Rogerian Essay

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Brady Simonsen
Mr. Gardner
Feb. 8, 2023
Oily Succulents
Psychedelic Treatment for Depression
Beginning only a couple of years ago, doctors began running clinical trials studying the
effects of treating depression with Psychedelics. What they found was interesting. The effects of
psychedelics being used to treat depression range from positive to negative. The question must
be asked, what are the effects of psychedelics being used to treat teens and people with
depression?
To begin, psychedelics, while proven useful, do have their fair share of negative side
effects like all drugs. The National Library of Medicine elaborates further saying, “The most
common adverse effects from the administration of psychedelics under clinical supervision are
limited to the time of drug action, such as acute increases in anxiety, fear, heart rate and blood
pressure.” By explaining that there are increases in anxiety, fear, heart rate and blood pressure,
we can further understand why psychedelics are still in clinical testing. The testing for
psychedelics further explains why it is still in testing. It appears that the effects of psychedelics
being used to treat treatment-resistant depression are not positive enough to legalize it for
prescription. To add on, they further explain that, “Without careful supervision, fearful responses
could lead to dangerous behaviour (e.g., fleeing the study site). In addition, delayed-onset
headache is sometimes caused by psilocybin use and possibly by other classic psychedelics.”
This further illustrates the negative effects of psychedelics causing dangerous behaviors. To
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finalize, the negative side effects of psychedelics for treatment-resistant depression include
increased anxiety, fatigue, dangerous behavior, etc.
Now to talk about the other side of the argument, the positive effects of psychedelics
treating treatment-resistant depression. Due to the image being unsupported by google drive,
here is the link to the photo, https://www.nature.com/articles/npp201784/figures/1. Here is the
image citation, Carhartt-Harris, Robin. Goodwin, Guy. “Differential Serotonergic actions of
SSRIs and psychedelics.” Nature, April 26, 2017. The image titled “Differential Serotonergic
actions of SSRIs and psychedelics” was created to show a general explanation of the effects of
psychedelics being used to treat people with depression. In 2017, Robin Carhartt-Harris, and Guy
Goodwin posted an article and more importantly a figure that represents the findings in their
figure. On the left we see 2 brain figures highlighting two different parts of the brain, the top left
is highlighting the stress circuitry, the bottom left is highlighting the rich cortex. The next
column represents how the basic functions of each area of the brain were affected by
psychedelics. The stress circuitry basic functions show that postsynaptic 5-HT1AR went up
while limbic responsivity went down. The rich cortex basic function shows that cortical entropy
went up. The next column shows the functions that were reduced. The stress circuitry reduced
functions show that stress, impulsivity, aggression, and anxiety all went down. The rich cortex
reduced function and found rigid thinking to decrease. Finally we show that the two brain scans
point at each other and show that depression went down while well-being went up. While this
image explains a lot of information it can be summarized into two points, depression goes down
while well-being goes up. A video created by CNN and author Sandee LaMotte further
advertises the positive effects of psychedelics being used to treat treatment-resistant depression.
The video goes on to say, “37% of people experienced an almost immediate response to the
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depression and began to feel better. One of the issues with antidepressants is it may take a while
for the drug to develop in your bloodstream to start working, Patients in this trial experienced
less depression the next day.” The video explains to us that the positive side effects of
psychedelics being used to treat treatment-resistant depression outweigh the adverse effects.
Ultimately, the positive side effects show that there is an increase in well-being and decrease in
depression.
I believe that teens and people having treatment-resistant depression should be allowed to
be treated with psychedelics. The clinical trials prove that there are significant positive outcomes
for treating depression. And while there are adverse effects, when are there not adverse effects to
drugs? In my opinion, the adverse effects aren’t significant enough to illegalize Psilocybin and
other psychedelics. If having a headache is the cost of having significantly less depression, then
that sounds amazing. And to see results much faster than antidepressants proves just how much
psychedelics could help those with hard to treat depression.
In Conclusion, the effects of psychedelics range across the entire spectrum from
headaches, fatigue, and dangerous behavior. To the other end of the spectrum from less
depression, increased well-being, and quicker positive results. I believe that depression is a
serious issue in today’s world, and if people can find the relief they are looking for in a
controlled psychedelic, they should be able to do that.

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Work Cited
1. Raison, Charles. “Effects of Naturalistic Psychedelic Use on Depression, Anxiety, and
Well-Being: Associations With Patterns of Use, Reported Harms, and Transformative
Mental States.” Frontiers, 15 Mar. 2022,
www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.831092/full.
2. LaMotte, Sandee. Severe depression eased by single dose of synthetic ‘magic
mushroom.’ CNN, November 3, 2022,
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/02/health/psilocybin-magic-mushroom-depression-wellnes
s/index.html.
3. Citation: Carhartt-Harris, Robin. Goodwin, Guy. “Differential Serotonergic actions of
SSRIs and psychedelics.” Nature, April 26, 2017.
https://www.nature.com/articles/npp201784
4. Citation: Jóhannesdóttir, Árný, and Engilbert Sigurðsson. “The Use of Psilocybin for
Treatment-resistant Depression.” Læknablaðið, vol. 108, no. 09, Laeknabladid/The
Icelandic Medical Journal, Sept. 2022, pp. 403–10.
https://doi.org/10.17992/lbl.2022.09.706.
5. NCBI - WWW Error Blocked Diagnostic.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4592297.

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Psychedelic Treatment for Depression

increased anxiety, fatigue, dangerous behavior, etc.

here is the link to the photo, https://www.nature.com/articles/npp201784/figures/1. Here is the

image citation, Carhartt-Harris, Robin. Goodwin, Guy. “Differential Serotonergic actions of

psychedelics could help those with hard to treat depression.

controlled psychedelic, they should be able to do that.

1. Raison, Charles. “Effects of Naturalistic Psychedelic Use on Depression, Anxiety, and

Well-Being: Associations With Patterns of Use, Reported Harms, and Transformative

Mental States.” Frontiers, 15 Mar. 2022,

2. LaMotte, Sandee. Severe depression eased by single dose of synthetic ‘magic

mushroom.’ CNN, November 3, 2022,

3. Citation: Carhartt-Harris, Robin. Goodwin, Guy. “Differential Serotonergic actions of

SSRIs and psychedelics.” Nature, April 26, 2017.

Treatment-resistant Depression.” Læknablaðið, vol. 108, no. 09, Laeknabladid/The

Icelandic Medical Journal, Sept. 2022, pp. 403–10.

5. NCBI - WWW Error Blocked Diagnostic.

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