Effects of Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy on Major Depressive Disorder
jamanetwork.com
jamanetwork.com
Note that Ketamine already has quite a lot of evidence for effectiveness.
"This randomized clinical trial found that psilocybin-assisted therapy was efficacious in producing large, rapid, and sustained antidepressant effects in patients with major depressive disorder."
From my experience, building a systematic understanding of my unconscious anxieties and consciously working to overcome them is what caused my mental health to improve.
I found the hardest part was the diagnosis of the anxieties, and that my dreams gave me the best clues (not used in the Fraudian/Jungian way).
I got a bit obsessed by it, and wrote a paper as I couldn't find anyone suggesting the same theory as me: https://psyarxiv.com/k6trz. It was discussed on HN here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19143590
You have no clue how far from reality you can actually go and things we take for granted, like all of our senses and physical aspect of existence can be removed, completely. And you will still be there, naked in truer sense than you thought possible. Break down to atoms, core of your personality, and put yourself one by one back.
Been there and done that, literally. Not in 60' style having 100x the dose of acid or similar, just a regular dose of shrooms grown from spores bought in Amsterdam, but maximized the effect on the body and mind as much as I could research. Had properly spiritual experiences, as an agnostic (beautiful as they were, they just confirmed to me that hierarchical religions we all know these days have nothing with existence of real god(s), rather with our inner wiring and deep desires and fears - but as moral imperative it makes sense to be a good person overall). I am a better, more knowledgeable person thanks to this, kind of wisdom no school or ordinary life can teach you about yourself and humanity.
There was good research form czech guy Stanislav Grof with LSD on psychiatric patients, the results were much better than any medication mankind could create. Sadly all the bans in 60' from Nixon due to racial profiling of hippies/minorities resulted in effective blockage of any research for 40 years. It could have saved thousands of lives literally, probably much more.
I could go on for a long time. Man, don't underestimate these things.