The debate over 'party drugs' such as LSD to treat mental health disorders has made a resurgence recently. On July 1, Australia legalised psychedelics use in therapy. Earlier this month, Infosys Prize winning scientist Vidita Vaidya delivered a lecture in Mumbai, detailing why India should be open to its own clinical trials in this sphere
Given the substantial mental health burden that we are seeing across the world, one would want to provide effective and appropriate treatment.
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Of the many headlines that Prince Harry has made this year, one might indicate a deep shift in mental health treatments. In his autobiography Spare the Duke of Sussex writes about how he tried experimental treatments to help with his mental health and trauma—Ayahuasca and psilocybin, which is a key ingredient in magic mushrooms.
The Duke details how this form of psychedelic therapy, when done with the right people, has a way of working as a medicine. On July 1, Australia became the first country to classify psychedelics as medicine, at a national level. The country, which approved clinical trials for assisted therapy sessions with psychedelics earlier this year, will see the use of psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression, and MDMA for post-traumatic stress disorder. MDMA, known as ecstasy in tablet form, is traditionally known to be a ‘party drug’.