I’m not saying we shouldn’t treat mental health problems, but are we setting too high expectations by telling people that active placebos will cure their problems? Are psychedelics better? Maybe. But not if people take it for the same reason as SSRIs!
A beautifully succinct way of posing questions that medical professionals and legislators should be interested in answering if they truly wish to provide the most quality care/introduce meaningful legislation for their communities.
The other side of the equation is a community that has access to the most up-to-date research for making their own decisions. By sharing this information with as wide of an audience as possible on the blockchain, we support our human community's progress. Great post, I'm not much for fiction but Yalom's piece looks intriguing given the framing you gave it, thanks for the lead!
Yes, the reason I joined is because I'm intriguided by the blockchain philosophy of creating community incentives. What I hope is that people will start creating systems that propagate such incentives, maybe to the point that science itself could become a community venture. As I was trying to highlight the problem, there are simply no serious incentives behind giving money for psychedelic research at the moment. Big Pharma isn't interested and the public mostly doesn't care. This is not to say there aren't potential opportunities to make money though. MAPS wants to make patented mdma-assisted therapies licenses that would belong to the therapists themselves. There are already investment opportunities for therapy centers. If applied properly, I think psychedelics would also save lots of money on mental health costs. It is perplexing to me why people often don't want to take psychedelics seriously ...
I, too, have a lot enthusiasm for the opportunity the STEEM blockchain community provides for giving monetary support to research and creative projects that have historically had difficult times securing funding and support. Without a doubt, you are correct that much cost could be avoided in healthcare with the option for a longer lasting, more natural treatment.
That therapy license from MAPS sounds very promising, certainly providing informed guidance to users is responsible and highly recommended. I am so glad to know that they received a large crypto donation from The Pineapple Fund; I hope that public outreach is a priority, as the consumers of the pharmacological treatments must be empowered to require more information about these options for their health and quality of life.
Gotta love that pineapple fund <3