effects after dosing day and:
“People often feel better the same day of treatment,” said Dr. Barnett.
He says he believes the future of mental health treatment could be on the verge of a major shift.
“I think it is going to be a big part of the future of psychiatry,” Dr. Barnett told Ivanhoe.
Clinical trials are still ongoing, so experts say these drugs should only be taken in controlled medical settings.
More than a hundred companies are currently studying psychedelics, and experts caution against self-experimentation, as they can cause mania and psychosis. They can also impair judgment so people can have accidents such as falls, drowning, and car accidents if driving while intoxicated.
Contributors to this news report include: Marsha Lewis, Producer; Roque Correa, Editor.
Sources:
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/mental-illness
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db522.htm
* For More Information, Contact: Brian Barnett, MD
Staff Psychiatrist & Clinical Director of the Psychiatric Treatment Resistance Program at Cleveland Clinic
and
Halle Bishop
Project Manager IV for Corporate Communications at Cleveland Clinic
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