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billionaire When VC fund Already pouring millions of euros into psychedelic start-ups. We are committed to revolutionizing mental health care. Previously stigmatized substances such as LSD and psilocybin (the psychoactive ingredient in so-called magic mushrooms) could be combined with psychotherapy to address difficult-to-treat conditions such as alcoholism and depression. It is expected that
designed treatments and Acquired through clinical trials A psychedelic-trained professional should be with the patient while under the influence of the drug.And that’s a good deal to sign up — the experience can last Up to 24 hours. It also does not take into account the pre- and post-experience support that patients need.
Cue a new group of startups that are developing apps and other digital hacks to ease the burden of time for healthcare professionals.
Some psychedelic therapy evangelists say this is a necessary step to scale up and costly treatments and reach more patients. say they are creating an industry driven by investor greed.
So who exactly are these companies?
the app is coming
London-based atai Life Sciences has a psychedelic compound in clinical trials but is in development. app It is hoped that this will reduce the so-called ‘integration’ phase, in which patients require the attention of a therapist after the experience.
Atai’s CEO, Florian Brand, told Sifted that weeks and months after a psychedelic therapy session, the app was used to monitor a patient’s mood and certain biomarkers (such as tone of voice) to monitor their mindfulness. It says it will provide customized content for health and habit enhancement.
“I believe that if we can dedicate time to treatments that can be replaced by technology, that would be a very good way to address the scalability problem of psychedelic therapy,” he says. We believe we can actually achieve better, more sustainable results.”
Another startup developing an app for the preparation and integration stages of psychedelic therapy is from Ukrainian entrepreneur Yuriy Blokhin, founder of Homecoming.
comment in Sifted Pro Reports For the psychedelic health care sector, he says the app eases the burden on therapists.
“The intention was never to replace a therapist — I don’t think it’s desirable, possible, or feasible. To identify strategic opportunities where a therapist wouldn’t need to spend time Or you can’t make the most of your time doing logistical work,” Blohinn explains.
Neither application currently seeks to introduce app-based treatments into sessions where psychedelics are actually administered, but Brand says the technology will improve the ability of therapists to treat more patients at once. He said he thinks it is possible.
“We want to move to a scenario like the hospital floor with monitors that can watch the patient and intervene when needed or beneficial to the patient. scale is possible,” he explains. “Whether it’s appropriate ultimately depends on the treatment itself and will need to be discussed with regulators.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea”
But not everyone thinks digital hacking is the best idea when it comes to combining powerful mind-altering drugs with a patient’s mental health. Michelle Baker-Jones is a licensed counselor in the UK, a member of the Psychedelic Research Team at Imperial College London, and has worked on clinical trials in psychedelic therapy.
“How engaged are people really with an app? It’s not the same with digital support, it really isn’t,” she says. “We are relational beings. Our wounds occur in our relationships and can be healed in our relationships. So to me, it just doesn’t seem like a great idea.”
Baker Jones also points out: Early psychedelic research To treat a mental health condition with LSD, the substance would accompany as much as 50 hours of psychotherapy.
“Is that so? [psychedelic therapy] Will just continuing to reduce treatment and care around it work?” she asks. “Maybe [existing] Antidepressants are more effective if people are talked to and aware of their surroundings. ”
In addition to further training therapists in psychedelic treatments, Baker-Jones believes community support centers may be needed to provide people with the relationship support they need during the integration phase that follows medication sessions. I’m here.
balance
Another psychedelic therapy advocate concerned about the proliferation of app-based therapies in the field is Vine Ventures partner Ozan Polat.
He says that while more and more training programs are emerging to meet the needs of psychedelic-savvy therapists, a shift to digital treatments is likely.
“There are two sides to this coin. One is that this sounds very dystopian. You can’t just put everyone on a plane, fly them to Peru, and have them sit with Sherman,” argues Poratto. “We need to find a balance so that we can treat the maximum number of people with these treatments, while at the same time ensuring best practice rather than falling into this mechanical mode.”
Polat says he hopes patients will always have the option to speak to a human if needed, even with app-based treatments implemented. After a profound experience with his psychedelic 5Meo DMT, he explains that having the ability to speak with a practitioner who was with him during the trip was essential to the synthesis of the experience.
“She followed me by phone and WhatsApp messages,” he recalls. “This is unlike any gym or exercise app where you can choose her fatigue level from 1-10. It’s so powerful that it goes beyond that.”
If psychedelic substances eventually make their way into the clinical medical system, policy makers will need to seriously consider what kind of mental health infrastructure will be needed to support their deployment.
And whether it relies primarily on one-on-one therapy, community groups, app-based therapy, or a combination of the three, it’s critical that the solution remains human.
Tim Smith is a Senior Reporter at Sifted.he tweets from @Timp Smith
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