[elif]

Heh, a placebo effect would make sense ...to someone that hasn't tripped. The explosion of neurotransmitters can not just be simulated or induced through coercion.

There's a chasmic divide between the effects of psilocybin and any mental state you can will consciously or subconsciously.

EDIT: unless your hypothesis is that the dissolution of the ego, lack of regard for the conventional, and overwhelming sense of identity with the cosmos are unrelated to depression. Sure a control could tell you that.

[BaryonBundle]

Exactly that, though, the placebo effect of interest would only be induced on people who haven't tripped.

That aside, and of course accepting that states induced by psilocybin and other substances are unobtainable by any other means, you are still nowhere near saying that these same substances can _reliably_ be used to treat depression. Furthermore, this course of treatment also needs to _reliably_ not make depression worse or trigger other types of anxiety that could trigger other medical conditions. Clearly, exactly what a aperson does under the influence of these substances can remarkably impact the results of the studies, so the techniques being used are being judged in these experiments just as much as the substances being used.

One shouldn't be dismissive of these studies, but also one should understand that the techniques used aren't the end-of-the-line in terms of potential these substances may have. on the other side of the token, we must also tread carefully. We must first do no harm!

[fapjacks]

Right! This made me laugh, the idea of a placebo with magic mushrooms.

[BaryonBundle]

This study is attempting to show that psilocybin is effective in treating depression, not effective in inducing a 'trip'. For patients who have never experimented with psychotropics, there may be a placebo effect when they are told they are given a psychotropic substance. While I agree that psilocybin and other similar substances can induce powerful mental states unreachable by other means, it does not follow that there exists a clinical path by which these drug-induced states can be used to treat depression in a reliable way.

[fapjacks]

So, I just mean that I find the mental imagery humorous when someone mentions a "placebo" for magic mushrooms.