by: sara mcdonald
i’m planning a trip — not to paris or rome — not that kind of trip. this will be a journey to explore my inner world with the help of psilocybin (magic mushrooms).
i was diagnosed with als over 18 months ago and, since then, the disease has relentlessly progressed. a friend told me about psilocybin as a potential end-of-life therapy. i knew nothing at all about it; although i came of age in the 1970s, i never dabbled in hallucinogens.
psilocybin works by activating serotonin receptors, most often in the prefrontal cortex. this part of the brain affects mood, cognition, and perception.
this will be a therapeutic journey for me, not recreational. the treatment involves pre-session therapy, therapy during the psilocybin experience and an integration process afterward. i am working with an experienced psychiatrist.
in michael pollan’s book, how to change your mind: what the new science of psychedelics teaches us about consciousness, dying, addiction, depression and transcendence, he states, “existential distress is what psychologists call the complex of depression, anxiety and fear common in people facing a terminal diagnosis.”
apparently, there have not been very successful ways of treating this existential (or end-of-life) distress, which contributes to a sense of demoralization and hopelessness.