Bending the Arc of History
A paradigm-shifting treatment for mental health
How do you feel about the world we live in today?
Take a second and tune in to what sensation shows up in your body.
Do you get filled with a warm, fuzzy feeling inside? Does a smile spread across your face?
Or…
Do you feel overwhelmed, frustrated, and hopeless about the world we’re creating today? Do you get a knot in your stomach and red hot skin?
I’ll take my bets… and I have some out-there but good news as well.
When I talk to my dad, who came of age in the 1960’s and 70’s, it appears life seemed easier. His work seemed easier, making money seemed easier…
The way I describe it is being a human seemed easier.
(Of course, there were still many issues back then, and I don’t want to gloss over those. This illustration is only about the stress of modern life vs 60 years ago)
Why is that?
Back then, there were no cell phones depleting our dopamine one notification at a time. Food was real and seasonal, not processed and on-demand. We weren’t bombarded by hundreds of video, text, and audio ads every day.
There were not countless different media platforms to consume perfectly targeted content on multiple devices simultaneously all at once at all times of the day (that sentence is meant to be as confusing to your brain as that activity is…).
How many times have you been sitting on the couch, watching TV, with your phone or tablet in your hand surfing social media while at the same time gorging on some processed dessert loaded with sugar and refined vegetable oils?
Admit it, we’ve all done that. And, it’s breaking us as a species.
Anxiety and depression are on the rise across all categories in America. And, they were on the rise before the COVID pandemic hit. Now they’re ripping higher.
The world feels more rushed than ever. We are more connected through technology, but does that foster closer connections in real life?
Overstimulated, disconnected, anxious, and unhealthy (the rates of disease and obesity in the US are at record highs) is where we are today.
But where are we heading? Are we going to continue to trend higher, more incidence of depression or anxiety?
I believe we will be able to bend the arc of history. Modern medicine has been able to scotch tape together solutions for anxiety and depression, but it has not been able to solve the root cause.
To solve the root cause, I believe we need to hit the reset button. We need to clean out the recycling bin. We need fresh perspective. We need to do a deep clean.
When I chunk up all of the issues I list above into a 30,000 ft. view I don’t see thousands of little issues. I see one big issue. It’s an issue in consciousness.
We accept, perpetuate, and ignore all of the flashing warning signs around us. Then, if we do admit there’s an issue, we paper over the cracks by treating symptoms instead of root causes. We take the easy way out whenever possible.
So, what’s one way to change consciousness?
Psychedelics, specifically psilocybin (magic mushrooms).
Now before you write me off as just another hippie looking to get high, consider this…
In a Johns Hopkins medical study published on November 4th, 2020, 24 participants with a long-term history of depression and persisting symptoms were given two doses of the active psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms, psilocybin.
This was done in conjunction with supportive therapy and a tapering off of any antidepressants the participants were currently on.
The results, and I quote…
“The magnitude of the effect we saw was about four times larger than what clinical trials have shown for traditional antidepressants on the market,” says Alan Davis, Ph.D., adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
For the entire group of 24 participants, 67% showed a more than 50% reduction in depression symptoms at the one-week follow-up and 71% at the four-week follow-up. Overall, four weeks post-treatment, 54% of participants were considered in remission – meaning they no longer qualified as being depressed.
The stats above have arc bending potential. We’re not looking at a band-aid solution. We’re looking at a fundamental shift from treatment to cure.
At the highest level, our problems are coming from an issue in consciousness, the lens through which we see and interpret the world. So maybe that’s why a consciousness altering molecule is what’s needed to breathe new life into our relationship with ourselves, our world, technology, and each other.
Right now, there’s many studies taking place researching the benefits of psychedelics on PTSD in veterans, addiction to opiates, anxiety, depression, eating disorders, alcoholism, obsessive compulsive disorder, and more.
Being able to cure (hint: not treat) the tens of millions of people affected by the diseases above through a molecule with little to no side effects (especially when you compare it to antidepressants) can and will unlock tremendous potential over the next decade and longer. The most recent data I could find (2015) pointed to major depression collapsing over $200 billion of economic burden onto those affected.
That’s not $200 billion lost to big corporations. That’s money lost to individuals who couldn’t work, couldn’t create, couldn’t dream, and couldn’t even get out of bed. And, that $200 billion doesn’t calculate in the larger majority who do not have a clinical diagnosis.
Using psychedelics as medicine is 50 years in the making (and thousands of years in use in indigenous cultures) and is on the verge of reaching escape velocity. The point where this treatment is proven to work and proliferates across our society.
I love to imagine a world where we have an effective, affordable, and permanent treatment for depression for millions. I love to imagine how much more joy, creativity, and connection we can hold as a species.
Modern society might be breaking us down today, but we have the ingenuity to create a path out. And, after seeing the initial data and research I believe that psychedelic medicine will be at the core of that process. We’ll see the most repressed, suppressed, oppressed, and depressed members of our society get a life raft to once again become expressed, encouraged, enlivened, and ecstatic.
If you’d like to follow this trend closer, I recommend diving into the work that’s being done at Johns Hopkins and MAPS.
And, since many of my readers are investors, here are some tickers to check out (NOTE: I haven’t DD’ed any of these so don’t take these as recommendations to buy)
CMPS
EHVVF
MMEDF
SHRMF
LIBFF
I believe that psychedelics can be the reset button that cleans out the trash while doubling down on the modern luxuries that bring us value. It can also be the opportunity to drop the attachments that cause us suffering.
Sounds meta, I admit, but I’m all for us testing fresh, radical, and even “out there” ideas.
See yal next Friday.
Jared