Shrooms Ceremonies & Magic Mushrooms and Psychedelics Used in Rituals
We’ve probably mentioned this several times on other blogs on our page because of how far back the use of psychedelics goes. In older, more traditional psychedelic ceremonies and rituals involving plant-based hallucinogenic brews like Ayahuasca, Mescaline, and magic mushrooms, a shaman was always present to prepare the hallucinogenic brew correctly and administer it to the people. The shaman remained present the entire time to ensure the safety of the user(s) and to assist in guiding the user(s) through the experience.
In modern times, psychedelic rituals and ceremonies don’t really look like this anymore. Now they can take place in a clinic or office of some kind, overseen by a medical practitioner or researcher for a study of some kind, or even a therapy session.
In its clinics, Numinus itself provides ketamine therapy. Additionally, it provides patients who choose to use psychedelics on their own with “psychedelic integration,” which aids them in getting ready for the experience. Additionally, under Health Canada’s Special Access Programme, which began this year and permits doctors to request therapy for patients with serious or life-threatening diseases, Numinus is legally permitted to provide genuine psychedelic therapy in exceptional circumstances. The business is still small; the most recent quarter’s clinic revenue was less than $1 million. Nyquvest is focused more on having the appropriate infrastructure in place as soon as authorities give the new medicines their final approval than on the money Numinus makes right now.
What Does Modern Day Psychedelic Treatment Look Like?
There are three parts to a typical Numinus ketamine treatment cycle, the first of which is a prep session, usually a week before dosing, where the patient and therapist discuss everything from the music to play during the session to how the drug will make them feel to the patient’s therapeutic objectives. After the drug’s effects have worn off, the cycle concludes with an integrating session to try and make sense of what has transpired. The patient takes the medication, dons an eye mask and headphones, and the pre-planned music starts playing during the actual medication session.
Joe Flanders is a psychologist who served as an investigator in the MAPS MDMA clinical trials. In 2021, Numinus bought his Montreal-based business, which included two clinics that provided ketamine therapy. He oversees the education of Numinus’s therapists in his capacity as vice president for psychology. 110 people work for the company. According to Flanders, the purpose of therapy is not to produce Rosebud-like insights for the therapist and patient to discuss. He claims they’re using active, aware cognitive processes considerably less now. Instead, psychedelic treatment is an “experiential modality,” in which whatever occurs—whether it be a greater sense of self-acceptance or fewer existential fears—happens at an emotional or even sensory level. This may help to explain why accounts of the profound insights brought back from travels can sound so ordinary. Flanders asserts that it’s crucial to understand speech processes.
Therefore, a big part of a psychedelic therapist’s role is to assist a client in integrating this novel, odd, and strong sensations. In spite of the onslaught of surreality, the patient needs to feel at ease enough to genuinely give in to it. According to Flanders, you are entering a vulnerable state of mind. Therefore, you must be quite certain that you can trust the individual sitting across from you.
Psychedelic Treatment Modalities in Canada
The delivery system for the medications will be the subject of Numinus’ next patents. It’s investigating liquid versions and tea in addition to pills. (Numinus staff are unable to taste the tea because of the rules about working with scheduled substances; as a result, they are unaware of its flavour.) The business has a licence to use mescaline, DMT (the main chemical found in Ayahuasca), and LSD in its lab, and it may someday investigate the drugs’ therapeutic potential.
David Olson is a neurochemist at the University of California at Davis. The so-called neuroplasticity of psychedelic substances, including psilocin (the psychoactive substance that psilocybin is converted into in the body), LSD, MDMA, DOI, DMT, and ibogaine, was demonstrated by Olson’s group in a 2018 study. The medications appear to repair damaged synaptic connections between brain cells. That may help to explain why they seem to be useful for ailments as varied as alcoholism, depression, and PTSD, all of which involve atrophied neurons. Olson speculates that psychedelic medications could be altered to lose their psychedelic effects while maintaining their efficacy.
Delix Therapeutics, a business that Olson helped create, is currently developing a number of substances that function like psychedelics without producing hallucinations. He wants to start the trials as early as next year. In a separate line of research, Olson and Boris Heifets of Stanford want to test this theory in humans by administering psychedelic substances to volunteers while they are under anaesthesia and asleep.
Olson holds an uncommon viewpoint among his colleagues. The leading expert on the topic and professor of psychology at Johns Hopkins Medicine is Matthew Johnson. According to him, “psychedelic treatment” means big doses, careful planning, and paying attention to the experience. “Obviously, I think there’s promise in psychedelic therapy,” he says. Johnson is collaborating with the firm Mydecine to offer a psilocybin-based product that does not require smoking.
If you want to experience shrooms ceremonies, do some research or read our previous blog post about magic mushrooms tourism.
Olson’s claim has a counter argument as well. Heifets, a physician and neuroscientist with whom he collaborates at Stanford, is one of those who succeeds. Heifets notes that in the significant psychedelic trials conducted to date, the placebo groups also saw favourable results. In other words, simply providing psychedelic-style therapy without the use of drugs is quite beneficial. Olson suggests domesticating the substances to make them more easily integrated into our current healthcare system, but perhaps we should aim to do the reverse. That would, among other things, greatly increase the accessibility and affordability of talk therapy in any form.
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