A U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) official says the federal government needs to “gear up” to provide psychedelic medicines to veterans and ensure that therapists are equipped to facilitate the novel therapy.
As VA continues to support research into psychedelic medicine, Rachel Yehuda, director of mental health at VA’s James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center, spoke on CBS Mornings on Friday about the therapeutic potential of substances such as psilocybin and MDMA for veterans.
“There’s still a lot more research that needs to be done, and we have to gear up in a way that makes it safe to be able to provide these therapies,” she said. “We have to make sure therapists know how to use these medications—and also who should and shouldn’t be treated with them.”
The widespread piecemeal approach to mental health treatment for conditions such as depression, anxiety and trauma is simply a means of dampening “symptoms,” rather than identifying possible cures, she said. Psychedelics represent “a very different approach.”
“This is an approach where you take a medication that puts you in an altered state of consciousness—and if you are prepared for it in the right way, and you do it in the
Read full article on Marijuana Moment
