The study, entitled “Increased global integration in the brain after psilocybin therapy for depression,” was published in Nature Medicine on April 11. This study analyzed two other studies to learn more about how psilocybin affected the involved individuals. The first study was conducted as an open-label trial with 10mg and 25mg of psilocybin, taken seven days apart. The second study was a double-blind phase II randomized controlled trial that compared psilocybin therapy against the effects of escitalopram, which is used to treat both depression and anxiety disorder. “In both trials, the antidepressant response to psilocybin was rapid, sustained and correlated with decreases in fMRI brain network modularity, implying that psilocybin’s antidepressant action may depend on a global increase in brain network integration,” the study abstract states.

The study explains that patients who are diagnosed with depression “often exhibit a negative cognitive bias, characterized by pessimism, poor cognitive flexibility, rigid thought patterns and negative fixations regarding ‘self’ and the future.” The newest study explored brain scan results, and found that there was increased brain activity during treatment, as well as up to three weeks after treatment ended (referred to as an “opening up” effect). Both of the reviewed studies found “decreased brain modularity” and “correlated with improvements in depressive symptomatology.” These results were found in both of the studies that were analyzed, confirming their hypothesis.

Senior author of the study and former Head of the Centre for Psychedelic Research at the Imperial College London, Professor Robin Carhart-Harris, explained the researchers’ findings. “The effect seen with psilocybin is consistent across two studies, related to people getting better, and was not seen with a conventional antidepressant,” Carhart-Harris shared. “In previous studies we had seen a similar effect in the brain when people were scanned whilst on a psychedelic, but here we’re seeing it weeks after treatment for depression, which suggests a ‘carry over’ of the acute drug action.”

Current head of the department, Professor David Nutt, also provided a statement regarding their evidence of how psilocybin works, in comparison to common antidepressants. “These findings are important because for the first time we find that psilocybin works differently from conventional antidepressants—making the brain more flexible and fluid, and less entrenched in the negative thinking patterns associated with depression,” Nutt added. “This supports our initial predictions and confirms psilocybin could be a real alternative approach to depression treatments.”

The researchers did conclude by sharing that these results are promising, but more research is necessary in order to learn more about psilocybin as an effective treatment. “We don’t yet know how long the changes in brain activity seen with psilocybin therapy last and we need to do more research to understand this,” Cahart-Harris stated. “We do know that some people relapse, and it may be that after a while their brains revert to the rigid patterns of activity we see in depression.”

Psilocybin is rapidly becoming a new option for its therapeutic value. A different research study found that its properties are very similar to that of LSD, although LSD is known to be more potent. Many organizations are currently working toward getting psilocybin rescheduled, such as the recent International Therapeutic Psilocybin Rescheduling Initiative that was recently launched earlier this year. In September last year, even the DEA proposed to increase its quota of access to cannabis and psilocybin in order to increase its research efforts. Many advocates and organizations are working on a state level as well to bring awareness to the topic, such as Dr. Bronner providing funds legalizing psilocybin in Connecticut.

The post Study Finds Psilocybin Increases Brain Network Integration for Depression Treatment appeared first on High Times.

The post Study Finds Psilocybin Increases Brain Network Integration for Depression Treatment appeared first on Paradise Found.

The International Therapeutic Psilocybin Rescheduling Initiative (ITPRI) has launched a campaign on January 11 to see medical mushroom reform happen on a global scale.

The organization argues that the antiquated 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances Act is long overdue for some changes. While the Act was created to target drugs that are harmful, ITPRI argues that recent therapeutic evidence and effectiveness of psilocybin warrants a change in scheduling.

“In most countries, legal control of psilocybin results from its Schedule I status under the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances,” ITPRI wrote in a press release. “Meant for dangerous drugs which create an especially serious risk to public health and whose therapeutic value is little to none, Schedule I drugs are subject to strict limits on their scientific and medical use. Schedule I licensing, safe-custody, security, manufacturing, quantity, and import/export restrictions result in a level of regulatory control and oversight that is drastically more onerous than for the Convention’s other three schedules. As a result, researchers wishing to study psilocybin face numerous regulatory hurdles which add significantly to the cost, complexity, and duration of research and can negatively impact ethical approvals, funding and collaboration.”

According to ITPRI, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances Act describes a Schedule I substance as “Substances whose liability to abuse constitutes an especially serious risk to public health and which have very limited, if any, therapeutic usefulness.”

Despite the growing potential of psilocybin as a medical treatment, progress has been hindered by the UN’s 51-year-old agreement. Professor David Nutt, head of Imperial College London’s Centre for Psychedelic Research and Founder of Drug Science, described the setback. “Psilocybin’s Schedule I status has severely limited—and continues to limit—neuroscience research and the development of treatments for patients.” Drug Science is one of many partners supporting this effort, including Beckley Foundation, MAPS, Mind Medicine Australia, Nierika A.C., Open Foundation and Osmond Foundation.

ITPRI’s plan is to inspire nations of the UN to initiate a review. “To ensure equity of access to psilocybin as a global public good, ITPRI is engaging, educating and mobilizing officials and other stakeholders without the ecosystem of UN institutions, member state permanent missions and NGOs that will be critical to achieving a review and change in scheduling,” the organization says of its rescheduling plan. Once the process has begun, the World Health Organization (WHO) will present a critical review, which could result in a recommendation to reschedule if two-thirds of the member countries agree.

ITPRI Co-founder and Chair of the Board of Directors, Christopher Koddermann, expressed the certainty that the ITPRI’s new campaign will help move things along. “Given today’s scientific understanding of psilocybin’s high potential therapeutic value and low risk of dependence, a change of its status as a Schedule I drug is long overdue.”

In December 2020, the UN Commission for Narcotic Drugs has voted to reclassify cannabis, and more recently, the UN voted against a ban on kratom in December 2021. Furthermore, many states and cities in the U.S. have embraced decriminalization of mushrooms to allow medical patients to gain easier access to psilocybin mushrooms as a treatment. The state of Oregon was one of the first to embrace psilocybin mushrooms legalization.

Businesses such as Dr. Bronner’s are going all-in to support psilocybin legalization, both in Connecticut as well as throughout the U.S. Canada has even eased access for mushrooms as well, thanks in part to the rising amount of evidence that suggests its potential as a medicine. The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed consideration of psilocybin therapy last year. All of this and more are contributing factors to the world’s changing view of psilocybin as medicine.

The post Organization Aims to Reschedule Psilocybin Mushrooms in UN Categorization appeared first on High Times.

The post Organization Aims to Reschedule Psilocybin Mushrooms in UN Categorization appeared first on Paradise Found.