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Sacred Medicines for Harm Reduction and Substance Abuse Rehabilitation

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Reviews evidence for how entheogens (psychedelics) can be used to treat dependence on substances. Also see https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270654137_Psychedelics_as_Medicines_for_Substance_Abuse_Rehabilitation_Evaluating_Treatments_with_LSD_Peyote_Ibogaine_and_Ayahuasca
... This seems to be a rare exception. In contrast is the widely noted ability of psychedelics to counter addictions (see Winkelman, 2009b). Calabrese (2007) maintains that many addiction professionals consider the Native American Church (NAC) to be the only effective treatment of alcoholism among Native Americans. ...
... Psychedelics can help patients open their consciousness and widen their awareness (see coverage of addiction treatment programs with ibogaine, LSD, and ayahuasca; Winkelman, 2009aWinkelman, , 2009bWinkelmann & Roberts 2007b). Under the influence of these substances, which Winkelman (2007) calls psychointegrators, people can acquire spiritual insight, learn to recognize and identify their own restricted and destructive patterns of addictive behavior, and switch to new, healthier perspectives and behaviors. ...
... The interrelationship of drug addiction, ASC, and spirituality is a theme repeated across cultures (Heggenhougen, 1997;Jilek, 1994;Winkelman, 2001Winkelman, , 2009aWinkelman, , 2009b. The universality of spiritual practices associated with ASC suggests a need for experiencing alterations of consciousness that are intrinsically linked to concepts of spirituality. ...
... Another general therapeutic effect of the psychedelics in the treatment of addictions involves the alteration of consciousness and the myriad of healing effects produced [20][21][22]. They also can induce spiritual experiences, particularly with large doses that produce life-changes that help in ending addictive behaviors. ...
... This paper includes material based on information previously published in Winkelman [22,47] and Winkelman and Roberts [71]. ...
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Substances known as psychedelics, hallucinogens and entheogens have been employed in ethnomedical traditions for thousands of years, but after promising uses in the 1950's and 1960's they were largely prohibited in medical treatment and human research starting in the 1970's as part of the fallout from the war on drugs. Nonetheless, there are a number of studies which suggest that these substances have potential applications in the treatment of addictions. While these substances are generally classified as Schedule I, alleging no established medical uses and a high drug abuse potential, there is nonetheless evidence indicating they might be safe and effective tools for short term interventions in addictions treatment. Evidence suggests that the psychedelics have a much greater safety profile than the major addictive drugs, having extremely low levels of mortality, and producing little if any physical dependence. This paper reviews studies evaluating the use of LSD, peyote, ibogaine and ayahuasca in the treatment of dependencies and the possible mechanisms underlying the indications of effectiveness. Evidence suggests that these substances help assist recovery from drug dependency through a variety of therapeutic mechanisms, including a notable "after-glow" effect that in part reflects their action on the serotonin neurotransmitter system. Serotonin has been long recognized as central to the psychedelics' well-known phenomenological, physical, emotional and cognitive dynamics. These serotonin-based dynamics are directly relevant to treatment of addiction because of depressed serotonin levels found in addict populations, as well as the role of serotonin as a neuromodulators affecting many other neurotransmitter systems.
... Psychointegrators couple nonlinguistic behavioral and social–emotional dynamics with rational processes and functionally integrate different systems of the brain. Psychointegration produces spiritual and transcendent experiences by enhancing operations of basic structures and functions of consciousness (self, other, and affect/attachment) (Winkelman 2003). These neurological foundations help explain the widespread common patterns of use of these plant substances in religious and therapeutic practices. ...
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This introductory chapter looks at psychedelic medicine from a cross-cultural perspective, illustrating the therapeutic and spiritual interpretations of their uses in many societies. The cross-cultural similarities in their use and interpretation reflect a biological foundation for their uses and effects. The chapter addresses some of the standard interpretations of these substances' mechanisms of action in the serotonergic neurotransmitter system. The author's analyses of the systemic effects of serotonergic transmission, and the interaction of the psychedelic medicines with serotonergic mechanisms, provide the basis for characterizing their effects as psychointegrative. Psychedelics produce a disinhibition of informational, emotional, and visual processes and stimulation of the integration of limbic system processes within the neocortex. This in effect integrates behavioral and emotional dynamics with the rational processes of the symbolic brain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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Therapeutic applications of the psychedelics or hallucinogens found cross-culturally involve treatment of a variety of physical, psychological, and social maladies. Modern medicine has similarly found that a range of conditions may be successfully treated with these agents. The ability to treat a wide variety of conditions derives from variation in active ingredients, doses and modes of application, and factors of set and setting manipulated in ritual. Similarities in effects reported cross-culturally reflect biological mechanisms, while success in the treatment of a variety of specific psychological conditions points to the importance of ritual in eliciting their effects. Similar bases involve action on the serotonin and dopamine neurotransmitter systems that can be characterized as psychointegration: An elevation of ancient brain processes. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. All rights are reserved.
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