Pivotal Mental States: Difference between revisions

[[Psychedelics]] are medicines that when administered under the correct inclusion/exclusion, priming, framing and setting can safely and proundly shift normal thought patterns<ref>'''From Egoism to Ecoism: Psychedelics Increase Nature Relatedness in a State-Mediated and Context-Dependent Manner.''' Kettner H, Gandy S, Haijen ECHM, Carhart-Harris RL.  Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019 Dec 16;16(24):5147. doi: 10.3390/ijerph16245147. PMID: 31888300; PMCID: PMC6949937. Accessed on 24th September 2022 via https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/24/5147</ref> (see '''Figure 1'''). This is achieved by causing brain function to be less constrained than usual by modulating the presence or absence of underlying anatomical connections<ref>'''LSD alters dynamic integration and segregation in the human brain''', NeuroImage, Volume 227, 2021, 117653, ISSN 1053-8119, Andrea I. Luppi, Robin L. Carhart-Harris, Leor Roseman, Ioannis Pappas, David K. Menon, Emmanuel A. Stamatakis,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117653.Accessed on 24th Sept 2022 via https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811920311381 </ref>. There is a common misconception about psychedelics propagated by the [[War on Drugs]] which manifests medically as [[Psychedelic Anxiety Syndrome]]. Instead of psychedelics being detrimental to one's health there is a vast amount of evidence to suggest that they are highly effective in treating mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety<ref>'''Adverse effects of psychedelics: From anecdotes and misinformation to systematic science.''' Anne K Schlag, Jacob Aday, Iram Salam. First Published February 2, 2022. [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/02698811211069100 https://doi.org/10.1177/02698811211069100]</ref>.  

When people think of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) they often think of the process depicted in the film ''One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. A lone patient with electrodes attached to their head convulsing in pain... T''his was an over dramatisation, the modern process is far from what was depicted. Since its introduction in the 1930's, various changes to pulse width, dosing and duration, electrode placement and anaesthesia have made the treatment almost unrecognisable<ref>'''Electroconvulsive therapy: a selected review'''. ''Am J Geriatr Psychiatry''. Greenberg RM, Kellner CH.  2005;13(4):268–81.</ref>. Research has shown that 64% to 87% of patients with severe MDD respond to ECT, with response rates as high as 95% for patients with MDD with psychotic features<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4193538/</ref>. Furthermore, in otherwise healthy patients with intellectual disability, a retrospective chart review performed at Cambridge university has shown that 79% showed a positive outcome following ECT<ref>https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-psychiatrist/article/use-of-ect-in-patients-with-an-intellectual-disability-review/B2CD9151E5A2B9462BD80175E63A9CB0</ref>. There is some evidence to suggest that ECT causes similar long and short term effects to psychedelics in some in vivo case studies<ref>Psychotic symptoms as a complication of electroconvulsive therapy – a case report Anna Antosik-Wójcińska, Magdalena Chojnacka, Łukasz Święcicki Affective Disorders Unit, Second Department of Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology in Warsaw</ref><ref>'''ECT associated musical hallucinations in an elderly patient''': a case report. ''Ann Gen Psychiatry'' 5, 10 (2006). Janakiraman, R., Wildgoose, K. & Seelam, K.  <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1186/1744-859X-5-10</nowiki></ref><ref>'''LSD-Like Flashbacks Associated with ECT'''. Convuls Ther. Russ MJ, Gold JM. . 1987;3(4):296-301. PMID: 11940932. Accessed on 4th July 2022 via: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11940932/</ref>.