Psychedelic drugs like LSD and psilocybin, the active compound in 'magic mushrooms' have shown positive results in combating mental illness, such as depression and addiction, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Brain imaging research shows these psychoactive substances change the activity levels of certain parts of the brain, reducing activity in an area known as the default mode network. This section is responsible for many meta-processes in the brain and acts as the 'corporate executive' that controls the ego that researchers say can become hyperactive and rigid in those that have a mental illness. Psychoactive therapy can help loosen this grip and help a person 'reboot' the brain's mental framework causing the issue.
Depression and anxiety are common problems for those who have cancer or other terminal illnesses because they struggle with the idea of their mortality. Phase 2 clinical trials conducted at Johns Hopkins and NYU used a single high dose of psilocybin with 80 cancer patient volunteers to take them on a controlled psychic journey to measure the effectiveness of the compound. The results showed clinically significant reductions in anxiety and depression for at least six months that were directly correlated with how intense the volunteers reported their experience to be. These results indicate that not only the chemical but also the experience itself was essential to the therapy and there have been few to no psychiatric treatments that have caused such positive effects for so long.
A similar study at Johns Hopkins, this time centered around addictive behavior, gave 15 volunteer smokers two or three doses of psilocybin with a controlled schedule and a setting that encouraged a more inward psychedelic journey. Most participants said that they experienced a dramatic, all-encompassing event that allowed them to change their whole life's perspective. While everyone understood before the trial that he or she should stop smoking because it was harmful, the experience shifted that knowledge into an unshakable conviction. The quit rate during the study was 80 percent at six months and 67 percent at one-year, a far better result than any other treatment currently available.