Can meditation
and psychedelics have the same benefits for your
mind?
Meera Senthilingam, CNN
June 3, 2016
Treatment
for the conditions are wide-ranging, from prescription drugs to
counseling and therapy, but none have proven to have a universal
effect.
Scientists
are currently trialling meditation and, more controversially,
psychedelic drugs as potential treatments due to their
perspective-altering effect on the mind. Scientists hope that could
help release people from being locked into depressive, or worrying,
thoughts.
But recent
work has begun investigating whether these two contrasting
treatments activate the same regions of the brain to give similar
benefits.
"Meditation interventions have been shown to be effective in
reducing stress and anxiety... it is a powerful and established
method to alter human consciousness,"
said Frederick
Barrett, a
behavioral neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University. His team
focus on practices that can affect human consciousness.
Recent
trials with psilocybin -- the active ingredient found in "magic,"
or psychedelic mushrooms -- have also been shown to be effective
against both anxiety and depression. In a recent
studyby
researchers at Imperial College London, people with depression were
given two controlled doses of psilocybin and their symptoms were
reduced for up to three months after they received the drugs.
Symptoms of anxiety were also shown to improve.
"Psilocybin
administered properly and under supervision can see a change in
emotional well-being," said Barrett. "Meditation is also an
established method."
The point?
"One is pharmaceutical and one isn't," said Barrett.
To find out
their similarities, and potentially combine them as a treatment,
his team are currently studying the brains of people with long-term
Buddhist meditation practices by imaging their brain activity
inside an fMRI scanner while they meditate. Participants are
divided into groups for researchers to better determine the effect
on meditation -- and their brain -- after taking low and high doses
of psilocybin, or a placebo.
The trial
is currently ongoing, but preliminary results are promising. "It's
too early to say, but so far we've seen positive effects of
psilocybin on well-being and mediation practices."
Meditation is no easy task and can be extremely challenging as a
novice, so the idea behind the study is to reveal whether
psychedelics offer a similar change in perspective and if so, use
them as an alternative therapy.
"Psilocybin
could be a second-line treatment for patients who meditation
doesn't work for," said Barrett.
Another
idea is the use of these drugs to help people explore their
consciousness and improve their ability to concentrate -- and
eventually meditate.
"Psilocybin
can be a gateway into meditation...to show you experiences and to
have insight into yourself," said Peter Addy from Yale University
School of Medicine and founding member of theYale
Psychedelic Science Group.
While
stressing the importance of using psilocybin as a therapy in a
controlled environment, Addy believes that the drug could be taken
to alleviate symptoms of mood disorders, and even tackle
addictions, but suggests that meditation could be added to the mix
and make treatment more sustainable.
"You have
this insight, but then what? You can't take psilocybin every day,
you have to be able to maintain that," said Addy.
He believes
this could be one way of opening up people's minds to meditation
for this to then be used as needed.
"A number
of leaders in the American Buddhist community have been open about
using psychedelics to open up meditation," said Barrett. But he
stresses that his team are not implying people should do
this.
"[We're
looking at] the basic science question of whether it is useful to
help people be more aware."
Barrett
believes science has only touched the surface of the therapies
these drugs and meditation could offer, at the very least to treat
mood disorders. "We need to know what works, but also why it
works," added Addy, who previously worked with patients suffering
from addictions.
"Psychiatry
desperately needs new approaches to treat people," said
Addy.