The Clinical Competency of Psilocybin Containing Mushrooms in the Treatment of Addiction

by | Jul 10, 2019 | Medical

-Part 1: background. This paper should address the background surrounding research into psychedelics in a treatment setting along with how related factors influenced changes in legislation (e.g. treatment of other disorders, such as depression and anxiety. Different psychedelics investigated in such research. How political climate, along with unethical research practices, may have contributed to changes in law enforcement surrounding the drug. Worth mentioning demonisation in the media, based on truth and lies, and how it’s thwarted further potentially beneficial research into something with possibly great potential for healthcare). Finally, why is research important despite fears of psychedelic abuse? Possibly worth eluding towards an assessment of pros and cons of further research.
-Part 2: Mechanism of psilocybin Talk about the physiological mechanisms explaining how and why the chemical (psilocybin) does what it does. Hopefully, this will lead into some form of explanation for why this is relevant to the neurological mechanisms behind addiction. Think about differences between chemical addiction and habitual addiction (addiction vs drug dependence?). Think about mechanisms surrounding the development of addiction, maintenance of addiction, and withdrawal making breaking addictions difficult. –Psilocybin as a serotonergic agonist, role of serotonin, etc –mindfulness aspect? Link to mindfulness research in addiction treatment –Improved learning via neurogenesis/plasticity, reference cognitive strategies like CBT and how coupled with this neural plasticity may improve rate and ease of cognitive adoption of positive thought strategies, stuff like that (maybe more relevant in another section?) Research into BOLD responses, etc.
-Part 3: Mechanisms of addiction Talk about mechanisms of addiction here maybe, then link back to insights on the mechanisms of psilocybin and how they interact beneficially? Not sure but sounds like a good idea maybe. Good to talk about biological stuff in the brain, but referencing more abstract behavioural findings like mindfulness and stuff like that probably an important thing to consider (say, if magic mushrooms are only beneficial to people because they feel as if the situation they’re in is a lot more important because of the astonishing and spiritual feeling headspace, can talk about the benefits of spirituality in treating addiction based less on a biological action but more of a thinking about the problem and feeling as if they have power over it angle, maybe reference self-efficacy and stuff like that. Alcoholics anonymous 12 step program is a good starting point for talking about spirituality).

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Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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