Summary
I'm Aisha Roscoe, and this is a Sunday story from Up First, where we go beyond the news of the day to bring you one big story. Today, we're going to take a trip through the world of psychedelics. Now, for me, that word makes me think of party drugs like LSD and ecstasy and magic mushrooms, you know, people going on a trip far out. But in the last few decades, there's been a surge of research showing.
Key Points
- And I will say, a lot of this research is happening on animals, and researchers think something similar is happening in humans.
- But as much of this research was picking up in the early 2000s, Olson told me these discoveries led to a kind of paradigm shift for modern psychiatry and neuroscience.
- So while scientists are seeing a lot of potential here, some have started to wonder how important this whole trip is.
- And if people could get those same benefits in their brains without tripping at all.
- He co-founded a company called Delix Pharmaceuticals, where he's trying to engineer drugs like psychedelics to remove the trip.
- So, Olson thinks this method could be one way to give more people access to the potential benefits of drugs like psychedelics.
Key Moments
13 percent of Americans over 12 have depression symptoms
The episode cites CDC data showing that around 13 percent of Americans over age 12 have symptoms of depression, highlighting the scale of the mental health crisis that is driving interest in psychedelic therapy as an alternative to daily SSRIs.
"One estimate from the CDC shows around 13% of Americans over the age of 12 have symptoms of depressi"
How psychedelics create new neural connections like spring after winter
Researchers describe how psychedelics promote neuroplasticity by allowing neurons to form new connections, comparing a depressed brain to wintertime with bare trees and psychedelic therapy to spring where new growth emerges.
"Just like neuronal impulses can transfer from one cell to the next very easily."
FDA rejected first psychedelic treatment application citing flawed data
The FDA reviewed and ultimately rejected its first official application for a psychedelic treatment (MDMA-assisted therapy), citing flawed data and questionable research, creating a setback for the psychedelic medicine movement.
"The FDA reviewed its first official application for a psychedelic treatment, a version of ecstasy kn"
