Psilocybin is showing promise as a powerful treatment for a variety of mental health conditions including treatment-resistant unipolar depression, depression and anxiety caused by serious medical illnesses like cancer, and substance use disorders.
Psychedelics can decrease amygdala reactivity during emotion processing, which may reverse the heightened amygdala reactivity typically seen in PTSD, thereby increasing the ability to process traumatic memories. Psilocybin also increases emotional empathy, mindfulness-related capacities acceptance, and connectedness while reducing avoidance, which may all facilitate PTSD treatment. Alongside sessions of supportive psychotherapy, psilocybin administration may help those with PTSD tolerate challenging emotions and address the traumas that they have experienced, while also finding new perspectives on unhelpful or negative thoughts.
