- I'm Professor David Nutt, psychiatrist, neuropsychopharmacologist, and brain scientist.
I'm here today to answer your questions from the internet.
This is "Psychedelic Therapy Support." [upbeat music] This is from sirchutney.
"Apparently, magic mushrooms help combat depression.
Well, it's hard to feel sad when you're in a knife fight with Kermit the Frog." That's not anything any of our patients have described, but I think what you're getting to is the fact that there is a conception of prejudice that psychedelics distort thinking so you are no longer depressed.
Psychedelics for depression do not work simply by giving people a good time.
That's what critics say.
They say, "Oh, well, of course.
You know, you give people a really happy trip, and they come out of it.
They're not depressed anymore because they've had fun and then that depression will come back." The truth is, most of our patients, whether it's depression or anorexia or PTSD, the trips are very challenging because they are having to deal with the consequences and the reality of their mental illness, so it's actually quite insensitive to imply that they're just getting off their heads and having fun and getting better, because they're not.
