Let the Mushrooms Be the Medicine: The Potential of Psilocybin in the Treatment of Eating Disorders
Let the Mushrooms Be the Medicine: The Potential of Psilocybin in the Treatment of Eating Disorders
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Issue Date
2022-12
Authors
Romao-Inglis, Soraya
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Abstract
The mortality rate amongst people suffering from eating disorders (EDs) has sky-rocketed (van Hoeken & Hoek, 2020). Often poor body image and/or social media are touted as the causes of EDs, but science rightly questions this oversimplification. In actuality, the causes of EDs are complex and often difficult to determine, making the determination of treatments challenging, in a system where the scarcity of and accessibility to treatments is already a barrier. With the renaissance of psychedelic research for the treatment of other psychological disorders, this paper speculates on the possibility of expanding the use of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) to include the treatment of EDs. With the known comorbitiy of mental disorders and EDs, I am curious to explore research that focuses primarily on the potential benefits of PAP to treat EDs alone. If the findings show that PAP can work as positively in the healing of EDs as it has in other mental health disorders such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety, perhaps such findings could open a significant opportunity for healing in this area; possibly significant enough to shift the paradigm about eating behaviors treatment.
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Keywords
eating disorders (EDs) , psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) , psilocybin , psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) , psychedelics