A psychedelic substance is really a psychoactive drug that’s the capability to alter cognition and perception in a individual. It is a huge matter of debate for quite a while a psychedelic substance could cause the onset of mental illness in a addict. In fact, psychiatrists are prejudiced against the usage of psychedelic drugs blaming its use for causing mental illnesses and developing suicidal tendencies. However, based on a new study, there’s no correlation between psychedelic drug use and mental illness.

The authors of the study argue that the potential harms associated with one of these drugs are negligible and psychedelic drugs don’t cause addiction or compulsive use. It says that only 0.005 percent of emergency department visits in the United States are connected to psychedelic drugs. According to the researchers, even yet in countries such as the Netherlands, where psilocybin (a psychedelic drug) mushrooms are widely available and used, the rates of serious injuries linked to a drug can be low.

The methodology

The research done by Johansen and Krebs used the annual data from National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), which compiles figures linked to substance psychedelic mushroom chocolate bars available California use and mental health from a random sample that’s representative of the U.S. civilian non-institutionalized population. The researchers collated data from respondents who have been 18 years and older from survey years 2008-2011.

The investigators studied a sample comprising of 135,095 respondents, of whom 19,299 reported lifetime use of a psychedelic substance, including LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, or peyote. They certainly were all classic cases of serotonergic psychedelics. The authors then investigated 11 self-reported indicators of past year mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety disorders, and suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts.

The psychedelic users were found to be younger, male, white, unmarried, prone to carry out risky activities, and to own used other drugs. They are even prone to report depression before age 18. Childhood depression, thought the researchers, could be the reason why respondents tried psychedelic drugs. The research discovered that lifetime use of psychedelic substances wasn’t connected with any mental health problems. On the contrary, the lifetime psychedelic use was associated with a lower likelihood of past year inpatient mental health treatment in them.

But individuals with severe cases of addiction from drugs have to choose detox, as its negative impacts from long-term abuse are much like some other substance of abuse. Those trying to find drug addiction treatment centers can choose from a number of treatment centers spread across the state.

Key takeaways

The research debunked several myths from days gone by and figured psychedelic drugs don’t cause mental illness themselves. As an example, in the past, especially in the sixties, using psychedelic drugs was connected with “flashbacks” among addicts. Nevertheless the authors said that individuals who allegedly experienced so-called flashbacks were actually diagnosed with schizophrenia and these were already obsessing about their drug experience.