SSRIs to Psychs
“In working with veterans with PTSD and other chronic stress issues for years, I saw that the number of patients who had a phenomenal response to talk therapy or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were relatively few and far between. SSRIs are our gold standard—the best option we have—but you still have a 50-50 shot, at best, of it working.
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“Imagine if you’re struggling significantly, and somebody says, ‘I've got something you can try, but you're going to need to take it every day for at least four weeks, maybe eight to twelve weeks, and you may or may not feel any better during that time. In fact, you might feel worse. And you'll also potentially lose or gain 20 to 30 pounds, experience cognitive impairment, and you might not be able to perform sexually. But don't fret! If you get to the end of that three month period and it hasn’t worked, you will start over at ground zero and try the same treatment over again.’ That’s what SSRIs are, and that's unacceptable, but that is the reality for many people.
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“In psychiatry and mental health, medications and talk therapy often do a good enough job at supporting people to not die, but in many cases, we do not do a good job in supporting people to build lives that they truly want to live. Those are wildly different things. In talking with so many veterans who have engaged in psychedelic treatment—sometimes out of the country, or sometimes in the underground in the States—people say they feel like they're more able to do that work, to pursue a life that has meaning and purpose. I have never heard of, nor treated, anyone who told me that taking Prozac was one of the most meaningful experiences of their life, or that they felt so much more connected to themselves or to their community, or to the divine.” — Lynnette Averill; The Microdose—5 Questions for Lynnette Averill
Cristina Daura
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