18.57% of adults are experiencing a mental health illness, equivalent to 45 million people in the United States, with 4.38% experiencing a severe mental health illness. 

This past month, UC Berkeley opened the Center for the Science of Psychedelics with notable researchers such as neuroscientist David Presti, psychologist Dacher Keltner, and journalist Michael Pollan as some of the founding members. From the small list of universities who are openly researching psychedelics, UC Berkeley offers a graduate program which focuses on creating guides or facilitators in the spiritual care aspects of psychedelics. 

Psychedelic research has incredible potential to improve mental health illnesses of individuals across countries. Jacob Horsley, a junior double-majoring in Computer Science and Peacebuilding and Development, wants to go into the counseling field. He shared his thoughts and excitement on the new center and psychedelic research as a whole: 

“As humans, we have discovered mind-altering substances for our benefit and sometimes for our downfall… Caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, drugs, even pharmaceutical medications that we are using as a society, are all mind-altering drugs. As we have tested and used different substances in history, … we have figured out how to use them as tools.”

Horsley noted that psychedelics, on the other hand,  “were made quickly into a Schedule I drug on the basis of being heavily addictive and not having any medicinal use, which research shows is untrue. This was in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and since then, there has been no research into what these substances can do for the medical field.”

Increased research, according to Horsley, “will greatly increase our understanding of how these mind altering substances can work in our worlds and bodies and how they can possibly be used as tools that we can use to deal with problems that humans have such as mental health.” 

Horsley mentioned that these mind-altering substances can be either beneficial or detrimental to patients. If one does not have a lot of experience with psychedelic drugs or the mental illnesses that cause the need for them, one should seek advice from professionals  considering the mixed results when using psychedelic drugs to medicate a mental illness. 

Stephanie Palomino, a junior at EMU’s sister institution, Goshen College, shared her thoughts about medicating with psychedelic drugs. When taking her prescribed medication, she observed, “I did not necessarily feel as depressed or anxious as before, but I no longer had the full ability to feel anything. I would describe myself in that state as distant, dissociated and overall, emotionless. Nothing made me super upset and nothing made me super happy. I was just kind of stuck in the weird state of being that didn’t make me feel like a person.” 

This drove Palomino to do research on psychedelics and their possible benefits. She was excited to hear about UC Berkeley and their project. Palomino expressed her interest in participating  in a psychedelic-involved therapy session once or twice a year and replacing the need for daily prescribed meds. She stated,  “For decades, the use of psychedelics has been stigmatized in such a negative way, and I think a lot of that has to do with fear. Through the research this center will be conducting, more and more people will have access to this potentially groundbreaking concept of using psychedelics for treatment of mental illnesses.” 

She ended her thought with a quote from Michael Pollan: “We’re really interested in what psychedelics can teach us about consciousness, perception, creativity and learning,” said Pollan in an article released from UC Berkeley this September.