Psychedelics for anxiety?

August 7, 2018 3:05 PM

I just read Michael Pollan's book, and I have become convinced that pschobilin's might help with my fairly severe anxiety in a therapeutic session. (Here's an article about it.) But how do I find a reputable guide?

I live in the UK, but am willing to travel pretty much anywhere. (My grandmother lives in the US and I am often there.) I have heard of retreats that are legal in the Netherlands and Jamaica. The only problem I have with these is that I want more of a reputable therapist/guide who will do this with me 1:1 -- the way of the clinical trials Pollan discusses or his own experience. It would be great obviously to do this somewhere legal (again, Netherlands?) but . . .

I literally have no idea how to find this. Any thoughts?

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

Hook into your local music scene, raves, edm, drone, PLUR etc and get to know people. There are very compassionate, experienced guides, but build relationships first. From personal experience you may want to start small, and maybe process your experiences with a therapist you trust. I’m in Canada and with legal marijuana for so long schrooms are still very much around and only gaining in popularity and acceptance. Alternatively, I know Canada has a few clinical trials, perhaps there are trials in the UK. (Literally a google search, they advertise widely). The risk is that you would be part of the control group. It isn’t a panacea though, keep up with everything else in your support system that is working for you.
posted by saucysault at 3:51 PM on August 7, 2018

Alternatively, visit your grandma and go to the Telluride Mushroom Festival next week to make connections. Michael Pollan spoke there last year. He is also speaking at Bioneers if you wanted to meet like-minded people.
posted by saucysault at 4:00 PM on August 7, 2018

Here's the active or soon-to-be-active trials currently, including more than a few for PTSD, depression, anxiety, and OCD that are recruiting.
posted by colorblock sock at 6:33 PM on August 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

Contacting many of the cited folks and associations in this article may help you move in the right direction. It's US centric (and Portland, OR specific...but many of those folks go to international conferences and the like).
posted by furnace.heart at 7:19 PM on August 7, 2018

Check your memail.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 10:27 PM on August 7, 2018

Oh shit, just saw that you're anonymous and I can't send you a memail. Maybe reach out to me so I can respond directly?
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 10:28 PM on August 7, 2018

You could ask the good people at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies for suggestions.

"Founded in 1986, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational organization that develops medical, legal, and cultural contexts for people to benefit from the careful uses of psychedelics and marijuana"
posted by anadem at 12:27 PM on August 8, 2018