Abstract
In quite a few people worldwide, there are several mental disorders that prevent the brain from operating in the “proper” way, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) being among the most common. Luckily, there are several medications that are produced and used to treat these disorders, but some medications are hard to access, and others simply don’t help the patient. Firstly, these medications take time to study and prove safe for public use, though in some cases time is not readily available. In other cases, these medications are going through shortages and becoming increasingly difficult for patients to access their medications.
Recently, ketamine, psilocybin, MDMA, and LSD have begun to be incorporated into clinical research to treat several different mental illnesses in both adults and adolescents. The majority of studies for both ketamine and psilocybin look at adults with treatment-resistant depression and major depressive disorder, as well as anxiety. LSD and MDMA look at both of those disorders, as well as treatment for PTSD. Depression is an extremely common mental disorder worldwide, and it is one of the most fatiguing. The disorder comes with several side effects that can be as minor as struggling to get out of bed in the morning to the extremely severe, but unfortunately common end of suicide. This review will take a glance at several different case studies, reviewing what took place, the results of the studies, and what it means for the future of the treatment of mental illness with the usage of these hallucinogens.
Recommended Citation
Chlebek, Georgia
(2025)
"Hallucinogens for Mood and Anxiety Disorders: A Critical Review of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies,"
The Cardinal Edge: Vol. 3:
Iss.
1, Article 11.
Available at:
https://ir.library.louisville.edu/tce/vol3/iss1/11