Take a trip: Exploring psychedelic drugs

The Psychedelic Experience

In case you somehow missed it, we're in the midst of a major mental health crisis. According to the WHO, more than 264 million people globally suffer from depression (and that was before a global pandemic turned our worlds upside down).

Recently, experts have discovered that mainstream treatment options aren't the only mechanisms that can help with psychological healing. Believe it or not, psychedelic therapies are a very real (and effective) alternative to conventional approaches.

When you think about psychedelics, you’re likely picturing a trip like we've seen in the movies, complete with rainbow filters, a fish-eye lens (so everything looks warped), and distorted voices.

But in reality, it’s not quite like that.

Psychedelics were once highly stigmatized, and now, they just might be the future of mental health care. The psychedelics industry is already gaining momentum: a recent report found that the U.S. psychedelic drug market is expected to reach US $10.75 billion by 2027.

Although it’s still not super common, psychedelic drugs are being used to treat various mental health disorders, like depression, panic disorder, PTSD and opiate addictions.

So how did psychedelic drugs become a game changer in mental health treatment? We’ll get to that, with the expert guidance of psychotherapist Sabina Pillai. But first, it’s important to understand what psychedelic drugs are and how they work.

Psych You Out

Psychedelics are drugs that expand your consciousness by enhancing or changing the way you perceive things. Oftentimes, they can alter your energy levels and incite spiritual, out-of-body experiences. (Trippy.) They can also be really grounding by making you feel a deeper connection to the Earth and other surroundings.

There are two categories of psychedelics: entheogens (natural, plant-based) and synthetic.

Here are a few you should know:

LSD: Lysergic acid diethylamide, otherwise known as LSD or acid, is a synthetic hallucinogen made from mould found on grains. It usually comes in pill form.

Magic mushrooms: Psilocybin is the magic in the mushrooms that makes you hallucinate. Shrooms can make you feel either relaxed and spiritual or paranoid and nervous. But be careful: they can often be toxic, and in some cases, lethal.

Peyote: Otherwise known as mescaline, peyote is a natural hallucinogenic psychedelic that comes from certain cactus species. People on it usually have altered perceptions of space and time, and exist in a state of euphoria.

DMT: Dimethyltryptamine is a plant-based psychedelic found in tree bark and nuts in Central and South America. It’s nicknamed the “businessman’s lunch,” as the effects usually last only an hour.

Ayahuasca: Ayahuascais a brewed tea made from the leaves of the Psychotria viridis shrub along with the stalks of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine. People usually travel to tropical destinations to take it and are often guided by a shaman for a...spiritually enlightening experience.

MDMA/ecstasy/molly: MDMA became popular in the rave scene for its mood-enhancing and stimulant effects, which are far more pronounced than those of other psychedelics. It can also cause hallucinations and delusions.

PCP: Phencyclidine is a mind-altering, dissociative hallucinogenic drug. It was originally developed as an anesthetic, but people needed to stop using it when they realized it had some serious neurotoxic side effects. So they went back to the drawing board and created ketamine.

Ketamine: Structurally, ketamine is very similar to PCP, minus the dangerous ingredients. It’s legal and very commonly used in medical settings as a sedative. Now, it’s being used to treat mental illness. (We’ll be talking about it the most, so stay tuned.)

Tripping Through Time

Psychedelic use dates back to ancient times — we’re talking like 4000 BC. Psychedelics have been part of human history for thousands of years in the context of spirituality, healing, and celebration of transitions. North and South American Indigenous culture was the first to use peyote and mushrooms to heal their communities. In Central America, the Aztecs even called mushrooms “the flesh of the gods.”

There was a serious psychedelic boom from 1897 to 1971, when scientists were making major headway in the discovery of psychedelic drugs, including mescaline, MDMA, LSD, psilocybin, and ketamine. Once they noted the positive effects of these drugs, they began advocating to use them in medicinal settings to treat conditions like alcohol use disorder.

However, efforts to integrate psychedelics into conventional medicine got a ton of pushback from governments around the world, and they started criminalizing the drugs in response. In 1971, all psychedelics became illegal around most parts of the world (thus beginning the War on Drugs and the Prozac nation).

After a few decades of lull, researchers in the mid-2000s decided to pick up where they left off. They found that psychedelics showed great promise in the treatment of PTSD and depression, prompting many countries to reassess the decision to criminalize them.

