the media is tripping over a new study findingthat lsd may lower anxiety. get it? tripping? i'm cristen conger of stuff mom never toldyou in today for dnews. the results of a swiss study examining theimpact of lsd therapy on anxiety among terminally ill cancer patients has attracted a swarmof media attention even though it was too small-scale to yield conclusive results. research on lsd has been largely shut downin the united states ever since the psychedelic drug became illegal in 1966. but recently, researchers have begun takingcloser looks at the possible medical benefits
of banned drugs like lsd. take psilocybin, a hallucinogenic cousin tolsd and the key ingredient in "magic mushrooms." it has also been shown to have therapeuticpotential. a 2010 study also conducted on a small groupof cancer patients suggested the psychedelic compound may also ease anxiety, and a 2012study examining mri scans of people while tripping on it found that it appears to calmdown brain areas associated with depression. considering that its street name is ecstasy,it's not too surprising that the drug mdma might also assist with anxiety and post-traumaticstress disorder, or ptsd. a recently published study compared fmri brainscans of participants both on and off mdma
and found that the drug seemed to make happymemories happier and sad memories less sad. the researchers suspect the pain-dampeningeffect has to do with how mdma lowers blood flow to the brain's limbic system that helpsregulate our emotional reactions. a lesser-known drug that's received attentionfrom the medical community is ayahuasca, a psychedelic blend of plants developed by nativepeoples of amazonian peru commonly associated with spiritual enlightenment by those who'vetaken it. ayahuasca ceremonies were also used in a 2013study on substance abuse. for the dozen study participants, taking ayahuascawas correlated with greater long-term feelings of hopefulness and improved quality of life.self-reported tobacco, alcohol and cocaine
use also diminished. marijuana habits, however, persisted -- whichbrings us to the last drug on our list which might not even be illegal, depending on whereyou live. various studies have indicated that weed mightbe helpful not only for pain management and nausea suppression among chemotherapy patients,but also for soothing anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder. pot -- or the thc in pot, that is -- may evenbe an effective treatment for autoimmune disorders and multiple sclerosis. but remember kids, many of these studies arepreliminary and there also are negative side
effects to all of these drugs, hence thembeing classified as controlled substances. do think illegal drugs could actually be "good"for us? leave a comment down below and be sure to check out my channel at youtube.com/stuffmomnevertoldyou.