Why We All Need Healing -- and How Psychedelics Can Help

"We are the keepers of our own healing."

How powerful is that statement? Does it inspire you? Concern you? Empower you?

Or... how about: "We are the medicine; we can HEAL ourselves."

I absolutely love these statements. We MUST not pass off the responsibility for our healing on some doctor, some pill... on anyone or anything but on our own selves. We are responsible for our own healing, our own physical and mental well-being.

Have you been diagnosed with a mental illness or other condition? Seems pretty common these days. Been prescribed antidepressants or other pills for your condition -- or any other reason? (We know of several perimenopausal women who were encouraged by their primary doctors to start taking a low-dose antidepressant to help manage their condition.)

People struggling with mental health often feel isolated in their pain; and many people who are suffering often do it in silence, by themselves. No one goes shouting from the rooftops that they are barely getting by each day... it's more likely we're in our self-imposed dungeon/basement.

But there's also the other evil side: social media. An example: In an interview, a young tennis pro complains that no one understands how much she and other pro players struggle with mental health, that losing often sends her down a bad spiral -- and yet, EVERY post on her social media shows her smiling, celebrating a tennis win, kissing her boyfriend, playing with her dog... there is not ONE post that shows her struggling with her mental health.

If you're struggling and you go on social media and see "everyone" smiling and having a beautiful life, you become further isolated... so, please know, that social media is the real FAKE NEWS. It's why a friend of ours refers to Facebook as FakeBook.

People seem to think all they can post is good news -- the latest house, car, pet, child, accomplishment. Maybe it's the comparison syndrome -- mine is at least as good as yours, if not better. Maybe it's just ego -- celebrating the wins for yourself. Stop judging your life on other people's posts -- and stop posting only "acceptable and happy" posts; be real, or as real as you can.

Many of us are struggling -- maybe not with the blackness of deep depression, but with other issues, such as troubling memories, lingering feelings of doubt and shame, periods of tension and anxiety, fits of anger and rage, or perhaps, simply not able to break through a hurdle that is holding you back.

How Psychedelics May Help With Your Healing

A caveat: Do your own research before changing any habits, medicines, etc. The advice here is not meant to be medical in nature.

Your first step should always be research. If you are on any prescription drugs, especially for a mental health condition, read what (if anything) these meds are doing for you and whether -- and how -- you can taper off these pills before any psychedelic experience. Your review of the research will show you some alarming information, including that antidepressants are about as effective as placebos AND that they were approved only for the short-term use during depressive episodes, not a daily pill for LIFE.

Your second step should be looking at the research on psychedelics. These medicines have been studied for decades, though the earlier research seems to have mostly disappeared thanks to the War on Drugs and the scheduling of all true psychedelics as illegal. Researchers have mostly studied macrodosing -- the full psychedelic experience with a high dose, typically with hallucinations -- and the results are almost unbelievable, and most certainly remarkable.

The two key highlights from this research are that these psychedelic medicines have the ability to breakdown ineffective and negative old patterns (often related to trauma) of thinking AND to foster the building of new thinking, new neural networks (neuroplasticity).

The major psychedelic medicines include five true psychedelics and two with known hallucinogenic properties:

• Psilocybin

• LSD

• DMT (including Ayahuasca)

• Mescaline

• Ibogaine

• MDMA (an empathogen/entactogen with stimulant properties, but not a true psychedelic)

• Ketamine (used as an anesthesia; it's a dissociative, with psychedelic properties)

In terms of macrodosing, researchers are finding extremely positive results for treating/healing:

• Depression (including treatment-resistant depression)

• Post-partum depression

• Suicidality

• Anxiety

• Post-traumatic stress

• Addiction (including alcohol, tobacco, opioids)

• Control issues (such as OCD and eating disorders)

These researchers are also looking into other conditions such as pain management, traumatic brain injuries, cluster headaches, migraines, and fibromyalgia.

If you are not quite ready for a true psychedelic experience, but are still interested in healing, you might consider microdosing -- taking a 5-10 percent dosage of a full dosage, thus you will little or no outward impact or hallucinations while the medicine works in your system. People still get the neuroplasticity benefits from microdosing.

Microdosing is a great way of testing the medicine, to see which medicine works best for you. It's also a great way to gain trust in the medicine before completing a future macrodose. Furthermore, some people are using microdosing as a tool to help taper off of pharmaceuticals.

The research with microdosing is more anecdotal than hard science, though that is changing. But the anecdotal results show amazing promise for helping manage depression, anxiety, and OCD.

Final Thoughts on Healing Yourself

If you want to heal, you need to take a holistic approach -- which means there is never any ONE simple fix. If you want to heal, then you need to examine every aspect of your life, so that you can heal all parts. These elements include:

• Facing past traumas (known and buried)

• Diet and nutrition (eliminating bad foods)

• Exercise (even just light to moderate)

• Community (fostering healthy relationships; leaving unhealthy ones)

• Social media (limiting time, exposure to negative posts)

In other words, these psychedelic medicines should just be ONE part of a complete wellness makeover of your life.

One final note: While cannabis is not a psychedelic plant, it is a powerful master plant (with psychoactive properties) with many medicinal benefits of its own -- and worth researching to possibly add to your healing regimen.

Additional Healing Resources From Dr. Randall

• Five Things to Consider Before Jumping into Healing Through Plant Medicines

• Five Ways to Heal Your Life!

• Healing the Mind, Body, and Soul

• Embracing Healing Change: Keys to a Happy Life

• Five Healing Benefits of Cannabis