Our Official Stance on Psychedelics
We support the careful use of psychedelics. From our storytelling to our team’s own experimentation, here’s what that means.
Psychedelics have been used by nearly every culture in the world for thousands of years and are regarded as sacred tools for healing and insight. Only in the past half-century have governments demonized these compounds, waging a failed War on Drugs and stifling valuable research that can save lives and help people thrive.
But here’s the thing: We are in a mental-health epidemic. Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, and, in the United States, one person commits suicide every 11 minutes.
Many of these deaths are veterans who suffer from PTSD. As a whole, veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide compared to civilians. More veterans die by suicide than in combat.
Psychedelic-assisted therapy is one of the most effective tools we have to solve this mental health epidemic.
In May 2021, the journal Nature Medicine published the results of the most advanced trial of psychedelic therapy to date. In its Phase 3 trial of MDMA therapy for PTSD, 88 percent of participants who received MDMA in conjunction with trauma-focused therapy experienced a clinically significant reduction in symptoms. Two-thirds of participants no longer met the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis, and several participants reported that MDMA therapy helped them address the root cause of their trauma for the first time.
One veteran said, “PTSD changed my brain and MDMA changed it back.”
Given our platform, we believe we have a moral obligation to talk about psychedelics honestly.
In addition to psychedelics’ potential to save lives, we believe that people should have the freedom to explore their own minds without fear of going to jail. We think that the recent decriminalization of psilocybin mushrooms and other plant medicines in Oregon and Colorado are steps toward a more free and reasonable society.
There are risks associated with psychedelics. These are powerful compounds and should be taken with great care. That’s why when we write about psychedelics on this platform, we often underscore the importance of mindset, setting, and integration when embarking on any medium- to high-dose journey. If coming in for a journey at Daytryp Health, we created our healing spaces with exactly that in mind: Set & Setting.
Read more: Healing with Psilocybin
Like most things, the dose determines the effect. Microdosing psychedelics—that is, taking 1/10th to 1/20th of a full dose—has a safer risk profile. According to Nature, “Adults who microdose psychedelics report health-related motivations and lower levels of anxiety and depression compared to non-microdosers.”
On the simplest level, microdosing psilocybin is exactly what it sounds like. You take a mild dose of a psychedelic like psilocybin (science-speak for mushrooms) in the name of self-improvement, healing, and creativity. Not enough to trip, but enough to feel something… a microdose.
Small or not, the results are largely positive. A study from Leiden University in the Netherlands found that microdosing on mushrooms “allowed participants to create more out-of-the-box alternative solutions for a problem.”
Another study, by researchers from Australia’s Macquarie University, cited that both “naïve” and experienced microdosers found that it definitely led to “improvements in mental stability, the capacity to sustain attention, and increased ability to engage in intense imaginative experiences.”
Then there are the two large U.S. studies from 2015 that found no direct link between psychedelic drugs and mental illness.
Daytryp is fundamentally a ritual-building healthcare company. We started by offering a new ritual to people who wanted to become better human beings by implementing a mental health care regimen focused on the therapeutic use of psychedelic medicine. We have seen time and again that small habits can lead to big change.
Many people who partake in Daytryp psychedelic therapies couple it with new, healthy habits, such as meditation, journaling, eating clean, yoga or exercise.
One change often leads to another. Psychedelics, when taken with care, can offer choice. These compounds can rewire new neural pathways that break people free from destructive thought patterns, and, when properly integrated, these insights can build new habits that change lives.
The safe and sacred use of psychedelics is baked into our company’s DNA, and we will continue to talk about them openly and honestly.
*Daytryp does not supply any Psilocybin products. We recommend that anyone who uses Psilocybin obtains it from an ethical and legal source.
Read more: 7 Films that can Help Change the Conversation on Psychedelics
Read more: Waves For Water Founder, Jon Rose, Opens Up about PTSD
Read more: Talking to Kids about Psychedelics
Read more: Rethinking the Road to Recovery
