Psychoactive researchers say that the incident should serve as a warning to anyone who believes they can overcome a persistent mental illness by taking psychedelic drugs on their own. This is especially true for those who believe that an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot who was accused of trying to bring down a plane midflight had taken “magic mushrooms” before boarding.
Research on psychedelic chemicals as a component of therapy for mental illnesses like addiction, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder has skyrocketed in the last five years. The Food and Drug Administration released draft guidelines in June for creating clinical trials for psychedelic substances, such as MDMA and psilocybin, for the treatment of mood, anxiety, and substance use problems since the early study results have been so encouraging.
It’s unclear if 44-year-old off-duty pilot Joseph Emerson, who admitted to authorities that he had battled melancholy following his unsuccessful effort to turn off the plane’s engines, was attempting to self-medicate by ingesting psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.
However, some psychedelic experts are concerned the risks are being disregarded as states explore legalizing or decriminalizing psilocybin—Oregon clinics started providing psilocybin therapy last summer, and Colorado voters approved legalization in 2022.
“I’ve been monitoring the increasing support for decriminalization and anticipating a story like this to surface,” Dr. Joshua Siegel, a psychiatrist affiliated with Washington University in St. Louis’ psychedelics research program, stated. “Hopefully, this will start a thoughtful discussion about the advantages and disadvantages.”
Psychedelics can produce remarkable results when used under controlled conditions, such as screening for a history of psychosis or bipolar disorder, closely monitoring dosages, being prepared for what to expect, and receiving close medical supervision during the “trip” in addition to psychotherapy, according to researchers.
Anesthesiologist Dr. Boris Heifets, co-director of the Stanford University School of Medicine’s experimental therapeutics lab, described the therapy’s amazing potential for treating a wide spectrum of mental health issues.
However, Heifets noted that there would be advantages and disadvantages to any drug treatment, particularly one as strong as psychedelics. “If you don’t know who it’s not for, there is a significant amount of risk involved.”
According to Heifets, individuals with bipolar disorder and those with a personal or family history of psychosis are not included in the current studies.
There is mounting evidence that psychedelics, in conjunction with psychotherapy, can be efficacious in cases when other treatments are ineffective.
Dr. Joshua Woolley, a psychiatrist and the director of the University of California, San Francisco’s translational psychedelic research program, stated, “We have had very good outcomes in our trials.”
“The trials are very well controlled and the dosing is always facilitated,” Woolley stated. “The patient has a pre-treatment meeting with the therapist, receives education about potential side effects, and has an opportunity to rehearse in the treatment room.”
Psychedelic effects have a prolonged half-life.
According to Woolley, a common misconception regarding psychedelics is that their effects can linger for days, weeks, or even longer after the drug is no longer felt in the body.
British researchers recently published a paper detailing the experiences of 608 individuals who were open to discussing persistent problems that followed psychedelic drug use.
For over eighteen months, a participant reported, “I woke up every morning feeling absolutely terrified.” There were times when the energy of my early anxiousness would make me literally tremble.
An additional participant stated: “I felt totally detached from the body I was occupying, as if the person I was before had vanished from any memory of my senses. In essence, I felt as though I was falling apart entirely. My life has changed, and it never will again.
In the days, weeks, or months following a psychedelic encounter, 15% of individuals reported feeling “derealized,” or confused or unsure of what was real. The researchers noted that occasionally, people experienced the sensation of being in a “dream, afterlife, purgatory, a movie, a computer game, or fake reality.”
Psychedelics’ potential benefits
When alternative treatments fail to help patients recover from mental illness, researchers are unsure of the precise mechanism by which psychedelics function. Theoreticals exist.
According to Woolley, “you can imagine that people with a serious mental illness can get stuck.” “Psychedelics, in our opinion, operate by inducing a “plastic state” in which change is possible.”
According to him, research on animals has demonstrated that psychedelics can cause axons—long, thread-like fibers that carry messages between nerve cells—to begin growing new connections.
“Psychedelics can get the brain out of a state of depression or anxiety, a cycle of negative thoughts, self-perception, moods and behaviors,” according to Siegel, provided the correct conditions are met. “There is an increase in plasticity at the cellular level, which is the molecular equivalent of allowing habits to be flexible and facilitating change,” the author says.
According to Chris Tuell, head of addiction services at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine and professor of psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience, it’s believed that people become “stuck” because the brain is wired to be adept at forming habits.
The brain forms routines because they are essential for life. According to Tuell, the species would not survive if strong connections weren’t formed in the brain to direct us toward areas of food, to engage in sexual activity for reproduction, and to avoid danger.
However, occasionally such wiring leads to unhealthy connections strengthening, which can cause persistent mental diseases like persistent anxiety or depression. According to Tuell, it’s like a car wheel that gets caught in a rut in the road and can’t get out.
Experts think that occasionally a strong event, like a psychedelic trip, might shake someone out of a mental rut.
Psychedelic experiences can be “euphoric, or exhilarating, or terrifying,” according to Heifets, even in tightly monitored experiments.
Context is important. Treatment can result in transformation with the right support, according to Heifets. “If it’s completely out of control, it can result in what we’re witnessing in the news.”