For many, fighting depression, or any mental health disorder, is a lifelong battle - one that lasts all day and perpetually restarts the next morning. Each time we wake up, we’re faced with the challenge of controlling our mind and channeling our emotions in accordance with the environment around us. 

Emotional energy can be thought of like the water behind a dam. In one sense, it has the potential to destroy everything in its path if the dam breaks down, but it also has the potential to power turbines and support life if it’s channeled properly. 

In life, our emotions refuse to remain still and there is nothing we can do to stop that. However, which direction our emotional energy ends up flowing in is 100% our choice, so long as we accept that responsibility and take the initiative required to channel it towards something positive.

A famous parable puts this struggle into perspective and reads as follows:

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”

He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Cool, that's great, I’ll feed the good wolf. Now what?

Overall, the parable provides a rather plain and clear directive on what we should strive to do. In order for the good wolf within us to win its battle, we have to “feed” it by taking the very qualities the wolf is described to possess, then embodying them in our everyday lives.

Unfortunately, however, this is much easier said than done. The sad truth is that, when faced with tough opposition, anger is more likely to arise quicker than forgiveness and patience. Rather than putting ourselves in their shoes, we sometimes assume the worst in others then react with negativity. The same could also be said about our own self image and self esteem, where falling into self depreciation can come more naturally than building up our self worth.

Even when we’re at our best, there are still times where this holds true and the evil wolf is more easily called to action. Then when we’re at our lowest, and depressive states of mind are added into the mix, the scales tend to tip in favor of the darkness inside us.     

So how do I facilitate positivity more easily? - Drugs

First off, I definitely don’t mean any and all drugs - I’m exclusively referring to psychedelics that are able to create a serotonergic effect (harmless things like psilocybin and LSD).

Furthermore, this style of treatment is not one that is guaranteed to work for ALL people no matter what. However, not even clinical antidepressant medications prescribed by a psychiatrist can offer that guarantee. 

Instead, the best I can do here is provide some pretty damn cool information about how clinical scientists are finding psychedelics to be a revolutionary treatment option for depression and various other psychiatric disorders. 

Alright, that sounds pretty interesting…Tell me more

Surprisingly, research shows that serotonergic psychedelics affect the brain’s chemistry in strikingly similar ways to how antidepressants affect the brain, but there’s also a major difference that we will discuss later. When it comes to treating depression, certain neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, are targeted. These incredible molecules impose their happy-feeling-effects through a process called monoaminergic transmission, which just so happens to be the same mechanism that psychedelics target (and why they are described as “serotonergic”). 

A major reason why a depressed brain finds itself depleted of its happy neurotransmitters is because certain monoamine systems have rerouted themselves in a way that circulates those neurotransmitters at a lower concentration. Another contributing factor to this problem is where the neuronal dendrites and axons of particular pathways can find themselves drastically atrophied and weakened by depression. Without optimally functioning dendrites and axons, it can be expected that synaptic transmission of our happy neurotransmitters is going to be greatly weakened.

The brain is constantly utilizing pathways that are already established, but it also works to create new ones based on how we interact with our environment, which is a process known as neuroplasticity. When treating depression with antidepressants, the point is to take these maladaptive pathways that the brain unfortunately created, then reroute them into a much more optimal fashion. Simultaneously, atrophied dendrites and axons are able to be restored to their former glory. In the end, just as neuroplasticity can be our downfall, it can also be our savior. 

Finally! The big difference between antidepressants and psychedelics is…

SPEED! While they both exert similar effects by similar means, psychedelic compounds are able to achieve the same goal far quicker. In the best case scenario with antidepressants, people only start to notice the improvement in as few as 4 weeks, but it is also possible that this result won’t be seen for up to several months. On top of that, antidepressants are only effective for about 30-40% of the people that try them.     

Meanwhile, researchers have been able to observe psychedelics imposing desired antidepressant effects in as little as 1 day, and those improvements have the potential to remain present and measurable multiple months down the line after a single dose. There are even anecdotal accounts from people where one psychedelic trip was enough to rewire their brain in a way that permanently cured their depression. 

Why is speed so important?

Unless someone has experienced true depression themselves, it’s almost impossible to comprehend how important speed is. While in that state, the thought of things ever getting better feels impossible. Sometimes, antidepressants are a last ditch effort to regain control over one’s mind. So, if someone tries them but feels no improvement after several months, where do they go after that? 

That’s what sets psychedelics so far apart from any sort of other treatment plan. Even if a 5 or 10 percent improvement can be felt in that first moment, that could be a life changing and lifesaving moment. 

So, what do we do with this information?

In the end, the main goal of this article is not to insist that we all do psychedelics together. Rather, I aim to provide insight into a relatively new, extremely promising option that should be considered amongst the many others that already exist. Furthermore, I’m not necessarily advocating for use of psychedelics in exclusion of all other treatment plans. Afterall, there’s never anything inherently wrong with the idea of combining treatments. For example, undergoing psychotherapy in conjunction with psychiatric care is a fantastic way to address one’s mental health. Who says that psychedelics can’t be added on top of that or in addition to other treatments?    

With that thought, however, there is one last caveat - *This is most definitely NOT medical advice that should be followed blindly.* The best course of action would be to take all this incredible new information you just learned, and present it to a medical professional in your area. There are plenty of psychiatrists and psychotherapists that are able to guide individuals through psychedelic treatment if they deem it safe and appropriate after being consulted on the matter. If you’re interested in finding out for yourself what psychedelics are all about, consulting with a professional should absolutely be the first step you take. 

In the end, it is always most important to err on the side of caution and make safe, well-informed decisions.