I Feel Love book discussion with Gul Dolan : 無料・フリー素材/写真
I Feel Love book discussion with Gul Dolan / jurvetson
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示 2.1 |
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| 説明 | »——♥♡——>For Valentine’s Day: I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World — the PSFC Book Club discussion hosted by my love, Genevieve. Author Rachel Nuwer joined MDMA researcher Gül Dölen zooming in from Panama where she is collecting pygmy zebra octopuses.We dove into Dölen's work to elucidate the mechanism of action of MDMA and the classic psychedelics (a relaxation of the ECM in the brain that reopens critical periods) and their potential to address not only psychiatric disorders, but also neurological ones, like recovering motor function lost from a stroke. Stay tuned for that exciting work to come.“Starting in infancy and lasting into early adulthood, the memories and skills we learn during these finite windows of malleability solidify into automated habits that will serve us for the rest of our lives. We lose behavioral flexibility as we grow older. Neuroscientists have sought to elucidate the mechanistic underpinnings of critical periods since the 1940’s. Their research to date has primarily focused on critical periods related to sensory processing systems such as sight and hearing, simply because those are the easiest to study in lab animals. But there are probably as many critical periods as there are brain functions.” (p.172)With psychedelics (but not the drugs of addiction, like cocaine, alcohol or meth) and a conditioning context, Dölen has found a key to reopen those critical learning periods of childhood — across the sequence from vision to motor skills to social reward learning to cognitive flexibility.MDMA is a uniquely pro-love drug. In a therapy setting, many patients feel self-love for the first time. Gul started her research with the observation that MDMA triggers a massive release of oxytocin (the “love peptide”) in humans and the analogous cephalotocin in octopuses, with a common pro-social effect. Her original hypothesis was that this newfound love reopens the critical period somehow. And her earlier papers focused on the parallel circuits of magnocellular and parvocellular oxytocin neurons, or in simpler terms, the neural mechanisms of different types of love — the passionate mad love of magnocellular oxytocin (with spouse or child) vs the more rational Platonic love of parvocellular oxytocin (with friends and tribes). MDMA activates the former, and cannabinoids activate the later (and that imbalance can lead to paranoia, when our theory of mind applied to the broader tribe goes into overdrive).“’Oxytocin-induced synaptic plasticity is how we think that social bonds are formed,” Dölen said.” (p.175)Some more quotes from the book of Love:“Clinical trial results indicate that MDMA-assisted therapy significantly outperforms all existing treatments for PTSD” (p.3)For example, the standard of care at the VA is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Less than 10% of veterans complete the treatment, and of those who do “just 15% no longer have major symptoms.” (p.141)In stark contrast, in the FDA clinical trials of MDMA-assisted therapy, “67% of participants no longer qualified for PTSD” (p.153) twelve months after completing the trial.The VA spends $25B per year on disability payments to veterans with PTSD. (p.157)“In 1998, NIDA launched a now notorious messaging campaign suggesting that Ecstasy (MDMA) causes “holes in the brain.” The “holes,” in fact, were just normal computer-generated depictions of areas of lesser blood flow in the brain, but that detail was glossed over by Oprah, MTV and other alarmist media.” (p.117)“In 2002 then-senator Joe Biden, a preeminent crusader in the war on drugs, introduced the Reducing Americans’ Vulnerability to Ecstasy (RAVE) Act. Among other things, the new legislation sought to prohibit any event at which Ecstasy was known to be taken, and the presence of pacifiers and glow sticks were enough to prove as much. After complaints that this violated the First Amendment right to freedom of assembly, a slightly tweaked version of the bill passed” (p.125)“In a 2000 analysis, the risk of death associated with Ecstasy use at dance parties is on par with the risk of choking to death or succumbing to food poisoning or being a victim of a deadly train accident. Risk assessments are part of daily life. Yet, society places certain drugs into a special category deemed somehow outside the bounds of normal decision making. Even more irrational is the fact that risk assessments have no bearing on a drug’s legal status, with many legal drugs— notably alcohol and tobacco—being significantly riskier than illegal ones (like MDMA, LSD and magic mushrooms).” (p.228) |
| 撮影日 | 2024-02-14 08:58:13 |
| 撮影者 | jurvetson , Los Altos, USA |
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| カメラ | iPhone 14 Pro Max , Apple |
| 露出 | 0.017 sec (1/60) |
| 開放F値 | f/1.9 |