space travel These are extremely stressful situations. For this reason, in recent years, attention has been paid to the consequences they can have on a mental level, in addition to the physical. After all, spending a long time away from civilization, with a very small group of people and under rather extreme environmental conditions, it can be very traumatic. And that’s why a group of scientists from a biotech company suggested that the astronauts take hallucinogenic mushrooms to alleviate these types of problems.
Actually, the boat is soon not so far-fetched. psychedelic drugs, combined with psychological therapy, have proven to be very effective in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. In a way, they help therapists gain access to the brains of patients and once there, replace one memory with another. like a kind birth. If we add to this the fact that the company behind this new study specializes in mushroom drug developmenteverything fits perfectly.
However, from what they say IFLScienceNASA has zero drug policy This would make it very difficult to get to that point. And it’s more than likely that other space agencies would position themselves the same way. Therefore, for now, all this is nothing more than a recommendation. Has the meaning? Partially yes, but much more research will be required before hallucinogenic mushrooms can become part of astronauts’ luggage.
Benefits of psychedelics
It has been 80 years since that “biking day” when the effects of LSD were discovered. The scientist responsible for the find, Albert Hoffmanntested new drugs with pharmacological potential from lysergic acid. He had no idea what might happen until one day while working he felt embarrassed and dizzy. He thought that this could be due to the action of this new drug, which could enter his body through the skin. For this reason, he decided to go ahead and ingest it in order to study its effects more deeply.
The effects were much stronger than the first time. He became very dizzy, saw distorted images, and could not walk normally. His condition was so bad that he asked his assistant to escort him home, as he did not see himself able to do it alone. It took him there on a bike, hence the day April 19when it all happened is known as bike day.
So they discovered hallucinogenic effects of LSD. Then there were others psychedelic drugss, which caused similar symptoms, were soon used with recreational purposesyeah Who wouldn’t want to try this curious high?
Logically, this turned out to be extremely inexpedient, since taking them without control would lead to many negative consequences. However, over time, it was discovered that all these substances, from the famous hallucinogenic mushrooms to LSD itself, can have medical applications very interesting. Especially in psychology and psychiatry, they could help people with conditions such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Of course, it is important to choose well which psychoactive drugs are suitable, which is why artificial intelligence algorithms that choose the most suitable ones from a long list are even being researched. Thus, it has been observed that in the right environment and in the right doses, they can be very beneficial. And that is why these scientists want to give them to astronauts.
hallucinogenic mushrooms for astronauts
The component that turns hallucinogenic mushrooms into psychoactive substances is psilocybina substance that has been shown in some studies with mental patients to have great therapeutic potential.
That is why the authors of the study, which is now presented in The frontiers of space technology they believed that this substance could be effective for astronauts. Although they couldn’t clinical trials in spaceare based on several studies in which this psychoactive drug helps relieve stress in cancer patients in the terminal stage.
In addition, they take into account preclinical animal studieswhich indicates that hallucinogenic mushrooms can help improve neuronal plasticity. Given that this will be related to the cognitive effects of the stress that astronauts are subjected to, this could certainly be beneficial. But it remains to be seen whether this can be extrapolated to humans. This may be due to the reasons why it helps improve the situation of people with post-traumatic stress disorder. Neural plasticity is needed to help overcome trauma. However, the setting and atmosphere are completely different.
On the other hand, the authors of this study take the situation to the extreme and believe that the use of hallucinogenic mushrooms could help astronauts cope with such an extreme situation as discovering extraterrestrial life. But even if they don’t talk about it in the study, it’s important to check if the drug itself is causing them to see little green men.
Jokes aside, it’s true that psychedelics have some very interesting therapeutic potential. Can they be effective for astronauts as well? It is possible, but there is still much to be explored. And for this, the space agencies must agree. For starters, this is a pretty big stumbling block.
Source: Hiper Textual
