Could Psychedelics Help Treat Alzheimer's?

Researchers are considering possible benefits of psychedelic drugs against Alzheimer's disease, reports Being Patient . Last year, scientists at Johns Hopkins University's Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research launched a program to examine how psychedelics affect mood, behavior, brain health, and cognition. "If you're looking at cells like neurons and expose them to these drugs, they create this kind of synapto-genesis," said Johns Hopkins Professor Albert Garcia-Romeu. "There are new outgrowths off the neuron, so that's one thing they've found in studies in people and cells derived from people." Psychedelics also affect the brain's default mode network, which is involved in the sense of self and "autobiography," moral reasoning, and processing emotions of others. Emergent research focuses on the drugs' ability to augment mood, behavior, or memory in people with Alzheimer's. The Johns Hopkins study will observe whether moderate to high doses of psilocybin have a therapeutic effect against depression in people with mild cognitive impairment or early onset Alzheimer's. Garcia-Romeu said another area of research is whether high-dose psilocybin can lift the mood of people with Alzheimer's, as it appears to do in people with cancer.