Biochemistry and Cognition

On the topic of giving psychoactive drugs as therapeutic agents in a healthcare system that needs some serious help....

What if therapists take psychedelics with their patients? Could this act help break down the barriers between the two and dissolve the social constructs that label the patient as mad or sick?  As labels suddenly lose their power, what is left is two humans with their own legitimate inner landscapes to share.

The idea raises a lot of questions about mental illness.

One resounding characteristic of most mental illness is isolation. The feeling of being stuck in a head space to which the outside world cannot relate.  The experience of connection, whether it is mediated by a drug, could help alleviate the feeling of being alone.  Feeling less sick and alienated could be quite healing for patients.  Whether or not tripping with a psychotherapy patient is an accessible option, the concept of breaking down barriers that divide can surely be extracted from this. 

If LSD allow users to be in "solidarity with the universe" as explained by scientist Aldous Huxley, than it could be one of many tools used to mend broken communities and welcome in outcasts.  Likewise, during Ayehuasca ceremonies, community supports the shifting of consciousness that allows individuals to access parts of themselves that are dormant and/or find a new way of seeing.  

Shifting to the topic of ecstasy as a therapeutic agent for PTSD recovery seems to line up with philosophy of EMDR.  Both attempt to retrain the nervous system to experience memories in new different way.  In the case of ecstasy, the patent is transforming the physiological experience of a once excruciatingly uncomfortable memory into a positive one.  The British Journal The Lancet Psychiatry describes studies using 2 guides to a patient that takes ecstasy after their third therapy session.  By inducing a feeling of wellbeing and safety, the drug helps patents unpack painful memories and move forward with their healing process.