Barely Legal

MDMA and psilocybin have achieved breakthrough therapy status in the U.S., thanks to research organizations like the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Study (MAPS). The organization is in the later stage of the FDA approval process, so clearly, the research has a lot of promise.

The U.S. also has ketamine clinics all over the place.

Here in Canada, we’re surprisingly a bit more conservative and have pretty serious regulations around the use of these medicines.

However, a Canadian organization called TheraPsil has been able to outsmart the feds. The non-profit assists palliative patients in getting exemptions from the government so they can access psilocybin to come to terms with the end of their lives. (A 2016 Johns Hopkins study revealed that 83% of 51 participants with cancer-related anxiety or depression reported significant increases in well-being six months after a single dose, and 67% said it was one of the most meaningful experiences of their lives.)

Thanks to TheraPsil, Health Canada has granted exemptions to 27 Canadians across five provinces.

You can currently access MDMA and psilocybin only through clinical trials (or the black market), and at present, ketamine is the only legal psychedelic option. When combined with psychotherapy, it can have incredible effects on symptoms of mental illness.

That’s where Sabina Pillai comes in — a psychotherapist at Field Trip Health who supports clients by facilitating psychedelic-enhanced therapy as a process of healing, recovery, and self-discovery.

“As a psychotherapist, I see clients who are disillusioned with the mental health treatment options they’ve tried in the past,” says Pillai. “Psychedelics are a great way to gently and compassionately explore those deeper sources of their current struggles.”

Journey to the Other Side

So how does it work?

“If you know anything about psychedelics, mindset and setting are just as important parts of the experience,” says Pillai.

Before providing a customized dose of ketamine, Sabina sits down with her clients to help them set clear intentions on why they’re engaging in this treatment. This could be for various reasons: to reconnect with themselves and the people around them, gain new perspectives, experience love and compassion (sometimes for the first time), or understand their place in the world.

“This experience can help people bring these abstract insights into their lives so they can actually start making changes.”

Then, when the ketamine kicks in, it accelerates the psychotherapeutic process by getting really into your subconscious (even though you’re conscious and aware the whole time). “Ketamine works on the NMDA receptors and alters the function of glutamate in the brain. This is different from antidepressants, which work on the serotonin system,” says Pillai.

At low doses, ketamine can help people open up, access their emotions and forgotten memories, and get a bird’s-eye view of their issues. At higher doses, it can be a classic psychedelic in the way you might think of it. One might experience colours, patterns, and symbolic or abstract images. Some people may even have a peak mystical experience where they feel connected to everything around them.

“It quiets their ego, which can be such a source of judgment, frustration, and self-criticism,” says Pillai. “Quieting that part of ourselves helps us be present.”

Pillai says she’s seen people undergo life-altering transformations and huge shifts in how they see themselves.

Drug Warning

But Pillai emphasizes that psychedelic treatment isn’t for everyone.

“People have some negative connotations around it because it does have the potential for abuse and addiction when done recreationally,” says Pillai.

While this is true (and the reason they administer the drugs in a medical model), it's worth noting that psychedelics are proven to be less addictive than alcohol.

Still, some people have concerns they’ll get hooked, that it may make their symptoms worse, or that it just won’t be helpful.

“Those are some misconceptions,” she says. “I don’t think they’re founded. I think that it has much more to do with the fact that these medicines have been criminalized.”

Get Psyched

As a society, we’re coming around. Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith has been pushing the government to legalize illicit drugs for years. Canada’s Association of Chiefs of Police even gave him its endorsement, saying it supports this decriminalization in favour of health-based alternatives, adding that addiction issues should be handled by the health care system, not the criminal justice one. (Makes a lot of sense if you think about it.)

Public opinion is evolving, too. Last summer, almost 15,000 Canadians signed a House of Commons petition calling on the government to legalize psychoactive plants and fungi. But, the government shot it down. (Shocker.)

Pillai has seen people’s opinions transform firsthand. “They have seen that their fears were unfounded. They also see that when you approach these experiences thoughtfully with the appropriate support and guidance, they can be incredibly beneficial.”

She also says it’s still important to keep an open mind while holding a prudent perspective and to approach these experiences with thoughtfulness and conscientiousness.

Psychedelics are ushering in a paradigm shift in terms of how we even think about mental health and health care and how we relate to one another and the world. So far, the results are encouraging and open up a whole new world of possibilities. But before trying any of these treatments, always remember to consult your doctor.

If you do decide to dabble, we wish you a nice trip!