Prince Harry has spoken openly about his drug experiments. He wants to have established that behind his “massively filtered perception” lies another world that is just as real but twice as beautiful. He also noted that this experience played a central role in overcoming mental health problems. However, experts warn explicitly against these substances…
In his biography “Reserve”, Britain’s Prince Harry reports on experiences with psychedelic drugs: “Under the influence of such substances I was able to leave behind the rigid ideas of the world.” Mentally that helped him a lot. The 38-year-old recently said this in an online conversation with Canadian trauma expert Gabor Maté, about a topic that has been hyped for some time.
Do drugs help with mental illness?
Hopes are pinned on illegal substances such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms), MDMA (ecstasy) and LSD: do they have the potential to help against various mental illnesses? Against depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorders and addictions or post-traumatic stress disorders? According to the depression guideline, previous findings were not sufficient to warrant use outside of clinical trials.
Risk versus benefit
In Britain, Harry’s statements were criticized, according to the “Daily Mail” there are fears of an increased interest in quack therapies. In the book, Harry mentions mushrooms and the hallucinogenic potion Ayahuasca (DMT). He calls the application “purely medical”, but the drugs are illegal in many countries.
This brings back memories of 2009: two men died of an overdose of ecstasy during an illegal “drug therapy” in Berlin. Five other people were hospitalized with poisoning. The convicted doctor had weighed the medicine incorrectly.
A possible effectiveness against certain diseases must first be demonstrated in larger clinical studies. The question is, for example, whether the effect goes beyond the effect of a dummy drug and whether the benefit is greater than with existing therapies. Researchers want to know how long possible effects last and how unwanted side effects influence the risk-benefit ratio. The right dose is also important.
New hope in untreatable depression
A study on psilocybin is being conducted by the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, which also involves the Charité in Berlin. It is about depression, the treatment of which has so far been unsuccessful. According to the study website, the substance causes a state similar to a daydream for a few hours, often associated with heightened emotions. There is no evidence that the substance is addictive. The results are expected to be available in 2024, says study coordinator Michael Koslowski of Charité.
The use of the anesthetic and painkiller ketamine, also known as a ‘party drug’, is more advanced. In people with treatment-resistant depression, it can be administered intravenously, under the skin or since late 2019 as a nasal spray (then as esketamine) under certain conditions. The advantage is that the effect occurs quickly. For example, the gift results in patients being cut off from their environment for a while.
“With ketamine, we have had great success with those affected. I see it as a valuable enrichment of the therapeutic options,” says Andreas Reif, director of the Clinic for Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy at the University Hospital in Frankfurt. “Therapies of this kind should always be embedded in an overall psychiatric treatment,” continues Reif .
Self-experiment extremely risky
In other words, you should never view a self-directed drug trip as a simple solution to complex psychological problems. On the contrary. That can backfire. Self-experiments appeared more and more often on portals such as YouTube, reports Koslowski of the Charité. That is considered very risky. Followers ran the risk of dangerous complications: anxiety reactions, psychoses, accidents and risks to the heart, for example with too much or a mixture of several substances.
But: “Do not demonize substances”
According to current knowledge, the drugs are not a savior for all patients, says Reif, who is on the board of the German Association for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Neurology. “But you shouldn’t demonize them either. We should be happy with any additional medicine we have available.” From Reif’s point of view, more psychedelics are likely to be added for use in psychiatry in the future. Experts say that with psilocybin, for example, it will be a matter of years.
Source: Krone
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